{"id":80509,"date":"2019-06-11T15:08:55","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T20:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=80509"},"modified":"2019-06-13T11:07:18","modified_gmt":"2019-06-13T16:07:18","slug":"success-is-a-two-way-street-you-never-know-who-will-walk-by","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/success-is-a-two-way-street-you-never-know-who-will-walk-by\/","title":{"rendered":"Success is a two-way street, you never know who will walk by"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Louis Ricard<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s 30 minutes before kickoff and a man walks onto the field, stepping on each little section of grass the rain severely damaged throughout the week. Wearing a hoodie, a pair of large rectangular sunglasses hiding his eyes and a trimmed beard, David Clancy\u2019s face is as tough to read as a good poker player’s bluff.<\/p>\n

He walks and stomps some more until he\u2019s satisfied with the quality of the rugby pitch, finally turning toward his players warming up and with one blow of his whistle, the ball suddenly stops moving and all heads turn toward him, awaiting his command.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the people walking by, Clancy, with his athletic build, looks like a player who is sitting the game out, his whistle the only difference. <\/span><\/p>\n

But the 29-year-old Irishman is far more than a peer to his team. <\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/p>\n

The Chicago Lions never had a full-time coach until Clancy landed on U.S. soil. Somehow, this was the move he had been waiting for his entire career, the opportunity of painting his vision on a brand-new canvas.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>As a group, we knew that it was time to go to the next level,\u201d said Tony Rio, former president and current director of business development for the club. \u201cDave was ready to take that step as he had all the qualifications to be the next head coach of the Chicago Lions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Both parties found a common ground: Success. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Lions have been on the rugby scene for over 55 years, becoming one of the more recognizable names in American amateur rugby. Clancy was all the club needed to turn the corner and attack the professional side of the sport.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe has established professionalism, from a coaching standpoint, since he has stepped foot in Chicago,\u201d said Michael Ziegler, one of Clancy\u2019s players.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Clancy helped develop women’s rugby with the Lions, and he makes sure to keep track of their success as he coaches them just as much as he does with the men. Credit: Chicago Lions Rugby Football Club<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201c<\/span>He has done this in countless ways starting the first-ever women’s\u00a0<\/span>Lions 15 A-Side team. He and Andy Rose (the Lions\u2019 youth rugby director) have built an entire youth program all the way from U10s to high school. He is helping spearhead a sporting facility in one of Chicago’s roughest neighborhoods and not to mention our three straight final-eight appearances, two final-four appearances, and 10+ players in the Major League Rugby.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Stepping into a head coaching position at 27 with the majority of the staff being older, Clancy said he knew he was going to have to prove himself, and he set to do so on the very first day of practice. <\/span><\/p>\n

Usually, players carry the gear and equipment to the practice field, but the new head coach had other plans. <\/span><\/p>\n

He came in earlier that day, grabbing everything himself from the clubhouse and bringing it to the field. He then proceeded to lay out the cones all over the turf for each exercise he had planned out for the team that day. <\/span><\/p>\n

This was his team, and he intended to put it to work. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI promised them that we would only train for 90 minutes and that there wouldn\u2019t be any down time,\u201d he said. <\/span><\/p>\n

Since Clancy joined the club, every coach receives a spreadsheet with the training schedule planned for the week – down to the minute, water breaks included. The players are then told in the first practice of each week what the sessions will look like. Clancy also arranges weekly conference calls with his staff to go over games, practices and lineups.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, and just in case he forgets, he has each training session saved as his screensaver for the day of. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur practices started to be more structured and efficient than ever,\u201d said Daniel Coci, Lions\u2019 co-captain. \u201cWe currently have film broken down of our practices and every game. Coach Clancy has a phenomenal rugby IQ and love of the game. Personally, I do not think there is another amateur club in the country that acts more professional than the Chicago Lions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Clancy in the team’s huddle giving instructions to his players prior to the kickoff. Credit: Chicago Lions Rugby Football Club<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Clancy changed a culture by bringing his own to the game. The Irish coach lives by the words of Benjamin Franklin:<\/span><\/p>\n

Tell me and I forget\u2026<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Teach me and I remember\u2026<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Involve me and I learn.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Those words, he said, carried him through every job he ever held in the rugby world, reminding him that success is obtained as a team, not as an individual in this sport. <\/span><\/p>\n

Clancy\u2019s coaching trajectory is unlike most people, especially for his young age. His resume is three pages long, with coaching jobs in Europe, Samoa and Central America. <\/span><\/p>\n

At 18, the young Irishman had to find an internship in his field – originally strength and conditioning. Clancy says that it is common for students to follow youth teams, but he wanted more. A few phone calls later, he was accepted as a strength and conditioning intern at Munster Rugby Club, a European rugby staple for anyone familiar to the game. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey asked me when I could start,\u201d Clancy said. \u201cI told them I could be down there in 30 minutes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After over a year at the club, an opportunity came up with the Samoa\u2019s sevens team and its strength and conditioning program for the 21-year-old aspiring coach. <\/span><\/p>\n

Clancy packed his bag and left his home country for over a year and a half, during which he learned from an experienced staff – including one of his mentors <\/span>Scott Wisemantel, who now coaches the England national rugby team – which enabled him to transition from the gym to the field.<\/span><\/p>\n

Clancy\u2019s knowledge of the game and willingness to learn then took him to the Cayman Island, where rugby slowly developed over the years. The Cayman rugby union was still learning how to grow its program, and after contacting several people to get a reference on someone apt to the challenge, it found the perfect fit.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe ring around (phone calls) ended up with me,\u201d he said. \u201cI went out there for six months, and we lost to Mexico in an overtime drop goal, but then the union asked me if I\u2019d stay and take on more of an expanded role. So I started coaching sevens. Then it was women\u2019s sevens. Then I was an assistant coach for the fifteens team. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we kept on achieving success.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For the first time in its history, the men\u2019s national team qualified for the Hong Kong Sevens competition and both national teams recorded a high world ranking (men and women). <\/span><\/p>\n

Munster, Samoa, Cayman Island, and\u2026 Chicago? <\/span><\/p>\n

Clancy doesn\u2019t care where he is, as long as success is achieved. He instilled a professional culture in an amateur club in America. He developed a youth program and a women\u2019s team while taking his men to multiple national tournaments.<\/span><\/p>\n

Any team he\u2019s been a part of has found its way to success. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s what drives Clancy to be the coach he is today. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s what will drive him to be an even better one tomorrow.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo at top:<\/em>\u00a0David Clancy likes to remove himself from the drills he has players running to understand their reasoning so that he can involve them and they can learn from it – just like Benjamin Franklin predicted. Credit: Louis Ricard\/Medill.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Louis Ricard Medill Reports It\u2019s 30 minutes before kickoff and a man walks onto the field, stepping on each little section of grass the rain severely damaged throughout the week. Wearing a hoodie, a pair of large rectangular sunglasses hiding his eyes and a trimmed beard, David Clancy\u2019s face is as tough to read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":543,"featured_media":80514,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4741],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-2019"],"yoast_head":"\nSuccess is a two-way street, you never know who will walk by - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/success-is-a-two-way-street-you-never-know-who-will-walk-by\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Success is a two-way street, you never know who will walk by - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Louis Ricard Medill Reports It\u2019s 30 minutes before kickoff and a man walks onto the field, stepping on each little section of grass the rain severely damaged throughout the week. 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