The Girls Rugby Club has joined forces with The School of Kicking, a rugby kicking coaching platform led by globally renowned kicking guru Dave Alred.
The partnership will see School of Kicking coaches, World Rugby Women’s 15s Player of the Year and this year’s Six Nations Player of the Year Emily Scarratt and England team-mate, Rugby World Cup winner Katy Daley-McLean come on board as specialist kicking coaches.
The pair will host online kicking courses, in addition to face-to-face workshops throughout the country in conjunction with the Girls Rugby Club.
Girls Rugby Club founder and former England international, Rachael Burford said, “It’s always been our aim at the Girls Rugby Club to provide holistic rugby coaching for players of all positions. Kicking has traditionally been an area of improvement for many women and girls in rugby and we know that being female we have different biomechanics, different hip to leg ratio, different power and therefore different needs from coaches. As with all of our coaching we seek out the experts and take a female-specific approach and so we’re delighted to have Emily and Katy joining us as arguably the best female kickers in the world.”
The School of Kicking is a specialist kicking coaching platform founded by Jonny Wilkinson’s renowned kicking coach Dave Alred MBE. Alred has and continues to work with the biggest names in the game including Beauden Barrett, James O’Connor, Stuart Barnes, Jonathan Webb, Matt Burke, Morné Steyn, Rob Andrew, Jonny Sexton and George Ford and is currently the kicking coach for the Queensland Reds.
Head coach of the School of Kicking is former professional rugby player and current RFU Level 3 coach Tony Yapp. Over the course of a 12-season playing career, Tony turned out for Bedford, Worcester, Randwick (Aus), Exeter Chiefs, Launceston and later Taunton Titans. He also represented England Under 21s, England A and the Barbarians. For the past five seasons Tony has worked as kicking coach of the England Women’s Under 20s and is a longtime supporter of the Red Roses having watched his sister Jo Yapp play in three World Cups and a sevens World Cup throughout her own career.
Scarratt and Daley-McLean will take female rugby players of all ages and abilities through drills and scenarios designed specifically for kickers, to help them master everything from punting, goal kicking, drop goals and everything in between. The sessions will be based on the principles of Dave Alred and designed to give kickers the tools to develop their own style and ability.
“There are so many talented and enthusiastic female rugby players out there, but they just haven’t had the access to the specialist coaching they need to take their rugby kicking further. We’ve been working with Dave and seen the impact of his coaching first-hand and so we’re looking forward to putting those same principles into play for more girls as part of this new partnership with the Girls Rugby Club,” said Scarratt.
“Kicking is one area of rugby where you’re often on your own or self-taught up to a certain level and it’s a lot to take on as a young player. YouTube and watching other players can only take you so far. We’re really excited to be able to offer expert coaching and to pass on some of the knowledge we’ve gained from working with Dave,” Daley-McLean said.