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The Magic Ratio

The Magic Ratio

Mark Purvis19 Feb 2019 - 14:50
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The Many Reasons I Love Baildon Rugby

Relationship experts have long known that the most successful marriages and partnerships thrive when there is a "magic ratio" of five positive interactions to every negative criticism.

Both criticism and praise are essential to development and improvement in teams. Management consultants soon discovered that this "magic ratio" of praise to criticism also held true in successful businesses and workplaces.

https://hbr.org/2013/03/the-ideal-praise-to-criticism

Writing match reports, I often find myself on the wrong side of the magic ratio, offering more criticism than praise. But during this year's Six Nations, I had an epiphany. Even top ranked international teams can play poorly. Think Wales in the first half of the opening match or France in the second half of the same match. I have been guilty of expecting too much from my club.

To redress the balance here is an incomplete list of some of the great things about our club that have struck me this week alone.

1. Robbie Hill. Robbie has made a magnificent contribution to our club, being one of the drivers behind the growth of girls rugby alongside Donna Pollard and Andy Pollard. In the week that Robbie stepped down from his coaching role, Robbie stepped in to play for the first XV when other players became unavailable through illness. That says something very powerful about Robbie's commitment and integrity.

2. Mick Massey. What a gent! With a face that could easily sell Churchill Insurance, Mick is the beating heart of the club. He fills out the match reports, the club surveys, puts out the flags and post protectors on Saturdays. He has just phoned me to check an answer to the RFU survey about our type of stretcher (A Ferno Scoop).

3. Team Valentine. Especially Linda Williams and Julie Wilson. The Annual Valentine's Ball held on Friday 15th February was well supported and a great fun event. It takes a massive amount of organisation and raises funds for our club. There are a wider team of sponsors and supporters who organise an impressive list of raffle prizes and auction items. Phenomenal.

4. Chris Williams. This week the match was ended with a potentially serious neck injury. Chris was first on the scene and managed the situation calmly, but with characteristic good humour. Calling the ambulance, checking pitch access, arranging covering for the injured player, bringing medical equipment to be close at hand, Chris is also the proud owner of a pair of lucky gloves.

5. Girls Rugby. This week we heard that five Baildon girls: Chloe Pollard, Emma Kershaw, Evie Arnott, Pippa Charnley, Abby White were all successful at the Yorkshire U15 trials. A great effort. Baildon punching above its weight at county level in the girls game. Thanks to all the players, supporters and coaches in this section of the club.

6. Mini and Junior Rugby. This part of the club thrives and is our life blood. This week I read with great pleasure the match report from the U15s victory at Yarnbury. Jake Duxbury has been coaching the U15s and one of Jake's ambitions as newly appointed first XV senior coach is to bring these players through to senior rugby in the next few years. What a great, sustainable, long term driver as coach.

7. Socials. My social media this week has had notifications about the Chicken Run and the "Baildon Honey Badgers" trip to the Chester Sevens festival. Teams that play happily together off the pitch, perform better on the pitch. It's great that we have people like Danny Pollard who keep morale up with a lively programme of socials.

8. Our Team. We are too hard on them. They put their bodies on the line for the shirt and each other. I hate picking out individuals, not least because much of the hard work is unseen. These are in my notes but don't make the match reports: Tom Massey never complains, always finds something to smile about. Ross Cordingley and Chris Peel bullocking runs. Stanley dogged determination. Adam Hewitt emotion, pride and heart. Harrison Strauss tackling everything. Matt Withers and Dan Cookson never taking a backwards step.

9. New players. We are blessed to have a crop of promising younger players coming through. Ollie Williams, Ollie Murphy, Matt Wilson, Frenchy show much promise. But this season we have also attracted some great players with class. Kgosi Ngwenya, what a nice man. Kaine Mazurke bringing some direct running to the mid field. Tom Parnell: pure class and showed real concern for the injured Knottingley player.

10. Old players. It's great to have a core of senior players. The phenomenal Phil WIlson, of course, but also the likes of Nick Lister and Marcus Dracup offering the wise voice of experience. How wonderful too in recent weeks to see Paul "Macca" MacNamara back in a Baildon shirt and bringing characteristic committment. My old friend Tom "TC" Craven enjoying rugby again. It is a strength of Baildon that although players may leave to play at a higher level, they are always welcome back. Their presence on the touch line is valued. It's always great to see the likes of James Fox. on match days if he has no game. When Matty Dixon comes back on leave from the Marines we will always like to see him around the club,

11. Alickadoos. Graham Reid, Terry Slocombe and Mike White offer wise counsel and this week their helpful words to me in private were no exception. Thanks.

12. Banter. Love it. On social media, on the WhatsApp availability ONLY group.

13. Coaches. Welcome to Jake and thanks to Robbie, but I'd like to recognise the improvement to the set piece and attitude since Dave Ruff has been helping and the ongoing hard work from Dan.

14. Supporters. We have the best supporters. Andy Greaves and Tracey stand out. Almost every week, folding chairs at the ready, rain or shine.

15. Top Mutts. All the Strauss family deserve a mention, but Levi is top mutt.

16. Sponsors. So many. I haven't seen Henek for a while, but I met Tim Harrison at the Valentine's Ball, saw Des Christie and Paul Robinson there too.

17. Phil Wilson so good that he appears everywhere, but he has been working hard for the club this last week.

18. Match Officials. They are great.

19. The Opposition. I know we have rivalries and some teams we "love to hate", but when the chips are down, like when there is a serious injury; we are all part of the same rugby family.

20. Saturdays. Nuff said.

21. Our links with mixed ability rugby players. Dan Cookson's influence here again. His impact has been transformational. So great that our players like Chinny Tomlinson, Dan Fletcher, Nick Murphy regularly pull on a Bumbles shirt and support that club. Great also to see Ahsan, Paul, Leon and others joining in at our club so often. This week I saw pictures of Jake Goodwin with some of the mixed ability players doing some decoration in the changing rooms.

22. It is an endless list. I haven't mentioned Bruno, who always waves at me. Pete Haydock who still turns out for the seconds and was in my thoughts as we played Knottingley for his effort in the reverse fixture earlier this season.

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