How can I improve my rugby skills?

Question

Every time i get the ball I drop it. Can any one help and give me sum suggestions

Answer 1

Just buy some gloves and keep practising. I didnt  use to be to good at catching but now i rarely drop the ball.

Answer 2

I used to be the same way. I started off VERY uncoordinated and it took me about three years to get it straight. I think you can do it quicker though!

The "secret," really, is to touch the ball as much as possible. You are building your muscle memory, and your hands are literally learning to catch this object. Repetition, repetition, REPETITION is the key.

Get to practice first, and just throw the ball to yourself. Don't concern yourself with catching the "hard" throws or the far throws... just pop the ball up a little bit and catch it. Juggle it around in your hands a bit.

When the next person shows up, just play a little catch back and forth while chatting. Make it casual, don't try to throw halfway cross the pitch. Just get your hands accustomed to the ball.

If you can afford it, buy your own rugby ball to carry around with you while you are not at practice. Juggle it throughout the day when you have time. As you get better, you can try to bounce it once off a wall.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

Just get a footy and start bombing it up in the air then catch it. Or get your mates to kick it up.If its someone passing it to you then just make sure you put your hands up and make a taget to the ball holder to pass to. (say near your chest) I used to play wing and always got nervous and dropped it. But I did things like talk to the outside centre and got him to pass it to the spot I wanted it passed to. But now I play flanker so not so many ball pos's. Maybe try being in the foward pack.

Answer 4

Get off the computer and get onto the training pitch.

Answer 5

If it's in the catch, try practicing catching a tennis ball.  You can bounce it against the wall or against the ground.  When you get good at that, you can switch to one of those funky shaped agility or reaction balls, and/or to a golf ball.  Don't forget to practice catching high balls as well.

If it's while running, walk around with a ball in your hands for a week.  Sleep with it, eat with it, etc.  In college we used to do this for people who had bad hands.  The rest of the team would try to steal it away any time they saw the person (sometimes even running into their classes and tackling them).  If someone else besides the person who was supposed to have the ball brought it to practice that week, the guy who was supposed to have the ball had to run two miles.

If it's in the tackle, practice holding on to the ball with both hands and turning to present to your team while someone is trying to pull the ball out of your hands.

Answer 6

Get a (clean) rugby ball and have it with you all the time at home.  Just when you're chilling on the couch or whatever, have it in your hands and pass it from one hand to another, spin the ball on your palm, throw it up and catch it, that kind of thing.  

Go to the park whenever you have some spare time with a couple mates and play a game of touch or even just have some passes and kicks.

Also, fitness is a big part of handling skills, when you're worn out, your reflexes arent as good.

Don't buy the gloves, they're a waste of money.  Look at the international players, maybe one player on a team has them. If they worked as well as some people expect them to, every player would have them.

Answer 7

familiarise yourself with it. keep one on you 24/ 7. play catch with yourself, throw it against a wall, juggle it, juggle it between your legs, around your body, juggle it around you while running laps, or on a treadmill, or whatever.

just keep it in hand as much as possible. throw it around and catch it as much as possible.

it will help to also catch smaller balls and random bouncing balls. get a tennis ball, throw it around, catch it, juggle it, etc. same with an agility ball. throw it against a wall and catch it.

ive been playing rugby for 24 years and one thing ive realised just lately is that i dont always look at the ball. i see it when it leaves the passers hands and calculate where its going to be while i start focusing on looking at the defense. and thats the cause of many of the balls that i drop. so another tip is to keep your eyes on the ball.

Answer 8

It's a well known fact that all top level rugby players learnt their skills by asking daft questions in here, surely you knew that?

Minor points to consider would be your natural ability to play the game, your fitness, your strength, your ball skills etc. Don't worry about these, they are all easily achievable simply by asking more questions on Y!A.

It was once thought that it took many years of training and playing to become proficient at rugby, but with the advent of the internet it is now the norm for most players to acquire the basic skills simply by posting questions in here, then following the ill-informed (and sometimes downright dangerous) advice given by other rugby wannabe's

You Americans never cease to crack me up with your stupidity