Overall I feel over the last year I have much furthered myself as a coach. In terms of actual experience I am doing less than last year , however by being involved in the practical sessions at university and listening to a number of top professionals on their own coaching approach I feel I have gathered more practical knowledge than I could of picked up sticking to my same routine of coaching on a Saturday morning. As well as this extra level of knowledge I have acquired from university I have all so approached my own personal training in a new way. I am lucky enough to be coached by a number of former elite performers Olympians and world champions and listening to them is a massive tool to help myself , although training is not directly transferable as I compete in cycling and coach football , the approach , attitudes and techniques of these coaches are great examples to learn from. So I use my own training sessions as an opportunity to pick up possible ways to improve my own coaching.
In my Introduction back in October I mentioned I had a number of weaknesses. One of which was my tendency to want to join in the games , struggling to detach my playing and coaching heads. This is no longer an issue for me due to a number of changes. One of which is my attitude , I am enjoying my coaching a lot more now as a result maybe of my improved confidence in my own ability as a coach. I am happy to stand back and see the players enjoying or pushing themselves without myself feeling a desire knowing that I have guided them to that point.
I all so pointed out my lack of records , I rarely kept any reference of sessions , success rates or what worked and what didn't , as a result I often found myself questioning what I had done whether or not it was right and effective. As well as displaying things I have learnt through this blog I have began keeping a folder of notes from coaching sessions , with comments and feedback from players , parents and coaches. Which not only helps me review my practice but all so is a confidence builder to see the success and effect of my sessions. I have a very happy team of players around me that I look forward to working further (I have even gained a nickname). On the whole through the year I believe with a combination of inputs on my coaching world I have become a much better well rounded confident coach. But I wont stop looking for new ways to make sessions enjoyable , new and interesting. I never want to find myself running players through repetitive drills week after week and to avoid this I am going to have to constantly advance my knowledge of coaching and continue to think of new innovative approaches. This requires more than a coaching badge but instead the desire to learn from myself , both at university and outside in my own time. Something that I have the desire to do to become the best coach I can be , however long that takes.
Sunday, 21 April 2013
Keeping it interesting !
A few weeks ago now I arrived at a session intentionally unprepared. Usually I would see this as a negative step immediatley to my session. Not that the players have come to expect or know a certain routine as I like to ensure my sessions are not repetitive or predictable , but for once I thought lets not go in with a set plan and instead see what happens.
I had back up plans in my head as a coach you always have a session you can pull out that you know will always work well and the children will enjoy. But on this occasion I asked them what they would like to do , rather than me asking them to do something. Before they could all say it though I made it clear that we had to do something constructive before we played a match. As happy as I am to let the children play a game as it helps them figure things out on their own (see Games based approach http://ali-thomascoach.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/games-based-approach.html ) They had a game in two days time and letting them play an hour of football was running the risk of injuries and fatigue.
So the children decided on races. They wanted to race each other , so accepted , setting up an obstacle style course , with hurdles , shuttles , cones , ladders and pole. It was basically an extended agility course. As they are still fairly young it is good for them to practice using their agility and balance , as well as giving their co-ordination a test , all whilst under the pressure environment of a race. But overall I wanted them to enjoy themselves. Previous studies have shown enjoyment in PE to be an important psychosocial variable linked with increased PA (Garcia Bengoechea,Sabiston, Ahmed, & Farnous, 2010; Pate, Ward, O’Neill, & Dowda, 2007; Papaioannou et al.,2006; Wang, Chatzisarantis, Spray, & Biddle,2002) If the children enjoy today they will be happier to come back and thats what I want. I don't ever want a child to go home and say I don't want to go there again.
The session went really well and after a while and several variations of the course they had forgotten all about wanting to play a game. They were enjoying themselves and laughing , whilst getting a good level of exercise and by still incorporating the ball into some of the games keeping up practice with the football.
This suggested to me the importance of variation and sometimes surprises Obviously I wont be doing it every week as we have other areas that need to be developed , but as an occasional inclusion in the schedule it was an enjoyable session for all.
