MSc in Performance Coaching student Jared Olander, strength and conditioning coach and scrum coach for the Kenya U18 National Rugby Team, is the latest to feature in our Setanta Student Story series. 

Alongside his role with the U18 team, Jared is involved with the Kenya 7s team and recently travelled to Vancouver for this year’s HSBC Series. Below, Jared shares his experience and key takeaways from the tournament, along with his coaching philosophy and background. 

Working as an S&C Coach

“My favourite sport to play was rugby, and I played as long as I could.  Then when injuries prevented me from playing any more I transitioned into Officiating and Coaching. One thing I really enjoy about being an S&C Coach is the opportunity to help athletes set goals, and then work with them to make a personalised plan to help them reach those goals”, Jared shares. 

Currently working as an S&C Coach and Scrum Coach for the Kenya U18 National Team, Jared’s current role is focused on supporting the development of youth athletes. 

“I am helping create a player database for all of the school-age athletes playing rugby in Kenya. This database will help us track strength and conditioning needs in the schools.  As a World Rugby Educator, we are looking to further educate our secondary school coaches so the students can get better strength and conditioning training before they come to regional trials.”

Jared outlines his coaching philosophy and approach to working with youth athletes. 

“Rugby is a game for all shapes and sizes. On a team, everyone has a role to play. It is the ultimate team sport, and when everyone knows their role and trusts the teammates on either side, it is a powerful thing. This is one of many life lessons that our young athletes learn from rugby.

With younger athletes, I like to focus on proper form, and gradually increasing load over time. Strength training takes time, and I encourage them to trust the process. One thing that I have seen work quite well with our secondary school athletes is Complex training. This is where we combine explosive plyometric movements in our strength training sessions. We also use several standardised fitness assessments with specific team and position goals by age group, and we track the data year to year so that our young athletes have something to aim for.”

HSBC 7s Series and Applying MSc Learnings

Having recently travelled with the Kenya 7s to the HSBC 7s series in Vancouver, this was a special event to be a part of for Jared. 

“Being on tour with Kenya was a great experience.  All teams stayed in the same hotel, and as a Coach we do everything together with the team each day.  Every day started with the athletes weighing in, and advising hydration and nutrition accordingly.  Then team breakfast, training session on the pitch or in the gym, then most afternoons were rest and recovery time.  We had team meetings spread throughout, and the night before the tournament was the team announcement and kit presentation which was a special event.

It was a great experience to see Coach Kevin Wambua and Andrew Amonde in action.  I have coached almost exclusively in 15s, so it was good to get more 7s experience.  It also reinforced the importance of strong fundamentals.  Rugby can really be quite simple, and sometimes our younger players want to skip the fundamentals and jump straight to the fancy tricks, but elite performance is often simply doing all of the little things well.”

The tournament also provided Jared with an opportunity to apply some of the learnings he has gained from studying the MSc in Performance Coaching. 

“After learning about Force Velocity Profile and Force Decks in a module in the Masters program I purchased my own set of Force Decks and have started tracking data for the Kenya 7s team, and plan to do the same with the other national teams.  I tracked their pre-season data before Dubai, and then joined them in Vancouver to track their data with the Force Decks through the week of training, and through the competition.  I am interested in using this data to create more personalized S&C training programs for the athletes based on their personal needs as they go through the season.

It was an incredible experience, and the Shujaa are a great group to be around.  My roommate was Andrew Amonde, who is a legend in 7s, and he taught me a great deal and was a joy to work with as the head S&C Coach.”

Studying with Setanta

Jared had been considering a master’s degree for some time and was drawn to Setanta College’s programme because of its practical focus and connections to the rugby industry. “I was drawn to Setanta because it was geared towards coaches who are already working. As a World Rugby Educator, I was also interested in Setanta because of its connections to the rugby world,” he shared. 

His studies have already had a positive impact on his coaching, particularly in using Force Decks to collect and analyse data. “I am enjoying learning how to better use my Force Decks to gather more data for Kenya Rugby. The more data I gather, the more intentional coaches can be in meeting the specific needs of their athletes as they compete throughout the year,” he explained. 

Looking to the Future 

Looking ahead Jared has no plans to leave the coaching world and is excited about the future of rugby in Africa. “As long as my kids are in school, I plan to keep coaching at Rift Valley Academy in Kenya and continue working with Kenya Rugby. In the future, I would love the challenge of taking on the responsibility of head S&C Coach for an African team. Rugby in Africa is growing, and it’s an exciting time to be involved.” 

For anyone thinking about joining the world of rugby in a coaching capacity Jared has one piece of advice, “Go for it. I wish I had done this 10 years ago!”