Spiral curriculum for progressive learning

The Bath Academy’s curriculum revisits core principles at increasing levels of complexity as players progress through age groups.

Using support space as an example:

• At age 14: Focus on basic principles, such as full-width field coverage.
• By age 18: Incorporate advanced formations, like 1-3-1 systems.

This spiral curriculum enables players to deepen their understanding, while building on prior knowledge. 

Lilley explains: "Supporting space at under-15 focuses on full width. By under-18, it evolves into having two sides of attack, or multiple layers of attack."

This approach ensures that foundational skills are never overlooked, while providing a clear technical and tactical growth pathway. 

Players gain confidence as they revisit familiar concepts, now with additional layers of complexity.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Develop a curriculum that builds progressively on foundational skills and concepts, tailoring it to players’ developmental stages. Use consistent themes and revisit key principles regularly to reinforce understanding.

• For example, in week one of a cycle, you might be working on securing quicker ball at the ruck. You revise the skills already covered. You might add an additional technical point. You practise it in different scenarios.

• Four weeks later, you revisit the same skill. Perhaps this time you don’t need to add more technical information. Instead, you have a more varied diet of scenarios, matching the pressure they might receive in the game.

• In another four weeks, you return to the same idea. The pattern is that you retrieve skills, put them under pressure, and add in decision-rich environments that they might be facing in the game.

• Mix into this what are sometimes called ‘primers’. These can be low-pressure, low-stakes activities just to keep reminding the players of their core skills. Don’t be surprised to see some basic techniques fade over time if you are not spending time revisiting them.

Ripples in the pond: doing, digesting and providing feedback

The overall idea is that coaches should design learning experiences with these factors in mind, to create an effective learning environment. 

Learning isn’t straightforward – it flows like ripples, moving back and forth, as learners gradually improve through repeated practice and understanding.

Wanting/needing to learn

The learner must want to learn, or they should be guided to understand why needing to learn is important. For example, a player who prefers ball carrying must see how passing can improve their opportunities to ball carry more effectively.

Doing

Learners need to actively practice what they are trying to learn. For example, if a player wants to improve passing the ball with their weaker hand, they need to practice this skill regularly.

Digesting

Players should also understand why they are learning a skill and the benefits it provides to them. This sense-making then helps them to see how that particular skill will be useful in the future.

Feedback

Feedback is key and can come from the learner themselves, peers, or a coach. It helps refine the learning process and clarify areas for improvement.

Teaching others

Being able to teach the skill to someone else demonstrates mastery. 

Designing effective sessions

Bath Academy categorises training sessions into three types.

These are: 

• Identity sessions: High-intensity, skill-focused sessions.
• Execution blocks: Game speed with realistic scenarios.
• Clarity sessions: Strategy-focused. Introduces and/or runs through team plays.

Walkthroughs are a critical element in any session, allowing players to process information before high-pressure execution. 

"You’ve got to be able to think slowly to think fast," Lilley emphasises.

This type of ’slow’ training was clearly evident at the England U18s academy session I saw, and did a similar deep dive on, last year.

Saracens Academy, which I have also previously visited, has a similar cycle of sessions, with one focused more on individual and collective resilience, another on skill mastery and the last on tactical cohesion.

At Bath, sessions are additionally designed with a clear intention for impact. Coaches adapt drills and exercises based on player age, skill level, and tactical needs. 

Lilley notes: “Your learning design should change, but your session objective stays consistent."

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Structure training sessions to balance skill development, game preparation and strategic clarity. This is easier if you have more than one session a week. However, you can still have chunks of training to match these themes.

• Incorporate walkthroughs to help players digest complex information. It can be challenging to slow the session down to do this considered thinking. However, it is rarely about standing and talking. Players and coaches can provide hot feedback – that is, straightaway – as they move through the plays.

• Always plan with a clear objective in mind. The aim should be about the impact you intend to make. It is up to the players whether they want to learn. You are providing opportunities to learn, test out their learning and reflect. For example: "Our objective is to explore how to attack when there is an overlap. We will do this with three different scenarios". For U13s, it might be looking at a 2v1 or a 4v2. For U18s, you might add in more players. What changes are the time, space and speed of the exercise.

