'It came at a really good time' - Sarah McKenna on coaching transition
Timing is everything in sport, just ask Sarah McKenna, whose transition from professional player to elite coach has been aided in part by a degree of serendipity.
It is only 12 months since McKenna was part of a Red Roses squad who powered their way to another Women’s Six Nations Grand Slam to bring the curtain down on the Simon Middleton era in style.
McKenna had been a near-constant presence in the England squad under Middleton, when fit, but with her playing time increasingly limited and her mid-30s on the horizon, she understood change was not only coming for her coach.
That is why when the phone call arrived last year to deliver the news that her Red Roses contract was not being renewed, it was not unexpected. The only question on her mind: what’s next?
“Being self-aware around my age and the next cycle, I wasn’t on the right side of selection anymore,” McKenna tells RugbyPass, “I think I could predict that it was coming.”
Fortunately, she did not need to wait long for an answer to her personal conundrum.
In August, McKenna noticed a missed call from England Women’s U20 head coach LJ Lewis, who it transpired had got in touch to offer her an assistant coach role.
“I had previously been into 20s camps when Amy Turner was head coach and then worked again with LJ here, just invited in as someone who was a Red Roses player to help and assist, and that was great,” McKenna says.
“You’d have to ask LJ what it was that led to her picking up the phone to me but when I saw her on a missed call, I did think, ‘Could this be that call?’
“I had no inkling of it beforehand, so it was a nice surprise when we had that conversation, and it probably was about that time I suppose, once I’d been able to have a little bit of a break after the Red Roses stuff and think about what I wanted.
“It came at a really good time because it was the time I was starting to think, ‘OK, I need to get into something now’.”
In truth, McKenna had taken the first step on the road towards coaching more than half a decade earlier, albeit almost by accident, with her local club Old Albanian Saints.
“I was never very purposeful about being a coach there, it just happened,” she admits.
“It was when I didn’t get that Red Roses contract, it was like, well, what’s next in my career? I did think, ‘actually, it is something I want to pursue more’, so I could get stuck in, and I suppose delve more into what it’s really about.”
Another crucial juncture came during Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021 in New Zealand.
McKenna was naturally disappointed not to see more action on the pitch – her only appearance came as part of a heavily rotated side against South Africa – but running water in the final, and being hooked up to the coaches’ box, gave her a unique insight.
“I had an earpiece in and was able to hear and pass on messages from the coaches, so I got that experience from a totally different lens,” she explains.
“Again, it’s probably at that point where some of those thoughts about, you know, ‘I’d like to go into coaching’, started.
“Who gets to do that? Being on a mic listening to what the coaches are saying and during a World Cup final [when] you’ve just had a red card and you’re trying to problem solve that. And you’ve just had a concussion and you’ve got a player off for an HIA … wow! Incredible.”
When McKenna speaks to RugbyPass, she has recently returned from North America where she spent two weeks fully embedded in the Great Britain women’s sevens set-up as part of the Gallagher High Performance Academy.
One of ten female coaches invited onto their country’s coaching staff for the HSBC SVNS tournaments in Vancouver and Los Angeles, McKenna also missed the call from Great Britain head coach Ciaran Beattie delivering the good news.
But it was a trip that has clearly energised the Saracens stalwart. “I’m so grateful that that phone call was made to me because the experience as a coach was invaluable,” she says.
“Probably more than invaluable, a bit life-changing in terms of my coaching, the thought it provoked and some of the improvements I’ve made and what I’ve learnt.
“It’s been amazing, I was lucky enough to come straight back from LA and put some of those things into practice straight away, which I think is one of the best things you can do.
“You can go to these things; you can always pick up and put down as much as you want. But I was able to pick up so much and then put it into practice straight away.
“So, I’ve been able to sort of compound some of my learnings immediately. I’m just feeling on such a high after that experience and just really excited to try and continue that and keep improving.”
McKenna is grateful for the generosity of Beattie and his staff in Vancouver and LA, but she was also exposed to the reality of why a programme such as the High Performance Academy – a World Rugby initiative to help increase the number of female coaches in the elite game – is needed.
“On the World Series itself, there were very few women on those coaching teams,” she adds.
“So, it was evident that there’s a gap in that space. But it was just great to see, you know, that there’s potential and there’s people coming through and really capable people.”
It is fitting that sevens should be playing a pivotal role in McKenna’s coaching education given the success she enjoyed, and enjoyment she derived, from playing the shorter format.
McKenna admits that “nothing came close” to playing at Women’s RWC 2021 yet some of her fondest memories as a player came from her time as part of the England sevens squad.
“I made so many friends, lifelong friends, incredible memories, incredible experiences that you wouldn’t believe and [were] just so unique,” McKenna says.
“It’s been incredible being all over the world. I’ve got a massive smile on my face, even just thinking about it now and I just feel incredibly grateful for the career I had.
“Some of the travelling with sevens was pretty special. I think especially around that 2015 year when I was in that core sevens group, flying around the world to some pretty odd places at times.
“I suppose it’s not really like the flashy things that you remember. It’s not being in Dubai next to the Burj Khalifa taking a photo.
“It’s probably just the really obscure moments when someone’s done something really stupid in the corridor. And that just makes you just think and laugh.
“Or going into someone’s room and turning their room over, just thinking you were so funny.
“I mean, it’s silly but it’s probably not those posed moments where you’re in those pictures. It’s probably the times that you don’t have the camera out.”
McKenna’s penchant for practical jokes has led to some confusion now she is coaching several players with England’s U20s who she shares a changing room with at Saracens.
“As a player, I am a little bit different to how I have to be as a coach,” she admits. “So, I think they turn up to camp here and they’re a little bit like, ‘Who are you going to be today?’”