This I felt showed a development in my confidence as a coach , a few months ago I probably would not of taken on a session like that and instead tried to stick more to the book and be a more structured session. Developing my understanding of coaching however has allowed me to improve my confidence and relax my style. Repetition can kill create boredom as well as a number of other problems , structured sessions even from personal experience as a player , if your playing the sport for years , you soon get frustrated with training sessions that you feel you have done 10 times before. So now as a coach I try to ensure my sessions are fun , entertaining and engaging first , everything else will follow if the players are happy.
I had back up plans in my head as a coach you always have a session you can pull out that you know will always work well and the children will enjoy. But on this occasion I asked them what they would like to do , rather than me asking them to do something. Before they could all say it though I made it clear that we had to do something constructive before we played a match. As happy as I am to let the children play a game as it helps them figure things out on their own (see Games based approach http://ali-thomascoach.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/games-based-approach.html ) They had a game in two days time and letting them play an hour of football was running the risk of injuries and fatigue.
So the children decided on races. They wanted to race each other , so accepted , setting up an obstacle style course , with hurdles , shuttles , cones , ladders and pole. It was basically an extended agility course. As they are still fairly young it is good for them to practice using their agility and balance , as well as giving their co-ordination a test , all whilst under the pressure environment of a race. But overall I wanted them to enjoy themselves. Previous studies have shown enjoyment in PE to be an important psychosocial variable linked with increased PA (Garcia Bengoechea,Sabiston, Ahmed, & Farnous, 2010; Pate, Ward, O’Neill, & Dowda, 2007; Papaioannou et al.,2006; Wang, Chatzisarantis, Spray, & Biddle,2002) If the children enjoy today they will be happier to come back and thats what I want. I don't ever want a child to go home and say I don't want to go there again.
The session went really well and after a while and several variations of the course they had forgotten all about wanting to play a game. They were enjoying themselves and laughing , whilst getting a good level of exercise and by still incorporating the ball into some of the games keeping up practice with the football.
This suggested to me the importance of variation and sometimes surprises Obviously I wont be doing it every week as we have other areas that need to be developed , but as an occasional inclusion in the schedule it was an enjoyable session for all.
This I felt showed a development in my confidence as a coach , a few months ago I probably would not of taken on a session like that and instead tried to stick more to the book and be a more structured session. Developing my understanding of coaching however has allowed me to improve my confidence and relax my style. Repetition can kill create boredom as well as a number of other problems , structured sessions even from personal experience as a player , if your playing the sport for years , you soon get frustrated with training sessions that you feel you have done 10 times before. So now as a coach I try to ensure my sessions are fun , entertaining and engaging first , everything else will follow if the players are happy.
Take them to one side.
I often work with the younger children (6-7) at the local football team which often offers up an array of challenges , not just with keeping them interested and active , but keeping them happy , attitudes can take a turn at any second.
On this particular occasion a player had missed a opportunity to score and so was blaming an injury , as coach you can't tell them they don't have an injury at this age , often because we just don't know , but more importantly for the relationship between player and coach it could suggest a level of distrust. So when the player began causing a disturbance in the game and then causing problems with other players I had to intervene. There was another coach present so it was o.k to move away from the session with the player , but I all so took it as an opportunity to give a feeling of responsibility to another player , a player that is usually fairly quiet by nature in sessions , I asked the player can you make sure everyone behaves whilst I go make sure ...... is o.k ? Within two minutes he was shouting at a team mate to concentrate which made me smile. This comes back to understanding your players and the requirements of individuals. A coach's responsibilities , as mentioned earlier in the blog , particularly with younger children extends well beyond developing technical skills and giving them a place to play sport. Giving players opportunities to develop life skills is a major positive of a lot of sports and this is what I was trying to do with this particular player , giving him a sense of responsibility that ultimately encouraged him to speak above his team mates , a reversal on usual procedure where he says very little.
Back to the original point taking the player to the side of the pitch. This reduces the chance of further disturbance to the session. All so will make the player feel less embarrassed than being talked to in the middle of the pitch and all so if he has attention seeking motives he will feel he has your attention. This is only a good idea with two coaches though , if you feel a player is trying to demand all your attention when coaching alone , try not to divert your attention to them , you may keep one child happy but the whole team suffers.
Don't make a mistake that many coaches do and stop the session in order to speak to one child , this can often only heighten anger as the child now feels you are highlighting them in front of everyone , a spot light effect. If possible move them away from the main focus of the group and speak to them one to one.
