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.