When I first I qualified as a coach, back in 2009, I was told “get your coaching badge, then go and do some coaching.”
It felt odd, having just completed a “taught” course, but it seemed almost a recognition of the failure of coach education to actually teach the new coach what they should do.
It’s as if the coaching qualification was just a license to practice, rather than a preparation for (coaching) life.
But what is wrong with coach education? How do coaches learn?
(more…)When did you last have a serious coaching conversation with a fellow coach?
Not about who gets to use the bowling machine first, or about an individual player, or the opposition for next week’s game. But actually about the art and craft of coaching?
Just before Christmas, I stumbled into what could evolve into a local Community of Practice (CoP). It started (indeed, still largely functions) as a WhatsApp group for a group of coaches to arrange social events and to vent about employment issues.
One of the team posted a video of a young bowler with a question about his action, and got back a range of replies, all with a slightly different perspective, all with the same objective of helping that bowler to develop a more repeatable, more robust bowling action.
A hopeful beginning.
But where are the open discussion boards, the CoPs, the communities of like-minded individuals striving to provide the best possible experience to their charges?
(more…)I had heard of a “rights-based approach” to coaching children, but not understood how this extends beyond keeping them safe from harm, important as this is.
So I was very interested to find out more about this approach, and how rights-based coaching relates to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), as part of the Open University (OU) course Sports Performance: Different Approaches to Sports Coaching.
Lots to think about.
(more…)
The Teesra 