On this particular occasion a player had missed a opportunity to score and so was blaming an injury , as coach you can't tell them they don't have an injury at this age , often because we just don't know , but more importantly for the relationship between player and coach it could suggest a level of distrust. So when the player began causing a disturbance in the game and then causing problems with other players I had to intervene. There was another coach present so it was o.k to move away from the session with the player , but I all so took it as an opportunity to give a feeling of responsibility to another player , a player that is usually fairly quiet by nature in sessions , I asked the player can you make sure everyone behaves whilst I go make sure ...... is o.k ? Within two minutes he was shouting at a team mate to concentrate which made me smile. This comes back to understanding your players and the requirements of individuals. A coach's responsibilities , as mentioned earlier in the blog , particularly with younger children extends well beyond developing technical skills and giving them a place to play sport. Giving players opportunities to develop life skills is a major positive of a lot of sports and this is what I was trying to do with this particular player , giving him a sense of responsibility that ultimately encouraged him to speak above his team mates , a reversal on usual procedure where he says very little.
Back to the original point taking the player to the side of the pitch. This reduces the chance of further disturbance to the session. All so will make the player feel less embarrassed than being talked to in the middle of the pitch and all so if he has attention seeking motives he will feel he has your attention. This is only a good idea with two coaches though , if you feel a player is trying to demand all your attention when coaching alone , try not to divert your attention to them , you may keep one child happy but the whole team suffers.
Don't make a mistake that many coaches do and stop the session in order to speak to one child , this can often only heighten anger as the child now feels you are highlighting them in front of everyone , a spot light effect. If possible move them away from the main focus of the group and speak to them one to one.
Meeting the needs of individuals.
At a training session this week we had a large group of participants , across the group in terms of performance there was a significant gap in ability from top to bottom of the group. With only one coach several people were worried about what the session was going to achieve. With the nature of the training session however (sprint training) we would need rest between efforts. Acknowledging this the group was informed early of how the session would be run and stating the requirements and co-operation of the participants that would be needed , in order not to waste track time they were to be ready to come on track as the previous group left the track. By effectively communicating with the group the coach has given themselves time to deal with individual needs of participants , this allowed the two groups to focus on areas that were most relevant to them with the varying speeds of the group it would not be safe or particularly fulfilling for the slower memebers of the group to train with the others. However the effective break up of the groups meant that the two groups were able to get a much more useful session for themselves with appropriate training..
This is a good example of a coach coping under pressure , usually there would of been two coaches for this session , but with the change , they were still able to adapt and deliver a relevant session for all standards of participants. It is always important to consider the needs of the group or even the individuals within the group and if in this instant we had simply decided to place all participants together then it would not of been an effective training session for the majority of the group.
On reflection of the critical aspects of the session , this showed the coaches dedication to the players and the desire to do a good job personally. By taking on effectively two sessions at once running side by side he took on a lot more work and had no break during the two hours. This shows a good positive working attitude and the willingness to take on a challenge. Another coach may of shied away and taken the easy route , but this shows a lot about having the right coaching attitude. If you show a good attitude your participants are likely to replicate. Remember as a coach you are all so setting an example and acting as a role model , what you set the standards at are what performers are likely to want to achieve. Take the easy route and you may see players taking the easy route.
This is a good example of a coach coping under pressure , usually there would of been two coaches for this session , but with the change , they were still able to adapt and deliver a relevant session for all standards of participants. It is always important to consider the needs of the group or even the individuals within the group and if in this instant we had simply decided to place all participants together then it would not of been an effective training session for the majority of the group.
On reflection of the critical aspects of the session , this showed the coaches dedication to the players and the desire to do a good job personally. By taking on effectively two sessions at once running side by side he took on a lot more work and had no break during the two hours. This shows a good positive working attitude and the willingness to take on a challenge. Another coach may of shied away and taken the easy route , but this shows a lot about having the right coaching attitude. If you show a good attitude your participants are likely to replicate. Remember as a coach you are all so setting an example and acting as a role model , what you set the standards at are what performers are likely to want to achieve. Take the easy route and you may see players taking the easy route.
Levels of reflection.
When reviewing your sessions as a coach there is three levels which you often have to approach.
Van Manen (1997) Suggested three levels of reflection.
