Coaching Culture with Ben Herring
Coaching Culture with Ben Herring is your weekly deep-dive into the often-overlooked “softer skills” of coaching—cultural innovation, communication, empathy, leadership, dealing with stress, and motivation. Each episode features candid conversations with the world’s top international rugby coaches, who share the personal stories and intangible insights behind their winning cultures, and too their biggest failures and learnings from them. This is where X’s and O’s meet heart and soul, empowering coaches at every level to foster authentic connections, inspire their teams, and elevate their own coaching craft. If you believe that the real gold in rugby lies beyond the scoreboard, Coaching Culture is the podcast for you.
Coaching Culture with Ben Herring
Latest Episodes
Coaching Your Own Kid
Coaching kids is one thing. Coaching your own child can feel like stepping onto a field where every word carries twice the weight. I’ve been thinking about why so many coaches avoid coaching their son or daughter, even when they love the sport,...
Dark Moments Build Great Players. Joe Rokocoko
Ever been told to start at zero? Joe Rokocoko has—and he calls it the sentence that rebuilt his standards, his respect, and his career. From a Fijian village to Parisian match nights, Joe opens up about the unseen work behind greatness: how cul...
The Power Of Little Hooks
A small moment can change an athlete more than a big speech ever will. We’re digging into the idea of “little hooks” the tiny wins, cues, and shared moments that get players latched onto learning and pulling themselves forward.We start ...
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Alex Laybourne: Swedens rise to Top 30 on a shoestring
What does it take for a fully amateur national team to punch above its weight and chase top-30 ambitions? We unpack Sweden’s rise with head coach Alex Laybourne, tracing a bold shift from “show up and play” to a no-excuses culture where standar...
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Fan Mail
Hi Ben. Thanks for the show and the reflections. Picking up on your 10 Jun pod on coaching your child, I was left wondering about how you would approach my situation? You touch on a parent projecting what a child could be. In my case, the child is clear to everyone she will be a really good player as a young adult (in 6 years time) but isn't prepared to admit that would need work and to commit time she thinks she doesn't have available. As a coach (and dad) I've had to back off from trying to help her with the practice and accept she isn't ready to do the work to fulfil her potential and there is a mismatch between what she could do if she tried, and what she is doing. Am waiting for the penny to drop but interested if you have any thoughts on coaching your own child who wants to play but is less keen on the practice? Many thanks. First time messenger. Dave J
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland