Caught up in full schedule of coaching endeavour
WHEN Kane Jury returned to New Zealand after a decade in Hong Kong he wanted to immerse himself in rugby. He has certainly done that. The list of teams he coaches is impressive, ranging from the King’s High School under15s, to the Otago Spirit, Otago men’s sevens team and Black Ferns Sevens development side.
It was with that national development team that he took his latest overseas trip, to Japan, earlier this month.
There, the team was beaten by a Japanese development team in its semifinal, played at a high intensity. However, the New Zealanders were able to bounce back and beat Queensland to finish third.
The development side, an initiative to help ease the transition into the full Black Ferns Sevens squad, had been a good experience, Jury said.
‘‘I think one of the toughest things for players is that when they get called into training camps because of injuries or unavailability of some of the players, that transition’s really tough.
‘‘Sometimes some of them are starstruck, some of them can’t handle the workload, some of them are unsure of the vocab being used, or the processes being used off the field.
‘‘So this team has aligned with the Black Ferns; our vocab, our processes on and off the field are very similar.
‘‘When we go into these camps it takes away an edge of the uncertainty and the ‘what’s this all going to be about?’,’’ he said.
‘‘So the stuff on the field is easy, but it’s all the work off the field, the recovery, the hydration, the nutrition, the mental skills which is really key to maximise your opportunity when you’re in those camps. And that’s what this programme does.’’
Jury was the Highlanders 2020 regional sevens skills coach, a position that saw him run training for the southern region’s top prospects, with an eye to the Tokyo Olympics.
That was the start of a pathway which led to South Island and national camps, culminating in the development team in which Jury was head coach.
The different teams and environments offered variety and he said coaching in sevens or 15aside was not too different.. However, he said he would probably have to choose one to specialise in.
Alongside his rugby endeavours, he worked at King’s High School and ran the school’s sport performance programme, its rugby programme and was its sports coordinator.