Would an athlete be inclined to listen to an overweight coach?

[FujiKiwi]

From memory, Steven Luatua, who was on the fringes of the All Black setup for a couple of years was told in no uncertain terms that he wasn't fit enough for the All Blacks.

By Steve Hanson.

I'm not an athlete, but I just feel that if I were told to get myself in better shape by someone who was obviously not in good nick themselves, it would really irritate me, even if they were technically correct.

[ASMO]

well the coach is there to coach, there is no fitness/weight requirement to be a coach, just knowledge, a player on the other hand is there to play and a core requirement is to be fit and not overweight.

I run development teams with lots of very skilled infrastructure engineers and coders, far more knowledge than i have, but i still manage them becuase i am (i believe) a very good manager.

[sockwithaticket]

From memory, Steven Luatua, who was on the fringes of the All Black setup for a couple of years was told in no uncertain terms that he wasn't fit enough for the All Blacks.

By Steve Hanson.

I'm not an athlete, but I just feel that if I were told to get myself in better shape by someone who was obviously not in good nick themselves, it would really irritate me, even if they were technically correct.

Perhaps, but the test of your professionalism would be can you get past the irritation and do what's necessary.

There's plenty in the medical fields who don't lead particularly healthy lives, but they still know what they're talking about when making recommendations for others.

[Uncle fester]

To look at it a different way, would you as a player be impressed with a coach trying to pretend he's still "one of the boys"?

[Sandstorm]

Is Os du Randt ever going to be slim? Should ROG or Os coach the forwards?

[FujiKiwi]

About ten years ago I was overweight and my missus was worried about me. She pestered me for ages to go to a nutritionist. When I finally went, the nutritionist gave me tons of good advice and information.

I ignored all of it because the nutritionist was much more overweight than I was.

That wasn’t smart on my part. And I ended up with diabetes.

But for me, if someone is telling me to do something they aren’t obviously capable of doing themselves, it irks me. I am sure athletes feel the same.

[Biffer]

Another bash Rassie thread, oh dear guys.

[FujiKiwi]

Another bash Rassie thread, oh dear guys.

The two coaches I have read about as discussing how players need to get in shape are Steve Hansen and Ian Foster. They're the ones I had in mind.

I am sure Rassie wouldn't be involved in such a thing.

Because he never has double standards.

[Ymx]

To look at it a different way, would you as a player be impressed with a coach trying to pretend he's still "one of the boys"?

Exception for Razor of course.

[Biffer]

Another bash Rassie thread, oh dear guys.

The two coaches I have read about as discussing how players need to get in shape are Steve Hansen and Ian Foster. They're the ones I had in mind.

I am sure Rassie wouldn't be involved in such a thing.

Because he never has double standards.

I'm just trying to needle the saffers, stop spoiling my fun

[Niegs]

I've been one of those and never have a problem - even get kudos from some over provincial coaches they've had! - because I know what I'm talking about and have spent a LOT of time to know more about what the backs do. I even took the opportunity to play some organized Touch to put myself in a 'backs' position to understand it better. I'm less and less likely to demonstrate, but am getting a deeper knowledge of the hows and whys.

ASMO's comment on managing is spot-on. Your underlings might know more about the ins and outs of a thing, but as long as you have a good overview of what they do and how it all intertwines, they'll follow (I think).

[Rhubarb & Custard]

Right out of the blocks a coach in good shape likely makes a better first impression. But over time the player is going to care about how the coach picks them or not, and develops them and the team or not, and whether they win stuff. Jonny Wilkinson was willing to endure any amount of pain inflicted on him in the name of fitness by Steve Black, and not because of how Black looked

[FujiKiwi]

I understand that a coach doesn't need to be in great physical shape to be a fine coach.

But if it ever comes to laying down the law about a player's physical condition, it must be extremely grating—and uninspiring—for the coach themselves to be unhealthily overweight.

At the levels some of us have coached and played at, we'd likely never dream of a coach telling a player they're not fit enough.

It happens at the highest levels, though, obviously.

[Marylandolorian]

Yes they would. One of the best coach ( if not the #1) in Top14 is Christophe Urios.

In French below, but the stats board is easy to understand. Champion Pro2 ( Oyonax) / champion Top14(Castres)
First Season with Bordeaux , 2019 was 1st when pandemic stopped everything, 2020/21 semifinals in Challenge Cup, Euro Cup and Top14 , both times beaten by Toulouse.
During interviews all the players said that his approach made them much better players.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christophe_Urios

[laurent]

Yes they would. One of the best coach ( if not the #1) in Top14 is Christophe Urios.