Positive reinforcement and mental preparation

At Bath Academy, positive reinforcement is a cornerstone of player development.

Analysts and coaches focus on spotting people being good, rather than emphasising mistakes. Players are rewarded with small, but meaningful, gestures, such as wearing a ’reward’ bib for the session, to reinforce positive behaviours.

The analysts measure particular behaviours that fit into the team’s game model. For example, "snap and present" is when the ball carrier makes a conscious effort to place the ball after the tackle. These are then translated into percentages for the team, with a target to improve.

Mental performance is also prioritised, with psychologists addressing factors like coping with pressure. Lilley notes: "Often, why high-potential players don’t make it isn’t about physicality or technique – it’s the mental stuff."

The academy’s psychologist works closely with players, introducing mental techniques from a young age. This early focus ensures that players are better equipped to handle the pressures of professional rugby as they progress.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Foster a positive environment by celebrating successes. At the beginning of each session, award two bibs to reward players from the previous session. It might be based on effort. However, Bath were keen to highlight specific behaviours based on its missions.
• For example, if you want your players to be more energetic in defence, you might have a ’Relentless D’ bib, and a ’Ruck Boss’ bib for the player who makes the most difference in the contact area. Make sure you have a clear reason for that player receiving it. It can be based on improvement, not just on the best player.
• Incorporate mental skills training to build resilience and focus. While not every team will have access to a psychologist, you can still think about how to help players understand their emotions. Click here to find further ideas to use.
• One way is to encourage players to embrace challenges as opportunities for growth. Language like "We want you to explore and make mistakes so you can learn and get better" needs to underpin every challenge.

Video playbooks for clarity

To ensure a consistent understanding of game principles, Bath Academy has developed a video library showcasing key concepts in action.

These videos feature academy players and first-team examples to provide real-life context, but also footage from international games.

"We’ve got tons of videos to show exactly what we’re looking for. That’s critical for alignment," says Lilley.

These playbooks allow coaches to deliver a unified message across the academy. Players can see specific examples of techniques and strategies, helping them to internalise the game model more effectively.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Use video analysis to demonstrate concepts clearly and reinforce learning. Very short clips from your own games can work, but the Bath academy uses footage from many other sources. It is better to show technical outcomes, rather than involved plays.

• Share these examples to align player and coach understanding. Once shared, encourage players to watch and analyse these examples to deepen their game awareness. Ask them how they picture themselves being able to use those skills.

• If you are using a shared area, organise the clips by key terms in your game model. While Bath had "tons" of clips, you can start with a few and build up. Lots of clips might overwhelm players.

Keeping players in the game

Recognising that not all academy players will turn professional, Bath Academy prioritises creating shared positive experiences to keep players engaged.

Residential trips and strong coach-player relationships foster a sense of belonging.

"We want to keep boys involved in the game, even if they don’t make it professionally," Lilley highlights.

These experiences not only build camaraderie but also instil a lifelong love for the sport.

Players leave the academy with fond memories and valuable skills, whether they pursue rugby professionally or recreationally.

In the pre-training meeting, the coaches were keen to build on player connections and make light of the coaching relationships and pratfalls. This was clearly authentic, and important to see that the coaching group were human.

Building bonds
Recently, one coach mentioned to me that one of their players had told them that they didn’t know how to start a conversation with another player, so they found it hard to make friends.

While not every player will admit that to you, you can model this behaviour in training.

For example, try mixing up players into pairs who may not be close friends. Then say: “Ask each other what their favourite weather is to play rugby in”, or “What is their favourite post-match meal?”.

This helps create opportunities for players to build lasting relationships and memories because they are beginning to share themselves outside of rugby.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Focus on the broader value of rugby by fostering enjoyment and strong connections within your team. Not every team member will be ready for high jinks or banter. Getting to know what they value from the team allows you to cater to their needs.