Critical - Questioning the impact of your morals in coaching and your approach such as making sure you keep the best players interest at heart , but how does that effect the other players attitude ?
Technical - How effective is the application of your coaching knowledge and technique to the effect the outcomes of the session.
Practical - What is the best way to teach the group you are with , what approach will they respond to best. Practical reflection is based on those that you are coaching.
Critical - In relation to the critical review of your coaching , morals are often referred to when your coaching approach is questioned. Your morals are what define you as a coach , how you approach coaching , how you conduct yourself and more importantly what you believe in. No matter what it is you are coaching if you don't believe in it then why are you teaching it and expecting other people to believe in it. Reflecting on how your approach effects players can save a lot of trouble in the long run.
A common example of coaches basic approach and decisions can effect other players and the team as a whole is when coaches focus on one player , they always put certain players (usually the most advanced players) under the spotlight. Focusing on them as examples for the other players , basing sessions and team management on these players strengths and assuming the rest of the team will fit into the models. This is quite a common problem in junior sport and brings with it a number of possible problems. A few of which are.
Other players feel undervalued.
Coaching quality drops as a whole due to narrow focus.
Failure to teach basics , focusing on more advanced players skill level.
Top player feels above club and leaves to other clubs , leaving all coaching work and plans to re-start.
Technical reflection - Coaching is very much a results based job , especially at a professional level , if your not getting results then maybe its time to question your application of your coaching knowledge or simply your coaching knowledge full stop. In some sports you can get away with a session here or there without a truly deep understanding of what you are coaching , however in some sports and activities a coach should never attempt to get participants to do something that they are not fully capable or qualified to do so , this could put people in danger. As a coach , even one that is not in competition you should be setting goals and targets , places that you want to be and things you want to achieve in specific time frames , if you are way off these targets or not meeting them at all. Then you need to make some serious changes (perhaps not coach) , players need to learn , develop and grow , without effective coaching knowledge transfer from you , what are they set to achieve by attending your training sessions. Again reflection is an important tool here. Can you recognize when what your doing is not good enough and changes need to be made. Intelligent coaches not only see when then are faltering but can devise effective new approaches to combat weak areas of their coaching. Often good players know themselves what is lacking from a coach and what areas they feel they are not being worked in. Referring back to an older post this highlights the importance of communication , simply asking your players what they feel they want to see more of or what is lacking in your session. All you need to do then of course is add these areas in and you have developed the coaching quality you provide and improved the overall level of quality you can provide. Remember not to forget about other areas you have coached in the past these still need to be worked on to keep sharpness , but by covering new areas you produce better rounded players.
Practical reflection - A coach with a good understanding of his group will be able to accurately assess how they react to certain coaching styles and approaches. Assessing your practical application of your coaching style is and important part of any coaches approach to their sessions. If you know the team react well to certain styles of coaching , or that simply it takes a certain approach to get the group to apply themselves , then it will obviously be more appropriate to use this to engage successfully with the team. Failure to identify the best practice for you team can result in a lack of engagement from players which drops motivation and how much information players take on board.
Van Manen (1997) Suggested three levels of reflection.
Critical - Questioning the impact of your morals in coaching and your approach such as making sure you keep the best players interest at heart , but how does that effect the other players attitude ?
Technical - How effective is the application of your coaching knowledge and technique to the effect the outcomes of the session.
Practical - What is the best way to teach the group you are with , what approach will they respond to best. Practical reflection is based on those that you are coaching.
Critical - In relation to the critical review of your coaching , morals are often referred to when your coaching approach is questioned. Your morals are what define you as a coach , how you approach coaching , how you conduct yourself and more importantly what you believe in. No matter what it is you are coaching if you don't believe in it then why are you teaching it and expecting other people to believe in it. Reflecting on how your approach effects players can save a lot of trouble in the long run.
A common example of coaches basic approach and decisions can effect other players and the team as a whole is when coaches focus on one player , they always put certain players (usually the most advanced players) under the spotlight. Focusing on them as examples for the other players , basing sessions and team management on these players strengths and assuming the rest of the team will fit into the models. This is quite a common problem in junior sport and brings with it a number of possible problems. A few of which are.
Other players feel undervalued.
Coaching quality drops as a whole due to narrow focus.
Failure to teach basics , focusing on more advanced players skill level.
