For former England rugby union participant Ollie Phillips, taking over the function as trainer of China”s national seven-a-side rugby team is an enormous task, but he said he is ready to face this “drowsing massive”.
The 39-12 months-outdated, who will lead the China 7s program, has his attractions on securing qualification for the Olympic Games, World Sevens Series and successful the Asian Games, however Phillips recognizes the adventure would require growth one step at a time.
“I’m conscious that you can’t just turn up and suddenly be successful, it has to be a stepping stone that builds all the way to that,” Phillips informed China Daily.
His focal point is the Asian Series happening in October and November, which is able to see his facet head to Thailand, South Korea and Dubai.
Success in that pageant will then lead to the Challenger Series after which in the end give China the risk to qualify for the HSBC World Series for the primary time in historical past.
China is a rugby minnow, and Phillips admitted that the game has a mountain to climb as it’s nonetheless no longer a specifically widespread recreation on the Chinese mainland, however he’s positive about what may also be accomplished.
“Here is this sleeping giant of 1.4 billion people in China and I just need 12 people who can run,” he stated. “There is definitely a lot of room for improvement, such as creating more competition, but the facilities and sport programs that athletes have access to here is mind-blowing. The challenge now is for game understanding, competition and actually be able to play games.”
Phillips stated the problem is among the causes he took up the activity, including, “if we could cultivate some form of structure and development pathway, then you unleash a beast, which is exciting.”
Phillips has loved good fortune in rugby union within the United Kingdom, enjoying the 15-a-facet recreation professionally for Harlequins, Newcastle Falcons, Gloucester Rugby and in France for Stade Francais, the place he used to be voted Overseas Player of the Year in 2011.
Along with development the efficiency of the China staff, Phillips will even have to navigate language and tradition so as to form a staff who can be Olympic-ready.
At the instant he communicates along with his staff thru a translator and he stated the language barrier approach he has to get a hold of selection training types to stay coaching fascinating.
“It’s about thinking how you can coach differently, how you can animate, use pictures, different signs and body language to get your message across, so it stays engaging and interesting,” Phillips stated, including his new adventure may be about private building in addition to staff.
In 2016, World Rugby introduced it used to be making an investment greater than $100 million in making rugby extra widespread in China over 10 years. In 2015, there have been 76,000 gamers in China. In 2016, the quantity had risen to 136,000.