Alex Bailey

I have 5 years of coaching experience. I was a Rugby Development Coach for the Kenyon College Men's Rugby Club for two years, and have worked in the Canton, OH area as an independent rugby coach for players from high school up to adult amateur players for one year. I have World Rugby and USA Rugby certifications and qualifications, and am currently studying for the World Rugby Level 2 coaching certification.

For non-rugby coaching experience I specialize in sport-specific athletic conditioning and focusing on traits such as endurance, agility, acceleration, and flexibility. I also help athletes improve on their fundamentals, which are one of the most important abilities to have in any sport. I began my coaching career as an assistant soccer coach at Walter Hays Elementary School. I have worked as a one-on-one swim coach at Decathlon Sports Club, as well as an independent off-season conditioning coach in the South bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, working with athletes in various sports including, basketball, soccer, softball, and rugby to prepare them to meet and exceed their goals for the coming season.

Growing up in England, I first played rugby when I was 8 years old and played it until a concussion and neck injury led me to switch from playing to coaching. From 6-8 grades I represented the school, playing as a flanker, and in 8th grade I was named captain. When I moved to high school I played first as a fly-half, then as either a wing or a Full-back. I received three "Man of the Match" awards, and was commended for my high tackle percentage. In college I played rugby for Kenyon College in DIII. In my only year as a player, the team won the Pittsburgh invitational tournament. I also personally won the Ironman award at the end of the season for having the highest tackling percentage. At the beginning of the following season, I suffered the neck injury and concussion. After that incident I became a development coach for the team, coaching players new to the game and those needing to improve fundamental skills such as passing and tackling. At this point I also began playing top division squash for the college as a reserve, and was called into the 9 man squad for the Navy Invitational in Annapolis and in a few other matches.

In high school I was a multi-sport varsity athlete for all four years. I represented my school playing Rugby, Soccer, Field Hockey, Tennis, Fencing, Cricket, and Javelin. Throughout my high school career, I was regularly acknowledged for being the most consistent player on the team; someone that coach could trust to put in any situation and maintain a high level of performance. My field hockey coach in freshman year told the team "consistency is the most valuable trait an athlete can have". I took these words to heart, and was able to succeed in many drastically different sports because I took time to study the game and develop my fundamentals.

I have two types of sessions: skill oriented and conditioning oriented.

A skill session would look like this (examples given for a kicking skill session):
Begin with low paced warm up exercises involving the skill being trained (begin with drop kicks and punts to warm up).
Move into a higher intensity exercises focusing on the skill (set up conversion attempts from several positions around the posts).
Depending on the skill being trained, we may also run through several other exercises that help to insert the skill into regular play (Practice some situational kicks like box kicking, kicking to touch, restarts).
Throughout the session I talk with the athlete about any background strategy that applies to the activity or skill being practiced.

A conditioning session would look like this (examples given for a general rugby conditioning session [backs/forwards]):
Begin with dynamic stretches and jogs to warm up the muscles (cycle through stretches while walking around the pitch, once the halfway point is reached, begin jogging, then sprint from the 22 to the try line).
Move onto a high intensity exercise (run two sets of suicides: try line, 22, halfway, far 22, far try line).
Move to 'long distance' exercises (run cross-field sprints: start on the try line at a corner, sprint to the far tryline's opposite corner, walk or jog the try line, then sprint the other diagonal).
Perform a 'warm down' exercise (jogging around the pitch).