Top player feels above club and leaves to other clubs , leaving all coaching work and plans to re-start.
Technical reflection - Coaching is very much a results based job , especially at a professional level , if your not getting results then maybe its time to question your application of your coaching knowledge or simply your coaching knowledge full stop. In some sports you can get away with a session here or there without a truly deep understanding of what you are coaching , however in some sports and activities a coach should never attempt to get participants to do something that they are not fully capable or qualified to do so , this could put people in danger. As a coach , even one that is not in competition you should be setting goals and targets , places that you want to be and things you want to achieve in specific time frames , if you are way off these targets or not meeting them at all. Then you need to make some serious changes (perhaps not coach) , players need to learn , develop and grow , without effective coaching knowledge transfer from you , what are they set to achieve by attending your training sessions. Again reflection is an important tool here. Can you recognize when what your doing is not good enough and changes need to be made. Intelligent coaches not only see when then are faltering but can devise effective new approaches to combat weak areas of their coaching. Often good players know themselves what is lacking from a coach and what areas they feel they are not being worked in. Referring back to an older post this highlights the importance of communication , simply asking your players what they feel they want to see more of or what is lacking in your session. All you need to do then of course is add these areas in and you have developed the coaching quality you provide and improved the overall level of quality you can provide. Remember not to forget about other areas you have coached in the past these still need to be worked on to keep sharpness , but by covering new areas you produce better rounded players.
Practical reflection - A coach with a good understanding of his group will be able to accurately assess how they react to certain coaching styles and approaches. Assessing your practical application of your coaching style is and important part of any coaches approach to their sessions. If you know the team react well to certain styles of coaching , or that simply it takes a certain approach to get the group to apply themselves , then it will obviously be more appropriate to use this to engage successfully with the team. Failure to identify the best practice for you team can result in a lack of engagement from players which drops motivation and how much information players take on board.
The coaching process
Effective coaching is a process of continuous application and review of your experiences and performance. A good coach does not simply turn up on the day and produce a generic coaches guide session. Your next session starts when your previous session finishes. A effective review of your session can highlight factors you feel are weak points of your session , allowing you to make changes for the following week. Failure to make these changes results in you constantly producing the same results that are often not up to standard. Making the same mistakes over and over again.
Many teams and coaches suffer from this as a result of time and tradition. Coaches were coached in a certain way themselves , they then simply reproduced the sessions they were taught again and again without ever making changes or adapting the session based on the participants. This goes on for years and because they have done it for years they feel it cant be wrong.
The coaching process in a basic view consist of Plan , Do , review.
http://simplyalibrarian.blogspot.co.uk
This is a simple representation of the review process in coaching , however it is a constant process of this rather than a one off action and the process can be seen to be a consistent circle of this constant reflection.
According to Gilbert and Trudel (2001) reflective practice is an integral part of effective coaching.
Many teams and coaches suffer from this as a result of time and tradition. Coaches were coached in a certain way themselves , they then simply reproduced the sessions they were taught again and again without ever making changes or adapting the session based on the participants. This goes on for years and because they have done it for years they feel it cant be wrong.
The coaching process in a basic view consist of Plan , Do , review.
http://simplyalibrarian.blogspot.co.ukThis is a simple representation of the review process in coaching , however it is a constant process of this rather than a one off action and the process can be seen to be a consistent circle of this constant reflection.
According to Gilbert and Trudel (2001) reflective practice is an integral part of effective coaching.
Wednesday, 17 April 2013
Questioning - From Criticalthinking.org
Just like teachers , coaches responsibility is to teach or inform , develop and enhance a players abilities in all aspects of life. Coaches often don't realize but they take on more of a responsibility than they bargained for developing the minds of the participants , players and athletes around them. As well as the basic jobs of a coach to teach technical and tactical skills and understanding , they all so have the job of challenging players mentally , getting them to think about what they are doing and understanding why they are doing it. There is no better way of doing this than to actually question the players themselves in order to get them to think about what they have just done , ways that it could be done differently and the reasons for this. As a coach you must always find ways to reflect on what you have done , question yourself and get others opinions of yourself , so that you are continually learning and adapting your styles and approaches to become more and more effective.
How you question the participants is equally as important , asking for simple yes or no answers is not going to really produce any level of reflection or analysis on their part to think about what they have just done. Challenging them for more in depth answers and then answers on top of that is going to produce more beneficial thought processes.
