Keeping the eyes Open
From TurboCASH Wiki
This pic is entitled "Butch James Crashes into Meyer Bosman". Cape Argus 1 August 2006. - It looks like two teddy bears bumping tummies.
- This is absolutely shocking Contact positioning. Butch is taking his head out of the contest and will ultimately loose. This is not a random event it is an endemic problem
- The photograph is Skewed thin, but nevertheless shows a completed underdeveloped lower body from James. Like this, he will be stopping noone.
- Both players have their eyes closed on contact!
Nick's Blog covered contact positioning. Let me focus on on the problem of the eyes.
This is crucial to the Butch James shoulder tackle problem (not his attitude) This same coaching error is suffered by Jean de Villiers.
The way I fix this problem is to place Helmets and Pads on both myself and the player and then Tie hands (like a Knife fight).
Start Slowly banging heads straight face on into each other while looking into each others eyes. Bit by bit increase the tempo and the intensity. I keep him focused on looking me straight in the eye. I start verbally abusing him, calling his mother nasty names...
First one to blink is a pussy.
Vary by putting 5 or six players in a row in linebacker stance, in helmets, in turn players runs down the line hitting each one in turn face on face. Make sure that eye contact is maintained.
A few session of this soon fixes this problem. Revisit whenever technique slips. Regularly check in gym that athlete does not close his eyes on any exertion (Bench, Squat) - it is more common than you think.
