Mitsubishi Volunteer Recognition Award.
Kate Nicholls is the Head Coach of the Witney Wolves; a group at Witney RFC who provide a high quality rugby offer for children and vulnerable adults with special education needs. Kate was recently nominated by RFU Local Delivery Team Dave Larham (RDO) & Nick Todd (CRC) to receive a "Money Can't Buy" Mitsubishi Volunteer Recognition Award involving meeting and coaching with England Rugby Head Coach Eddie Jones.
Kate has provided her experience for Oxfordshire RFU:
I nearly binned the email when I received it - I thought it was a wind up - 12 coaches, 4 star hotel, coach a session in front of Eddie Jones? Surely not? I had no idea who had put me forward for this awesomeness - until a few weeks later as I was enrolling on my Level Coaching 2 course at Oxford University RFC when Dave Larham (RFU Rugby Development Officer) walked past me and said, “Kate, if I said ‘Eddie Jones’ to you, would it mean anything?”.
A week later I was checking into the Lensbury - a 4 star hotel set in 25 glorious acres devoted to sporting excellence in the bright lights of London. Here they host international teams from all sports, including England Rugby, and it was easy to see why this is the base of choice for world class athletes - the facilities are amazing. And now they were hosting us - 12 coaches from all over England, from a vast range of clubs, teams and backgrounds.
As we met in the bar we were all buzzing with nerves and excitement - in teams of three we would be coaching a training session the following morning at Hazelwood, London Irish’s Training HQ in front of the big man himself. Forgetting our nerves we were distracted by Phil Kearns, England Rugby coaching lead who issued us with some super exciting rucksacks full of kit and goodies, and as if we weren’t feeling star struck enough, in walked Tam Taylor, who having played for the Barbarians the day before, sat down and had a coffee with us. It was amazing just how quickly the group bonded - that is what is so amazing about our sport - rugby has such a uniting quality.
At dinner, over several bottles of wine and many courses of gourmet food we shared stories of our teams - from those coaching the tiniest players, to those with Colts teams, Ladies squads and more. It makes you realise that in rugby clubs all over the country people are doing the same things - moaning about getting parents to do car parking duty, debating which salty snacks the bar should serve, searching for innovative ways to get kids to sweep the changing rooms, raising money for clubhouse extensions - the same from Crediton to Cumbria! It was also clear that we all shared a passion for driving the RFU Core Values throughout our clubs, and wanted to give players and all those involved skills and qualities which they would take out into the wider world with them.
By the following morning, we were getting in the zone for the big event. We all met at Hazelwood and began our last minute session prep. When the door opened and Eddie Jones walked in, all the chatter stopped and momentarily everyone went to jelly. However, after introductions and handshakes it was immediately clear we had nothing to fear. They say you should never meet your heroes, but I would have to now disagree. Despite being one of the most famous and highly regarded coaches in the world, Eddie put us all immediately at ease - he was funny, friendly, interested. Everything which came out of his mouth was like gold dust - it was like meeting Yoda. He told us that coaching was coaching, no matter who you were coaching and at what level. The coach is there to serve the players. Never have more than 3 things in your mind at one time - you won’t remember more and neither will your players. Teach a technique, teach it again with a differentiation, then teach it with a distraction. Keep things simple. Get behind your club because that is the root of rugby. Gold dust. These are things we all know, but to hear it from Eddie Jones is affirming in the most extreme way.
Now it was out onto the pitch - no one was keen to go first! Then Eddie Jones, our national coach, ‘volunteered’ me to go first with the words (cue Australian accent) “I think Kate should start us off” Aaaaaaargghhh! However, once you see a pitch, a ball and some people in boots you start to feel at home. I got our very accommodating players (one group from a local school and a group of DPP players) to begin with the chant my own team uses, ‘Are we ready - we were BORN READY - Hhhhhhuhhhh!’ And after this we were away. The 20 minute session flew by, and after a debrief from Yoda we were able to relax and enjoy watching the other three groups do their thing. Eddie was commendably kind about our coaching, and really encouraging - but also really constructive. All the while we, like some Band Of Brothers, thrown together in this highly unusual circumstance where cheering each other on and encouraging and congratulating each other on a great job done - what else would you expect from a group of coaches!
Eddie Jones and Phil Kearns left us saying that they have amazing jobs, but if they stopped tomorrow, rugby would still take place across the country because community coaches like us were the ones driving it. And they thanked us for that. Extremely humbling. As we left, we paused to look at a sign over the door into the bar at Hazelwood. It read ‘There are no strangers here, only friends who haven’t met’. This is the rugby family - the 12 of us had only met a day before, but bound by our love of the sport it felt like we had been friends for years. A couple of days later we set up a WhatsApp group called ‘Eddie Jones Squad’ - we might not be THE Eddie Jones Squad, but near enough!
Fast forward 3 days and I was on a pitch in Ballyclare, just outside Belfast, leading my SEN team, the mighty Witney Wolves into the annual Wooden Spoon Tournament. With nearly 1,000 players high-fiving all around, from 27 clubs across England, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales, the atmosphere was electric. As we ended our huddle with the call ‘Are you ready Wolves?’ and the roar of ‘We were born ready!’ rang out, I realised that these were the people who had given me the opportunity to meet Eddie Jones, and these are the people I love to serve.
Kate Nicholls, Head Coach Witney Wolves
Witney Wolves belong to Witney RFC and train every Sunday from 10am. We welcome new players of all ages and abilities and are always looking for extra coaching staff!
Contact: kate.nicholls51@yahoo.co.uk
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