Below is a good article from The Critical Thinking Community , available at http://www.criticalthinking.org/ which explains the importance of the styles of questions used to open up ideas and thoughts from participants. As a coach you should not be the controller of information , but instead the source of thought.
The Role of Questions in Teaching , thinking and learning.
One of the reasons that instructors tend to overemphasize "coverage" over "engaged thinking" is that they assume that answers can be taught separate from questions. Indeed, so buried are questions in established instruction that the fact that all assertions-all statements that this or that is so-are implicit answers to questions is virtually never recognized. For example, the statement that water boils at 100 degrees centigrade is an answer to the question "At what temperature centigrade does water boil?".
Hence every declarative statement in the textbook is an answer to a question. Hence, every textbook could be rewritten in the interrogative mode by translating every statement into a question. To my knowledge this has never been done. That it has not is testimony to the privileged status of answers over questions in instruction and the misunderstanding of teachers about the significance of questions in the learning process. Instruction at all levels now keeps most questions buried in a torrent of obscured "answers".
Thinking is Driven by Questions
But thinking is not driven by answers but by questions. Had no questions been asked by those who laid the foundation for a field-for example, Physics or Biology-the field would never have been developed in the first place. Furthermore, every field stays alive only to the extent that fresh questions are generated and taken seriously as the driving force in a process of thinking. To think through or rethink anything, one must ask questions that stimulate our thought.
Questions define tasks, express problems and delineate issues. Answers on the other hand, often signal a full stop in thought. Only when an answer generates a further question does thought continue its life as such.
This is why it is true that only students who have questions are really thinking and learning. It is possible to give students an examination on any subject by just asking them to list all of the questions that they have about a subject, including all questions generated by their first list of questions.
That we do not test students by asking them to list questions and explain their significance is again evidence of the privileged status we give to answers isolated from questions. That is, we ask questions only to get thought-stopping answers, not to generate further questions.
Feeding Students Endless Content to Remember
Feeding students endless content to remember (that is, declarative sentences to remember) is akin to repeatedly stepping on the brakes in a vehicle that is, unfortunately, already at rest. Instead, students need questions to turn on their intellectual engines and they need to generate questions from our questions to get their thinking to go somewhere. Thinking is of no use unless it goes somewhere, and again, the questions we ask determine where our thinking goes.
Deep questions drive our thought underneath the surface of things, force us to deal with complexity. Questions of purpose force us to define our task. Questions of information force us to look at our sources of information as well as at the quality of our information.
Questions of interpretation force us to examine how we are organizing or giving meaning to information. Questions of assumption force us to examine what we are taking for granted. Questions of implication force us to follow out where our thinking is going. Questions of point of view force us to examine our point of view and to consider other relevant points of view.
Questions of relevance force us to discriminate what does and what does not bear on a question. Questions of accuracy force us to evaluate and test for truth and correctness. Questions of precision force us to give details and be specific. Questions of consistency force us to examine our thinking for contradictions. Questions of logic force us to consider how we are putting the whole of our thought together, to make sure that it all adds up and makes sense within a reasonable system of some kind.
Dead Questions Reflect Dead Minds
Unfortunately, most students ask virtually none of these thought-stimulating types of questions. They tend to stick to dead questions like "Is this going to be on the test?", questions that imply the desire not to think. Most teachers in turn are not themselves generators of questions and answers of their own, that is, are not seriously engaged in thinking through or rethinking through their own subjects. Rather, they are purveyors of the questions and answers of others-usually those of a textbook.
We must continually remind ourselves that thinking begins with respect to some content only when questions are generated by both teachers and students. No questions equals no understanding. Superficial questions equals superficial understanding. Most students typically have no questions. They not only sit in silence; their minds are silent at well. Hence, the questions they do have tend to be superficial and ill-informed. This demonstrates that most of the time they are not thinking through the content they are presumed to be learning. This demonstrates that most of the time they are not learning the content they are presumed to be learning.
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If we want thinking we must stimulate it with questions that lead students to further questions. We must overcome what previous schooling has done to the thinking of students. We must resuscitate minds that are largely dead when we receive them. We must give our students what might be called "artificial cogitation" (the intellectual equivalent of artificial respiration
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