Simplifying rugby’s complexity

Lilley describes rugby as a simple game made unnecessarily complex at times.

His approach emphasises breaking down information into manageable chunks to avoid overwhelming players.

"Clarity brings execution. Execution brings intensity. Intensity brings performance,” he explains.

By focusing on clear and concise messaging, Bath Academy ensures players can execute under pressure without overthinking. 

This clarity is especially vital during high stakes matches, where quick decision-making is crucial.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Simplify messaging during training. To do this you will need to think carefully about what language to use. What are the most important words? Can you say less?

• Focus on clear, actionable objectives to maximise player understanding and performance. Good feedback is often focused on what they can do next rather than what they should have done. Even better, it should be something you have already been talking about.

• Avoid overloading players with information. Test this out by asking the players to recap the key points at the end of the session. While it is good practice to get them to reflect, it will also act as a clear indicator to check if you have been clear with your communication, and haven’t confused them with too many different threads.

Continuous learning and refinement

Lilley’s approach is rooted in a commitment to continuous improvement.

Drawing from his teaching background, he integrates educational theories like formative assessment and shared mental models into rugby coaching.

"I try to read as much as I can and apply it practically. It’s about making it accessible to players and coaches alike," he says.

Coaches are encouraged to reflect on their methods regularly and seek feedback from peers and players. 

This culture of learning ensures that the academy’s practices evolve to meet the demands of modern rugby.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Stay open to learning and adapt your methods based on new insights. Practical application of educational theories can enhance coaching effectiveness. Encourage feedback to refine your coaching strategies.

How a Bath Academy training session works

Engaging team meetings

Before the session, the Bath Academy players met in the clubhouse bar for a meeting, the main focus of which was on the next game, against the Bristol Bears academy.

At this level, all teams have access to footage of the other teams’ games, so they are privileged to have some insight into what’s coming. 

However, there is a significant turnover of players, so it may be challenging to identify specific threats. 

For example, many teams will be dictated by how the fly-half runs a game, or specific running threats. 

Therefore, much of the analysis was around how the opposition was set up to play, rather than focusing on individual players.

Here’s how the meeting was broken down:

• Last week’s performance.
• How Bristol will play.
• How we will play.
• What will happen in training.

Meeting energisers

There is a high expectation for the players to engage in the meeting. However, the coaches clearly think hard about breaking up the delivery. 

First, they used simple ’thinking hard’ techniques, like ’think-pair-share’, where players turned to the person next to them to devise ways to solve a problem or change an action. The coach then asked a pair to share their thoughts.

Second, the coaches made fun of each other in their rugby actions in some of the game scenarios. It showed them to be humble and approachable. 

Third, about halfway through the meeting, Lilley made the pairs play thumb wars. Again, this is a good way to lighten the moment, before focusing back on the meeting.

Meeting routines

The meeting ran smoothly because of the high expectations that are set. 

Players know when to be quiet and when to talk. They also know that they may be asked a question at any time.

’Think-pair-share’ is a good way to create an interactive environment, but players need to understand how it works and why.

At one point during the meeting, one of the coaches asked the players to hold up their notebooks. Writing down key points or focuses is a vital learning device for players. 

While some players may find this more challenging than others, they can be supported to show them, first, the value of doing it, but also further ways to make the best use of their writing ability.

THE RIGHT BEHAVIOUR PICTURE

One of the areas the Bath Academy is really keen to work on is their discipline.

This is particularly important when a referee is strict on teams that talk back after a decision. The consequences range from marching back 10m, to receiving a yellow card for dissent. 

At academy level, 10 metres can be the difference between a kick to touch or a kick at goal.

In the meeting, the group were showed examples of times when a referee penalised a team for arguing a decision. They were then shown footage of this happening during training.

The group were challenged to think of how they might react to a decision they disagreed with, turning to the person next to them to discuss.

In one sense, the answer is obvious: accept the decision and move back into position. 

However, the focus was on what looked better and what was said.

Also, by getting the players to discuss it, there was a sense of a collective agreement on what was acceptable.