In French below, but the stats board is easy to understand. Champion Pro2 ( Oyonax) / champion Top14(Castres)
First Season with Bordeaux , 2019 was 1st when pandemic stopped everything, 2020/21 semifinals in Challenge Cup, Euro Cup and Top14 , both times beaten by Toulouse.
During interviews all the players said that his approach made them much better players.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christophe_Urios

Not a nice guy as far as I heard but apparently a good coach.

[Uncle fester]

Yes they would. One of the best coach ( if not the #1) in Top14 is Christophe Urios.

In French below, but the stats board is easy to understand. Champion Pro2 ( Oyonax) / champion Top14(Castres)
First Season with Bordeaux , 2019 was 1st when pandemic stopped everything, 2020/21 semifinals in Challenge Cup, Euro Cup and Top14 , both times beaten by Toulouse.
During interviews all the players said that his approach made them much better players.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christophe_Urios

Not a nice guy as far as I heard but apparently a good coach.

Bit of a default setting for most top coaches, isn't it?

[laurent]

Yes they would. One of the best coach ( if not the #1) in Top14 is Christophe Urios.

In French below, but the stats board is easy to understand. Champion Pro2 ( Oyonax) / champion Top14(Castres)
First Season with Bordeaux , 2019 was 1st when pandemic stopped everything, 2020/21 semifinals in Challenge Cup, Euro Cup and Top14 , both times beaten by Toulouse.
During interviews all the players said that his approach made them much better players.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christophe_Urios

Not a nice guy as far as I heard but apparently a good coach.

Bit of a default setting for most top coaches, isn't it?

Not sure, I was very impressed for the short amount of time Alex Wyllie was at 'tarf (he took some time to tell us in the J5 we were doing it wrong) and he was nice about it (not sure the J5 coach took it well ).

Also I never heard anything bad about Galthier's second in command in Montpellier Eric Béchu (unfortunately died of cancer).

[Marylandolorian]

Yes they would. One of the best coach ( if not the #1) in Top14 is Christophe Urios.

In French below, but the stats board is easy to understand. Champion Pro2 ( Oyonax) / champion Top14(Castres)
First Season with Bordeaux , 2019 was 1st when pandemic stopped everything, 2020/21 semifinals in Challenge Cup, Euro Cup and Top14 , both times beaten by Toulouse.
During interviews all the players said that his approach made them much better players.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christophe_Urios

Not a nice guy as far as I heard but apparently a good coach.

Bit of a default setting for most top coaches, isn't it?

I couldn’t stand him when he was at Castres, when watching a game we would hear his big deep voice non stop from the side line.
Since he has been with Bordeaux , not a peep out of him. He explained that he had to do it at Castres because the type of players he had, but Bx was very different and it’s more the way he likes to do it.

BTW very nice guy but hard working type, starts his days at 4-5 AM until 11pm, sleeps only 5h/night.
His true passion is wine making, bought a property: chateau Pépusque, watch some of his interviews .

[fishfoodie]

Paul Stirling says hi from the 100

[Niegs]

Not a nice guy as far as I heard but apparently a good coach.

Bit of a default setting for most top coaches, isn't it?

I couldn’t stand him when he was at Castres, when watching a game we would hear his big deep voice non stop from the side line.
Since he has been with Bordeaux , not a peep out of him. He explained that he had to do it at Castres because the type of players he had, but Bx was very different and it’s more the way he likes to do it.

BTW very nice guy but hard working type, starts his days at 4-5 AM until 11pm, sleeps only 5h/night.
His true passion is wine making, bought a property: chateau Pépusque, watch some of his interviews .

What are some of the qualities that make him a good coach?

[mat the expat]

About ten years ago I was overweight and my missus was worried about me. She pestered me for ages to go to a nutritionist. When I finally went, the nutritionist gave me tons of good advice and information.

I ignored all of it because the nutritionist was much more overweight than I was.

That wasn’t smart on my part. And I ended up with diabetes.

But for me, if someone is telling me to do something they aren’t obviously capable of doing themselves, it irks me. I am sure athletes feel the same.

In fairness, that's down to pig-headness on your part really.

I'm an ex IT Tech, my home setup is terrible as I can't be arsed working on kit at home when I did it all day

Expert advice is just that