Manuel believes success starts by giving everything everyday
David Manuel realizes that there is a major responsibility on his shoulders as the new coach of Tuks’ Varsity Cup team.
It is not every four years – it is every day.
This motto of the United States Olympic Committee is what the newly appointed coach of the Tuks Varsity Cup rugby team, David Manuel, wants to install to his players.
“I have done some reading on coaching and sport and concluded that one of the biggest mistakes athletes and players make are to postpone things. Their thinking being it is okay to be slag today I will make up for it tomorrow, but the reality is that they seldom do. In the end, a team or an athlete loses in the final, and they don’t understand why it happened,” said Manuel at one of his team’s preparation sessions last week.
“I want my players to understand that there is a delicate balance between daily input and the outcome. Take the athletes who compete in an extreme sport if they don’t commit a 100% each day there is real chance that they can die. As a coach, I want to create an environment where if a player does not give his all during training he knows there will be consequences. I want them to accept responsibility not only for their performances but for the team and the goals we set,” Manuel explained his coaching philosophy.
It may sound as if Manuel is a hard, merciless taskmaster but he is not. He is just passionate about rugby and a perfectionist.
According to Manuel when he started out as a coach he was under the impression of needing to be soft on his players. Refraining from giving an honest assessment when he was in fact not happy with what happened on the field.
“But through experience, I realised when you care there are times that you got to be brutally honest because if a player fails it means that you as a coach has also failed.”
Manuel is aware of the fact that there are a lot of expectations because Tuks are the defending Varsity Cup Champions.
“I am used to it. The reality is it does not matter which team you coach there will always be expectations that you will enable it to be victorious. So the challenge as a coach is how you are going to handle the pressure. Personally, I never want my players to be affected by outside expectations.
“We will talk once about the Varsity Cup Campaign and our aspirations; then we will leave it at that. As I have said, I want to create a winning environment. To do so will mean that each player will have to improve each day. If I succeed, it will mean creating championships individuals.”
In his playing days, Manuel was considered to be a real talented fullback. He played for the South African Schools Team, South African under-21 team, Blue Bulls under-21 and Griquas.
But according to him, he ended up being his own worst enemy. That led to him making wrong decisions at crucial times which eventually is why he never got to fulfil his potential as a player, quitting when only 25. He then started to coach.
Therefore it is no surprise that being patient is one of the things Manuel keep emphasising when coaching.
“Not everybody gets to impact immediately on the senior rugby scene. Young players should learn to bide their time,” Manual concluded.
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