A player saying out loud to another player how they are going to act creates an unwritten contract that they can be held accountable for.

Last week’s performance

As we mentioned, Bath Academy have a clear game model.

This informed the analysis of the previous game, and areas they focused their game plan on, which I obviously can’t share in exact detail.

Rugby game-model principles are not too different between teams. The difference comes in how you hold your team accountable for their performance, and the detail on how they might achieve those goals.

The Bath Academy uses an Avengers theme as a metaphor in several key areas. We have talked about the power of theming in RCW previously.

Lilley wants his team to be relentless in attack. He picked out four key metrics: ball in the contact and ball placement; reading the game; winning the breakdown; and recycling themselves into the game.

Stats + models = deep learning

They looked at the statistics from the last game. A positive outcome in a snapback, for instance, was when a player was tackled and made every effort to move their body to present the ball towards their team.

The coach showed clips of players doing this in training every time and, then, repeating this in the match. It was clear that this was the expected standard. Even so, this needs to be modelled, and good practice is noticed and celebrated.

The best player for that week was picked out, and they received a special bib to wear for the session.

The statistics were expressed in percentages. Not every contact situation counted, because a player might have been compromised, perhaps by a team-mate crashing into them.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Bath Academy can focus on a number of key metrics for their attacking game model, due to their analytical resources. For teams at lower levels, this is impractical. However, just having two is an excellent outcome and will supercharge performance, because they are a focus. As a consequence, other parts of the game will self-organise around them.

HOW ANOTHER TEAM PLAYED

Having coached several of the Bristol players, it was strange to see them analysed by another team.

However, the emphasis was on the style of play, rather than specific player strengths.

Professional teams can replicate some of the opposition shapes, in order to run their plays in attack and defence in training. This is a luxury for most, and Bath didn’t have time to do this.

But they used primers for specific skills (like ball presentation and tackle height) and semi-opposed plays, which they would use to break down the opposition.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• At the top level, it’s possible to anticipate opposition patterns and adjust. For most other sides, it is good to note how they preferred to kick-off after any game, how they liked to play from their 22 and on the halfway line, and what they did from lineouts and scrums.
• You can then give your players specific cues to watch out for. For example, if the opposition sets up in a certain way, you might expect them to attack in a certain way, too. You might also know in advance what sort of defence they run, so you can think ahead about which moves you might use.
• Avoid introducing new plays for the weekend game during the week before. Instead, delve into your current toolbox and remind yourselves of your options.

HOW WE WILL PLAY

Everything is driven by the game model. The themes are constantly being hammered home.

The team drivers, which are, in essence, the unit captains and senior players, are a very big part of the specific game plan for the next game.

In the meeting, the team was reminded of what happens where on the pitch, so, while there would be some variation in the calls, it was from a small menu of options. 

In the game, players would be in a position for a set piece and have a good idea of the calls. 

This reduces the anxiety around roles and allows them to think about how to execute effectively and be creative within those roles.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Create a menu of options for the team drivers.
• Map out where you might use certain plays.

THE SHAPE OF TRAINING

The last part of the indoor session was focused on the training plan.

You can see an outline of the session plan here (right). The playing group don’t see the detail you have prepared. It is important there are some spaces on what the players need to understand. 

Too much information will overload them; some mystery is also a good thing. However, by going through the broad elements, the players will understand the look and feel of what they are doing. This means they can bring the right energy at the correct times. 

You don’t need to go full blast when they are running through patterns or working on some technical part of the skill. Yet, the team drivers can help the coaches to ramp up the energy when they move into the game-play elements of the session.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• How much of the session are you prepared to share with the players? There are some practical implications, like having an indoor space if the weather is poor, or the time you have available. With an U10s team, a brief outline at the start should be sufficient.
• In my experience of coaching a performance team, the leaders want to have a say. Sharing the outline with them, and even encouraging them to co-design some of the content, is a powerful way of giving them further opportunities to grow as players.
• It was clear that the Bath U18 players had a decisive say in a number of the training elements. However, this needs time to model, gain trust and know where input is most valuable.