Senior & Junior Team Rules

Formulating team rules is a big part of planning for success in any team sport. Players and Coaches need directions and guidelines so that everyone is clear on the basics of discipline, training and match play situations.

I look back on the early years of my coaching and wonder how much more successful I may have been if I had formulated basic team rules to use as guidelines.

It is so important that the players feel that they have ownership of these rules, as it makes them easier to present and enforce during the seasons. Players are less likely to challenge rules that they have formulated in the best interests of the team and it’s success. By establishing rules to follow, players will be more
disciplined and have a better understanding of your expectations.

The rules should include the disciplines of training times and work all the way through to your expectation of how the team plays on match day. Remember that if you develop too many rules, it will be difficult for the players to know them all.

The best way to formulate rules is to call a meeting of your players and start off by discussing the importance and value of discipline to team sport and the need for everyone to be heading in the right direction. Then, either break your players into small groups or just take suggestions from the floor as to the rules your players think are important. It is wise to have your own set of team rules with you at the meeting and you may need to use a couple of them early to get things going.

Let the players express themselves and write their ideas on a whiteboard. When the players have covered all the rules that you as the coach had listed, work back through them with the players and alter the wording or simplify them.

At the completion of this meeting, you should have between 10 – 12 rules that range from pre-season to throughout the year. Have them typed up and give each player, coach and support staff member a copy. As a coach your responsibility then is to police these rules and make sure that all players follow them.

When planning your training, make sure that the drills do not lend themselves to breaking a basic team rule. Eg No U-turns may be a rule that your team adopts. Therefore, your drills must not create a situation where players are doing U-turns at training, but are discouraged from them in a game. If the drill creates this situation, then you must modify or delete it from the program.

If you have players who break the team rules, let it be the players who decide the penalties. Remember that they are the owners of these rules and therefore they are entitled to stand in judgement of a player who ignores them or consistently breaks them. As a coach, you stand back and monitor the situation and have input where needed.
Teams of all ages operate on a basic set of rules. Following are a number of rules that may assist your club or school.

GENERAL

Follow team rules and plans - (Take responsibility for your role within a team). Team sport has many individuals with different personalities. If everyone accepts his or her role within the structure, you already have success.
Training times - (On time, every time). Set times for training to start or meetings to be held. Be hard and fast, as you do not want players wandering in five minutes late and having to repeat yourself. Remember that you have a very limited time with your players and you do not want to waste large slabs of it, waiting for late players.

Absence from training – (Be disciplined). It takes 1 minute for a player to pick up a phone and call in sick or inform the coach that he is running late. Communication leaves no one in doubt of what is happening. Your players expect it of you and you can quite rightly expect it from the players.

Dress codes – (Travel professionally and responsibly). If your club has a dress uniform or standards for training and match days then the players should adhere to it.
Behavior – (The team comes first every time). In the club or even within the community. Your school or sporting club may also represent a country town that people will identify with so ensure, the players are aware of their responsibilities.

Respect your team-mates – (Remain positive and encourage). To have trust and respect for each other is an important ingredient in team sports. Do not let frustration dictate your output.

Umpiring – (Respect the officials of the game). Umpires, like players will make mistakes and we must learn to get on with the game because as we all know, the decision will not change.

Training to improve – (First class intensity). Too many players train just to train. They only train because everyone else does or it is the only way they will get a game. Train as you play. You will never handle a game situation by working half paced during training. Train hard, make mistakes and learn, then you will already have improved.

Enjoy your chosen sport - (Fun = commitment). If you do not enjoy training and playing sport, then you must find another interest. If you are not fully committed you will find reasons not to train and work hard. You are the player that will be late for meetings and training sessions. Give your sport 100% commitment.

These basic team rules generalise the commitment to team sport. Players must be responsible, as do coaches and support staff. Include 1 or 2 of the above rules in your structure and word them for your own club or schools benefit.