Don’t expect her to change too much, though. McKenna’s coaching philosophy is centred on maximising opportunities through expression and enabling her players “to have every confidence to have fun”.
There were signs during England Women’s U20’s 99-5 victory against the Army in Havant last month that McKenna is getting that balancing act just right.
Comments on RugbyPass
Can we talk about the context of how this particular journalist continues to make a living and gets published? Controversy for clicks. Shame on all of us for engaging with these irrelevant opinions.
57 Go to commentsAn astounding article !
57 Go to commentsFrance didn’t lose against New Zeland in 2011, but against Joubert…
57 Go to commentsHahahaha knew the “journalist” just by seeing the headline. Not wasting my time reading it as I know it's just another toxic manifestation of the boks living rent free in this babies head.
57 Go to commentsWhen you read those facts, you can say safely that the game was handed to the Springboks by the ruling mistakes made by the Referee and TMO. Perhaps that is why South Africans were/are so “noisey” about the win….this behaviour perhaps concealing that they realise luck played a big part in the result. Certainly not a good look for the IRB going forward…pretty shoddy sadly.
57 Go to commentsI must admit to being quite surprised by all the wine-ing and hand wringing from most AB pundits; commentators and the general analysis after a classic and engrossing final. I shudder to think how the pundits would’ve reacted if the AB’s where victors with 1 point on the day.. Most Bok fans pundits; fans and commentators take a loss on the chin; congratulate the winner and move on…and till now the NZ rugby fans where the same.. Naas Botha’s famous quote has never been more apt…. Cowboys don’t cry or make excuses.. STOP IT CRY-BABIES; …..YOU LOST.
57 Go to comments4 out of 8 beats 3 out of 10 cups. Maybe NZ are bad finishers???🤣🤣🤣
57 Go to commentsBokke bokke Bokke
1 Go to commentsThe main thing you need on your side to win a World Cup is luck. ABs had their fair share of it in the 2011 final. One score game in the SF vs Springboks in 2015 means there always things you can look at and say if this thing or that thing happened then SA would/should have won that game. Smith’s try being called back broke protocol, but it was the correct decision, so I don’t have a problem with that. If it was an SA try called back in the same circumstances I don’t think many ABS fans would have a problem with it. Cane’s shot was high, it was the classic thing NZ players have been doing, and getting carded for for years - Walking around bolt upright trying to put a big hit on someone. Stupid play by someone with a poor disciplinary record. The one that was a big problem for me was Etzebeth’s obstruction. The referee just choked on this occasion. Frustrating to have the TMO in his ear all night, apart from at this moment. Minimum yellow card for Etzebeth, but a very strong case for a penalty try also. Despite all that the ABs had the opportunity to be ahead with 3 minutes to play, so it’s hard to point fingers too much. Pollard makes that kick 99/100. JB and RM make it 50/100. That’s what it came down to in the end.
57 Go to commentsBOKS had a great side in 2011 and were in kicked out by a NZ ref and Nz were very lucky to win in final against France.
57 Go to commentsBarrett's try came from a forward pass, and perhaps the Bok game plan would have been different had the ABs remained with 15 on the pitch. We will never know. But if we are living in a world if what if's, then go back to the France v Bok game. France dominated the WC, and had they gotten past the boks, would have easily beaten the ABs in the Final
57 Go to commentsRehashed articles. But this piece does not do justice to how good the Boks had to be to win that tournament, and how immense some of their players were in that final. Peter Stef du Toit played one of the greatest games by a loose forward ever. All Blacks played well but not well enough and came up short. There are a million ‘if’s’ and none of the ‘if’s’ that don’t happen will win you a footy match.
57 Go to commentsSour grapes/ face it the allblacks aren't that good anymore LoL!!!
57 Go to commentsDear Internet, This is what sour grapes look like… It wont make any difference in down playing the SA win. The scoreboard is the ultimate statistic. I agree with Johnz, I would have liked a full 15vs15 for the whole game. Could have been even better or worse. What we as rugby supporters got, was a fantastic game where the result could have gone either way. It was great.
57 Go to commentsben loser smith. I haven't read the article. Just saw the headline and knew it was him. Rugbypass surely you can do better than this clickbate loser.
57 Go to commentsIf if if….If my aunt had balls she would be my uncle
57 Go to commentsBen is right, the RWC should be taken from SA and awarded to NZ. Rugby matches from now on will not be decided on points but rather on who deserved to win the most. This will be decided by 1 journalist sitting in a bunker.
57 Go to commentsThat's quite a wind up Ben. I'm an all black fan, and admittedly the loss felt a little hollow, given how well the boys played once Cane left the field. But that's finals footy, sometimes it's cruel. Let's look at the reality though. This was a team that spent an entire year thinking about how to beat Ireland, and did so magnificently. Come final time, they started the match looking overawed, fearful and unprepared. This led them to getting behind on the scoreboard, and chasing the game, which is never a good position to be in a final. SA started better, were confident and assured. That, in the end, was the game. The comeback led by Savea was phenomenal, but not quite enough. That's how comebacks often go. The real questions should be why they looked so unprepared? Why we needed to get behind and lose our so called leader to start playing? And why the best player against SA from a month or two before wasn't even in the team? Plus give some credit where it's due, PSD was quite phenomenal and instrumental in keeping SA ahead, a performance for the ages.
57 Go to commentsMy only response is “Check the Scoreboard” nothing else matters. Ben you will not wind me up pal. Boks are 4 times RWC Champions.
57 Go to commentsThere is no place to hide in the front row. You win or lose each time and it selects for hard men/women and those who enjoy combat
7 Go to comments