Reflection

Do you take time to reflect on your coaching practise? Without a reflective framework the coach cannot ensure continual re-evaluation of his/her work. Reflective practice demands the coach to examine their own behaviour honestly, reminding them to act responsibly in their actions. Reflective evaluation highlights areas where the population, for example, children, have a great social need besides their particular sport. When designing training sessions it is important to consider the childhood of that child. Extreme training sessions may ruin their childhood.

Although he identified three levels of reflection, Van Manen (1977) did not position one level as necessarily being better than another, recognizing that they can occur in conjunction with one another.

Technical Level

How can I make sure all athletes hear me?
What resources could I utilize to improve the teaching of this task?
Did I achieve the goals I set for this session?
How can I fix this problem?
What part of the training could I change so that it finished on time?

Practical Level

What other ways can I get my message across?
How does my behaviour reinforce stereotypes?
What effect does each type of feedback have on what athletes learn?
What am I doing as a coach to include all learning media?

Critical level

What do I do about those practices that are inequitable or unjust but are part of the team or club traditions?

Why is there a difference between the type of feedback I give to the more skilled and less skilled members of the team?

Conclusion 

The importance of reflective coaching is not just about finding and defining the problem, most people can do that. Organising, planning and acting upon it are essential also. There must also be re-evaluation to see if it has solved the problem and continual evaluation resumed.

Adapted from Department of Education for Northern Ireland (1999) cited by Pollard (2002) this mission statement sums up the truth of the reflective coach: ‘‘At the heart of becoming a good teacher is, above all else, being a learner-a lifelong learner. To learn one has to ask questions of oneself…’’

References 

Pollard, A. (2002). Reflective Teaching: Effective and Evidence-informed Professional Practice. Continuum

Van Manen, M. (1977). Linking ways of knowing with ways of being practical. Curriculum Inquiry, 6, 205-228.

Developing a Coaching Philosophy

This is an area of the coaching process that became apparent to me during my Level 2 S&C qualification, of which I completed in 2010. Despite the official recognition that a philosophy has a direct impact on behaviour (Cassidy, Jones & Potrac, 2009), many young coaches consistently fail to engage adequately with the philosophic concept.

What is a coaching philosophy?

A coaching philosophy is a set of values and behaviours that serve to guide the actions of a coach (Wilcox & Trudel, 1998).

How should one go about developing such a functional philosophy?

Kretchmar (1994) suggests that we should use inductive, intuitive and deductive reasoning in developing philosophy. Therefore, the following questions could be addressed:

What is coaching, and why do I think that?
Why am I a coach?
What is my role as a coach and why do I think that?

Once a philosophical framework has been established, more practical questions should be addressed:

Is my approach appropriate for the athletes?
Is there a better way of doing what I'm doing?
Can I explain and justify my coaching actions and decisions?
How do I ensure that I follow and develop my coaching philosophy?

Conclusion

Developing a coaching philosophy enables coaches the opportunity to identify and clarify what is important to them at the personal level. What needs to be avoided, however, when developing a philosophy, is the superficial adoption of public statements of intent that have little bearing on day to day practice. Lastly, the importance of consistently reviewing and reflecting on your philosophy will help improve your coaching practise.

References

Cassidy, T., Jones, R., & Potrac, P. (Eds.). (2009). Understanding Sports Coaching (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.

Kretchmar, R. S. (1994). Practical Philosophy of Sport. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Wilcox, S., & Trudel, P. (1998). Constructing the coaching principles and beliefs of a youth ice hockey coach. Avante, 4, 39-66.