Much-travelled Patricia Garcia Rodriguez has a passion for coaching
Patricia Garcia Rodriguez played in the Rugby Sevens tournament at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and at top-flight domestic levels in Spain, England and New Zealand - but it is as a coach that she is now making her mark in rugby.
Garcia Rodriquez was one of Spain’s leading sevens players, but is now helping the next generation of players as assistant coach of the women’s national side in that format.
As Spain’s representative on the Gallagher High Performance Academy she is relishing the opportunity to learn from other developing coaches around the world.
“I want to keep growing and learning from the best; to keep connecting with high performance coaches from around the world and develop my strengths to, hopefully, become ‘super strengths’, as well as achieving a better understanding of my main areas to develop as a coach,” Garcia Rodriguez told World Rugby.
Garcia Rodriguez’s love of coaching is not limited to rugby. She has also coached basketball and athletics in Spain and enjoys sharing her passion to help inspire and improve players.
“I have always loved not just practicing sport, but also coaching it,” she said.
“I coached basketball and also athletics when I was younger. My passion is to share my knowledge, to help people develop their talent and themselves as athletes and human beings.
“My experience in rugby is the main reason that I wanted to be a coach and to see how far a great team culture can take a team.”