This Tuesday with the sports development class we visited a local martial arts club. We discussed many issues of running a club including the coaching elements of his club. He was very passionate about his coaching and it was a large part of his life. As a result he explained how important to him it was to have the right group in his sessions how in experience having even a large group of people who are not particularly willing to co-operate you must try and apply your best coaching practice. Although your attention may be focused on controlling the group and keeping a level of discipline there may be a participant in the group who is really enthusiastic about developing but they me completely missed or ignored. I have found this in my own experiences of coaching either being coached or coaching , that if one individual draws the attention of the coach away from developing to disciplining then the rest of the groups experience suffers.
Secondly something that is often seen in coaching with younger children , as there are still at this stage often significant differences in ability , but coaches often tend to focus attention on the more talented or gifted children and ignore the needs of the children who perhaps just need more encouragement. The coach at the martial arts club reminded me of a point made that I had come across before with my cycling coaches , that those with the right hard working attitude in the long run will always go further than those who are naturally gifted and rest on their abilities , however if you get a naturally talented person who has this hard working attitude that is when we get the real superstars of the world. This is a good reminder for coaches that everyone deserves the same coaching quality and attention , they may not stand out immediately but if those children are willing to work they will surpass all expectations.
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