MATCH DAY

Commitment to 1% plays – All players should be disciplined in this area and understand the importance to the team of shepherding, blocking and protecting the player who has the ball.
Strong attack on the ball and body – We coaches demand it of our players week in and week out. It is not natural for all players, so they must be encouraged.
Communication – If you cannot get there with the body you must get there with the voice. Players must learn to communicate to instruct, remind, reward and encourage team-mates. Drills at training must include using the voice.
If caught behind, punch – All coaches place a strong value on players getting into the front position. It is a fact of life that players are going to get caught out of position at times and they must punch the ball instead of trying to mark. On ball players will work hard to get to the front position when players are disciplined in this area.

Punch away- (Rule change, no hands in the back) If caught behind punch. All coaches place a strong value on players getting into the front position, it is a fact players are going to get caught out of position at times and they must punch the ball instead on trying to mark. This creates the opportunity for the on ballers to work hard to the front position of the contest.

Accountability – Our game continues to change and being accountable for an opponent is an important part of how the game is being played. We call it pressure by presence. Players use their opponent as the starting point. When possession is lost and they are no longer required where the ball is, they must get back and be accountable.

First Option - Players must give off the ball to the player prepared to run. Do not hesitate when disposing of the ball. Reward the runner at all times. If the player who is running to receive is ignored, he will stop which creates a stop-start type game.
Move the ball quickly – Move the ball quickly by getting back off the mark, getting the ball going to the right option or handballing to players running past. Remember the longer it takes to get the ball into the forward line, the more likely that is available options will be covered.
Avoid U turns – This means players who have possession of the ball and are running away from their own goal should handball to a team-mate, rather than turn blind and then try to find the appropriate player.
Crumbing – front and square – Ground level players must work hard to compliment the marking players in a contest. Remember that if the marking player is behind, then the ball will be punched forward. Also if your player is in front then the opposition player who is behind is also going to punch. Your player must run hard to get into the right position.
No short kicks to contests (50/50) - Never kick short to a player whom is being protected by the opposition. Always look to kick longer to contest. The player who leads in short can then turn around and run with the flight of the ball and become the crumbing player.
When pressured kick – Never try to handball out of trouble. If players forward of the ball can see a team-mate under pressure and know they are going to kick, the first player can step in front of their opponent and be first to the ball. All players caught in between can run to crumb the ball front and square.
Stand the mark aggressively - When the opposition win the ball from a mark or free kick, slow them down by having your player aggressively standing the mark with his hands up. This will block the vision of the opponent and will cause him to hesitate. The quicker the hands are put up the further the opposition player has to go back to kick. This will give team-mates move time to man up.
Handball in vision – Players should always handball within their vision. Players are being taught to time their runs so they are not caught forward of the ball and make better position to receive. This area of our game is improving rapidly.

Work from behind the ball – Players should be encouraged to time their running so that they do not end up being forward of the contest too early. Too many players misjudge their runs and end up on the wrong side of the ball. When the opposition wins possession, your player should be between them and their goals.
Keep the ball alive in the forward line – As the opposition team will look to take the ball wide when under pressure and use the boundary (discreetly) to run out of play, forward players should always work hard to keep the ball alive.
Center the ball in the forward line – Apply as much pressure on the backline by getting the ball into the danger spot (approximately 20 metres) from the goals. This is the area where backmen feel the pressure as a mistake could cost them a goal. If the ball is brought in too wide, it is too easy for the backman to punch the ball to the boundary. In the danger area they can only punch forward or towards the boundary, but the ball will still be alive.
Run to create space – This is an important part of today’s game. Frequently players must run hard into space to open up an area for another team-mate to drop in to. It takes discipline and good timing, but this is very effective.
Chase hard (power running) on turn over – All players should follow this rule when possession is lost. Players must apply pressure on the opposition early, tackle strongly to cause a ball up or a turn over and never stand back and watch.

These are just some of the team rules that could be useful to your team. You won’t use all of them and in most instances they will need to be re-worded to suit your needs. Encourage players to develop additional rules and remember that they must be adhered to, at training and in a match situation, by all players.

TEAM RULES ARE THE IMPORTANT INGREDIENT FOR SUCCESS.