Coming off the back of arguably their most successful season in University history, the UEL men’s rugby team were looking to defend their title with a squad packed with talent. Unfortunately like all other sports clubs at UEL and across the UK, the season has been majorly disrupted by government restrictions.
Despite this feeling of frustration, UEL Rugby finds itself in a healthy state whenever the season does kick-off. This is no small part due to the return of Sid Young as head coach, who will be returning to East London for a second season in charge.
Home Town Hero
As an East London native, Sid understands the challenges that face Rugby in the area. These challenges may well be enough to put off coaches taking on the role, for Sid however it is challenges like these that provoke an instinct to not only crack on but strive for excellence.
When asked about what the biggest challenges were with coaching a University team, Young highlighted the turnover in players due to graduation as a key area.
“It’s always tough because with University Rugby the biggest challenge is always turnover of players. You have a new set of players every year, so it’s difficult to say consistently that we have a really strong Rugby program because it simply might not be the case.” he noted.
Whilst this is not a headline grabbing statement as one would expect with the average university student being on campus for three to four years, it is certainly an interesting consideration for university coaches to consider when designing and developing a sporting program. However, this is a challenge that UEL were certainly upfront about with Young in their initial discussions.
“They told me when I came in as head coach that I may be coaching just a first team or I may be coaching a first team, second team and women’s team. You just don’t know so we have that to contend with.” He said.
Taking all of this in his stride, Young is clear that the University cannot dictate how good the players coming in may be. Young would therefore be forgiven for excusing inconsistent play, this however just isn’t in his nature.
Providing The Platform
“The University itself can’t have any impact on how good the players are. That’s up to them and that up to me to figure out how good they are and then help them along that way. What the University can do is help with getting as many people as they can involved with the sport.”
“it’s probably a bit arrogant of me to say this as the rugby coach but rugby does tend to be one of those highlights of University sport. When you think of the Oxford and Cambridge varsity rivalry people think of the rugby match. So, the more of a spotlight we can on rugby at UEL the better, the more players it would attract and with a bigger pool of players you’ve just always got a bigger arsenal to pick from.” He said.
This statement alone shows why Young is the right man for the job when it comes to UEL Rugby as it shows a clear understanding that he is in the role to develop players so that despite the turnover in numbers in each year, the club can have a form of continuity in terms of standards that will be passed on to income players.
This belief in developing a culture is something that Young holds close due to his own personal experiences within the sport, from his early days as “late” starter as he calls himself to today as a head coach.
Building Relationships
“I learned so much because I was surrounded by players who had been in academies all over the country, but equally I always played against players that I could sometimes get the better of so that was the perfect combination for me to be able to grow and progress but that is difficult if you’ve got smaller numbers.”
Drawing on this experience and his natural ability to teach it is clear that UEL Rugby players have a real opportunity to take their game to the next level whenever the club returns to the pitch. As is the case for every UEL Sports team at the moment the plan is to remain optimistic and be ready and with Sid Young in charge there is no doubt that UEL Rugby is in great hands.
