October 12th 2012 - 4th Practical Session

October 12th 2012

Our practical today was carrying in from last weeks session with Cliff on the different types of sport. This week instead of going through all of them and creating and activity for each, we had to chose to one of them in which we created s different session, to deliver back to the class. 

We picked the A-B-C's (Agility, Balance, Co-Ordination) . As we discovered from the previous week, A-B-C's wasn't our strongest subject. However from previous experience, we managed to successfully create an activity that incorporated all 3 of the skills. The activity even had numerous progression stages, unlike the session last week which had none. 

We chose 8 players to participate in our activity and Cliff assigned the remaining students with roles to observe the activity and feedback back to our group.

The feedback we received was very positive. Once again I walked away with a greater understanding of how I can change and/or improve sessions.

In my opinion this was a much better session compared to the previous week. We managed to go from a simple activity to having progression stages, competitive elements, something that was missing last time. 

October 8th 2012 - 3rd Practical Session

October 8th 2012

After last weeks practical with Nigel he told us to come to the next practical with a planned coaching session in our groups. However upon arrival Nigel wasn't there and Bryan stood in for him. At this point nobody what was going to happen in the practical.

We was told to split up into groups 5/6 and then each group was given 4/5 balls. Our group received Volleyballs, so we knew our activity/session was going to be based on that sport. At this point I was very worried as I have never played volleyball, nor did I have any understanding of the basics of the sport, however, some of the lads in the group did, which was good!

From this we began to devise a small activity, focusing on how to set a ball. At first we struggled to come up with an activity that would implement the skills required to perform a set. It was at this point we decided to break it down to the very basics of the particular skill. After that, the activity began to build, even adding a stage for progression into it. 

The sessions were to last roughly 15-20 minutes and be as fun as possible. Our session never lasted the length required as it was a very simple session, however the participants seemed to enjoy it, and the group managed to get some key coaching points across throughout. 

The feedback received was very important as there were many suggestions from participants on what we could have changed and how we could have done things differently, but they liked the fact we did step in and coach effectively. 

From my own perspective a very daunting, and difficult session to deliver. This was because it was my biggest fear of coaching, being asked to coach something I know nothing of. I am pleased I went on to deliver the session though because I know in the future I will come across that again. As well with the initial fear out the way, the next time it happens ill hopefully have more experience and creativity to come up with a session.

October 5th 2012 - 2nd Practical Session

October 5th 2012

Today was the 1st practical of 'The Reflective Coach' module. Our aim of the session this morning was to look at different types of sport; Invasion sports, Court sports, Stick/Racquet sports, Target sports, A-B-C's (Agility, Balance, Co-ordination). 

For this practical, it was vital that we understood what each type of sport entailed. Our task was then to devise a fun activity to help develop particular skills required for them types or sport (E.g. Court games - Spatial Awareness). 

Our group started off well, and continued to get better as we went through the different types of sport. Cliff made a small suggestion after our first activity, he told the group to strip it right down to the very basics and focus on that. With that in mind we progressed through each activity, stripping them down to the basics and got better as we progressed.

We found it a lot easier to come up with activities once we broke it down, however we struggled when we got to the A-B-C's (Agility, Balance, Co-Ordination). This was because they are the basic fundamental skills required to play any of the types of sport and we had to devise an activity which incorporated all 3 of them. 

We showed/demonstrated our activity Cliff, who then stepped in to once again help us by suggesting we altered our activity slightly so that it incorporated all 3 skills more. This helped us greatly as we had included Agility and Co-Ordination, but our activity didn't focus on Balance as much as we had hoped.

After the session I went away with a greater understanding of how to devise an activity, by stripping it down to the very basics. This will definitely help me in future practicals where I may be asked to do something similar. 

October 1st 2012 - 1st Practical Session

October 1st 2012

Today was the 1st practical coaching session in 'Coaching Toolkit' module, therefore nobody knew what to expect.

We was told to get into groups and devise a small 15-20 minute session on how to improve a particular skill. That skill  depended on what sport we chose, and what sporting action we chose. For example a sporting action in Football would be shooting. Dribbling (Football) was the action our group decided on. Once we decided which action we was going to use for our session, we then had to break it down and coach to improve a particular aspect of that action. When we broke the action down, we chose to concentrate on coaching the participants' footwork. 

The session started off really well. Most of the participants did the drills correctly, however a couple of them were using the wrong technique. At this point we stopped, stepped in to coach the correct technique and then the session presumed. We thought to progress the session we would reduce the distance between the cones they were dribbling through, this however was probably the wrong thing to have done. The participants struggled to do the drill correctly from the start, so after we received the feedback from Nigel, we realised we should have progressed it by increasing the distance between cones.

A good session from a coaching perspective, but it could have been a lot better. This has made realise that progressing a session doesn't always mean to make it harder, sometimes it may have to be made easier.

What is Reflection? Why is it important?

Throughout any coaches' experience, reflection is a vital factor in learning/developing.

"Reflection is an active process of witnessing one’s own experience in order to take a closer look at it, sometimes to direct attention to it briefly, but often to explore it in greater depth." (Amulya, 2004)

As quoted above, reflection is a process where you look at your own coaching experiences in greater depth. By doing this coaches can look at things that worked, and things that didn't. They can experiment on different coaching styles/techniques, and look in depth as to which one works best for them.

References

Amulya, J. (2004). "What Is Reflective Practice". The Centre for Reflective Practice, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.

Introduction

This is my blog, a collection of my coaching experiences/thoughts. 

There are many different factors that make up an effective coach. Every coach has their own strengths and weaknesses. Here are some of my own.

Strengths

- Confident

- Organised

- Good Communication

- Understanding 

- Motivator 

- Dedicated

- Good Attitude

- Maintain Professional Image

Weaknesses

- Adaptability

- Imagination/Creativity

- Time Management (Work) 

Throughout this module (The Reflective Coach), I am hoping to improve my weaknesses, to make me a more effective coach. I am looking to improve my ability to adapt training sessions as a coach. Also, I aim to improve and widen my knowledge of both the fundamental requirements of sport and coaching styles. 

I will be able to achieve my aims/objectives by first of all maintaining a high attendance to all practical sessions at University, especially sessions which I will be asked to deliver a coaching session! The other way I am looking to improve my weaknesses is by doing voluntary coaching outside of University. To help improve my coaching styles and find out which best suits my, I can conduct little experiments during coaching sessions to see which one is most effective! 

The one thing I would say I'm looking forward to the most throughout the module is coaching different sports. Because I am very used to coaching football, it would be interesting to start coaching different sports. However, what I am dreading the most is being out on the spot and being asked to coach a sport I know nothing about. As my adaptability/creativity isn't great just yet, it would make it difficult to conduct a session on that particular sport.