Theming Your Rugby Season
Theming your rugby season, if done with the correct detail and intention, can have a significant impact on the people in your team. So much so, after one of Scott ‘Razor’ Robertson’s themes, players even tattooed the theme onto their body at the end of the season. “That was not part of the plan!” Robertson joked when interviewed on The Conversation, Sky Sport NZ.
Theming a season is not unique to rugby. A very high-profile theme in the sporting world was Phil Jackson’s ‘97-’98 season with Chicago Bulls. The season was known as ‘The Last Dance’. In the documentary ‘The Last Dance’, Jackson is quoted saying,
“I talked to the players about particularly how important it was for us to really be together in this last run that we were going to have,” Jackson said. “So I called it The Last Dance.” Additionally, If you have not done so already, make sure you read Jackson’s book, Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success!
I recently had the great fortune of chatting with Andy Ellis, the World Cup-winning All Black and two-time Super Rugby champion with the Crusaders. A central theme of our conversation was on the topic of theming a season. Andy strongly believes that theming should be a cornerstone of any team.
Andy was part of the infamous Crusaders theme ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ for the 2017 season. The theme drew inspiration from the Muhammed Ali v George Foreman fight in Zaire. Ali had last won the Heavyweight Title ten years previously. The Crusaders had also not won a Super Rugby title for ten years. The Crusaders, using inspiration from Ali’s victory throughout their season, went on to win the Super Rugby Championship that year.
Most recently, Andy was playing in Japan with Kobe Steelers under arguably the most revered rugby coach of them all, Wayne Smith. During his time at Kobe Steelers, Smith has turned the club into a dominant force in Japan. This success has been built around a central theme: connecting with the city’s steelworker heritage. As Andy discusses in our conversation, Smith uses the imagery of “cranking up the furnace and seeing if the other teams can handle the heat”.
Theming a Season at the Grass-Roots Level
Here are a few traits that can be attributed to fighter pilots:
Bravery
Teamwork (wingman)
Competitive nature
Excellent communication skills
Deep technical and tactical understanding of maneuvers
Situational awareness
Quick reactions
These traits, amongst others, were to become the cornerstone of our environment. To add an element of fun and bring the theme to life, we used the 80s blockbuster movie, Top Gun.
Relevance To Team Goals
We moved away from a conservative approach and a reliance on structures and patterns. Our underlying goal, in both attack and defense, was to be a team that played with speed. We adopted the famous line between Maverick and Goose, “I feel the need, the need for speed!”
Player Ownership
Before using a theme, discuss potential options with the team members or leadership as it is important for the players to buy in to it.
Without buy in, the theme could lack effectiveness. Once we had agreed upon the Top Gun theme, I engaged the group in the process by asking them to choose their play calls and Player of The Match prizes based on the theme. For example, the Player of The Match awards were replica pilot wings.
Language and Imagery
Every presentation was related to Top Gun and our mission. Small clips from the movie were used to reinforce certain aspects of our environment. An example of this was highlighting a selfless play that a teammate did that added value to the match.
The language we used in the environment also embraced the theme and ensured that our goals were always at the forefront of our communication and actions.
Here are two examples:
Mission: Tactics and objective for a respective match
Dog (fight): Attacking play off 9 against an organized defense where there was likely to be an intense battle for the ball
Bringing the Theme to an End
Unfortunately, Covid-19 brought an abrupt end to our season. Our mission was canceled and the planes were grounded. To wrap up the season, we used the Top Gun theme one last time during our Player of The Year awards. Here is a video of the player that took our breath away…
Summary
From my own experience, and from researching some of the world’s leading sports organizations, I believe theming a season can be a powerful tool in team environments. A theme can provide a direction and meaning for goals. To make the theming even more powerful, ensure the team members are part of the process.