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     Pursuing his quest for sport education and coaching development, Frederick went in July 2003 to train in Wellington, New Zealand, at the International Rugby Academy, where a "High Performance Coaches' Course" was held, under the direction of former All Blacks and Super 12 Otago Highlanders coach Laurie Mains, expertly assisted by Graham Mourie, Murray Mexted, Dave Rennie, and special appearances of Graham Henry, Sean Fitzpatrick, and Balie Swart.
     The course was a two weeks intensive knowledge and practice development, combined with a "High Performance Players' Course". Young players from around the world, aspiring to become professionals, joined the course, which covered the major aspects of Professional Rugby, taught by masters of the discipline. The players course covered an extensive curriculum in order to maximize the young players' understanding of the modern game. Lectures were given on: fitness, physiology of sport, nutrition, rugby training, players recovery, strategy, tactics, mental toughness, and specific workshops on positional skills.
     Knowledge development was combined with harsh training focusing on fitness, motor skills, defense drills, mental toughness, under the expert direction of coach Dave Ellis, and very specific clinics, where players had the invaluable experience of being coached for their position of play by simply the best past specialists of the game.
     Position Specific Coaches were: Sean Fitzpatrick, Dave Loveridge, Murray Mexted, Graham Mourie, Mark Shaw, Balie Swart, Ian Jones, David Campese, and Jeff Wilson.
     A special defense clinic was run by Auckland Blues Technical and Defense Advisor Graham Henry, where both players and coaches increased their knowledge and defensive skills to a level beyond expectations.

     Coaches participating in the course were from England, Scotland, USA, New Zealand, South Korea, and France, and their participation in a non competitive environment brought a well rounded group synergy, where a tremendous amount of ideas where exchanged for the benefits of all.
     Laurie Mains stood as the exceptional coach he is, radiating love and passion of the game, compassion, exceptional leadership skills, and a phenomenal level of coaching expertise, accumulated in over 2 decades of coaching in New Zealand and abroad at the highest national and international levels. He was excellently assisted by former All Black legend, captain, and current member of the executive board of the NZRFU: Graham Mourie, who brought to the coaches' group a thoughtful and philosophical dimension of coaching the game of rugby.
     The coaches were introduced to Laurie's "blue print" of coaching the game, which they put into practice with the Academy players, who plaid 2 games during their training: the first one at the end of their second week, the second game at the end of both players and coaches' course, against the Provincial team of the Wellington Colts (U21), at the Porirua Park of Wellington. In both games, the coaches were invited to participate in team assessment and counseling, as well as complete video analysis, through computer software. Games were analyzed position by position with the position specific coaches, and remedial coaching was specifically designed by Laurie and the coaches, to correct deficiencies and imperfections. These remedial coaching sessions directed by Laurie and the most experienced coaches were invaluable experience for team mental and technical development, cohesion, and motivation. It was a real pedagogical thrill to see Laurie at work and remediate to most of the team problems with efficient, intense, sharp and focused sessions.

     Among other clinics developed for coaches at the Academy, Graham Henry's defense and former Springbok prop Balie Swart's on scrumaging and lineout workshops were considered by all, as major highlights of the training.
     Both coaches gave the course participants the essence of their coaching abilities, accumulated expertise and genuine passion for the game.
     This course was beyond expectation for most of coaches and certainly the players.The International Rugby Academy, New Zealand is certainly the world leader in Rugby quality development, thanks to former All Blacks legend and the Academy Director Murray Mexted, and an all well rounded up team to make all these courses not only a success for the participants, and invaluable in real life team development, but something they will all cherish and remember.
     Logistics for the courses were outstanding, thanks to Johanna Murray and Dave Ellis, and the quarter facilities at the Royal New Zealand Police College were very good, with an excellent atmosphere between rugby and other sport courses run there, together with the police college students.
     It is through quality training and experience such as what is achieved at the IRANZ, that we all understood why New Zealand and its legendary All Blacks will remain the masters of Rugby for the decades to come. It is in getting the chance to sit and talk in all simplicity, passion, and genuine respect for each other with all these former stars of Rugby, that we also realized that simplicity is certainly the best way to conceive and coach the game.
     Thank you all for a great experience, it was a pleasure to train at the source, and the information presented will with no doubt, be successfully applied by both players and coaches in their careers beyond the academy.

     Legend to the Coaches' Group picture on top of the page July 2003:

Standing left to right: Dave Ellis (NZ drill and fitness coach), Steward Khron (USA),
Balie Swart (South Africa, specialist coach), Murray Mexted (Academy Director),
Michael Lane (USA), Ross Gard (NZ), Sam Young Jung (South Korea)
Crouching left to right: Graham Shiel (Scotland), Frederick Claro (France), Patrick Kelly (NZ)
Kelvin Tantrum (NZ), Andy Key (England)

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