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My Week – Richard Graham

Monday

Well, what a difference a week makes!

After a great win against the Rabble, you’d think going to work on Monday would be a pleasure. It was, until I got to the carpark and found John had parked the car Jim had bought for him in my space.

I marched straight upstairs even before dialling Timmy or Rod. The win had had a good effect on Jim, his eye-twitch and hand tremors were pretty much under control.

“Sorry to interrupt you Mr Carmichael but my parking spot is reserved for the head coach, didn’t Mr Connolly see the sign?” I asked.

“Yeah, Knuckles saw the sign, but I don’t think you’ve seen your new job title”.

Cryptic.

We’ve started to look at everything in terms of improving the way things are done at Ballymore; John is really very thorough.

When we had a strength and conditioning unit, a big focus for us was the dietary intake of the players. I didn’t know this area was of interest to John, but he’s changed all the menus for team meals so that there’s no nuts or other stuff that can get caught under dentures. All meals now end with Jelly and Custard as well.

Tuesday

John and I are really starting to gel as a team. It’s kind of funny but I really think opposites do attract – a few of the boys have noted that while I’ve got nothing but admiration for him, he’s got nothing but contempt for me. It’s funny how things work.

We’ve also got different approaches to team discipline. As punishment I prefer to enforce that the lads stay home to consider their actions instead of train, whereas John prefers a cage fight followed by a pie and a beer.

Some people might consider that I’ve lost a certain amount of authority within the team now that John has been brought in to provide some advice and mentoring services, but I don’t look at it like that. It was during one of our coach mentoring sessions where John said some things that really put the issue of authority into perspective;

“Richard, the thing about authority is – you can’t lose it if you never had it in the first place”.

That aside, the other great thing about John is you always know where you stand.

“You stand over there behind the McLean Stand” he said to me at the start of training.

Wednesday

It’s always great naming the team – it’s what us coaches live for. I used to do it, but now as part of his mentoring role John seems to have temporarily assumed that area of responsibility.

I provided John with my input of course, but he was more interested in the tray of Jelly and Custard he was half way through. “I’ll have a look when I get back from bowls” he grunted.

I know that John has been receiving all the plaudits around team selection after last week’s win but really, it wasn’t that big a deal. I mean, all he did was pick a fly-half at fly half – a bit too obvious for a modern coach.

Note to self – talk Rod about the wedgies.

Thursday

Gutted to find Chibba is leaving today. The double whammy is that next season I had him transitioning into back row/9 as a replacement for Liam. I mean, if it’s ‘Liam or me’ next year, I think that choice is pretty clear.

It’s taken most of the week but finally some real progress for me within the organisation. After all the speculation I finally received a sign that things were on the up and up and I had a place at Ballymore after all.

Yes, that’s right, I got my car park back. Well, to be honest it wasn’t my old car park but it is a car park all the same. The fact that it’s out on Clyde Road and not in the car park means nothing – but I was confused by the name on the car space, ‘Minibus’.

I recognised the sign was written by John so I went and asked what my cool new nickname meant.

“Minibus – half a coach” he mentored “Now get back behind the Grandstand before training starts”.

Sage advice indeed.