Merlin Gape O'Donnell - Part 1 - Developing Young Players

The Journey of a Grassroots Rugby Coach (More Tracksuits less Business Suits)

This is part 1 of a 2 part sepisode

In this episode I speak with Merlin Gape O'Donnell.

Merlin works in sports development and has previously worked for England Rugby as a Community Rugby Coach.

He is currently one of the U15 DPP lead coaches for Harlequins in the UK and is currently in his sixth season for the club.

In his former Director of Rugby role at Weybridge Vandals, Merlin established a player pathway to transition young players into senior rugby and created the club’s first U21 side.

He has previous coaching roles that include being a lead coach for Surrey Rugby’s developing player programme and Head of Varsity Rugby at an American school based in England.

He has also worked as a performance analyst for London Welsh and for Wales Women whilst studying Sports Coaching & Performance at the University of South Wales.

In part one we spoke about having a blend between player led and coach led training and what gives your team energy and what takes it away.

Adapting training games to suit player ability and also how a lot of coaches are not designing sessions to develop players but to just prepare them for the next game.