Planning for Your Future

Whatever your role within sport; athlete, coach or management, you need to have a plan. 

 

Sportsmen commonly state where they would like to be in 3-5 years time, but what plans have they got in order to achieve these goals. With the athletes I work with this incorporates weekly, monthly and yearly plans. Teenagers find the act of sitting down and planning their week extremely difficult, but this has several advantages to both athlete, coach and parent: identify potential overload issues, decide when to implement rest and recovery strategies and when to recognise what event that week they are looking to peak for (match, training, event).  

 

On a recent RFU CPD course I attended, they identified the 3 main length of goals from a coaching perspective to be:

 

Short term: up to 1 year

Medium Term: up to 3-4 years

Long Term: 6-7 years

This seems very comprehensive with regards to the length of time you’re having to plan for, but when you consider many coaches work with athletes on a 2-5 year cycle, for example within a school environment, it does have practical relevance. My personal viewpoint on the matter is if you want your athlete to have well-structured plans and goals to achieve, you as a coach should mimic this within your own professional practice; you owe it to the athlete your trying to create a culture of excellence within.

 

GROW

Many coaches/governing bodies seem to advocate the GROW method when planning/goal setting. It provides a simple while intelligent format to help with the assistance of setting a personal or team goal.

A good way of thinking about the GROW model is to think about how you'd plan a journey. First, you decide where you are going (the goal) and establish where you currently are (your current reality). You then explore various routes (the options) to your destination. In the final step, establishing the (will do), you ensure that you're committed to making the journey and are prepared for the obstacles that you could meet on the way.

 

Establish the Goal

Make sure the goal is SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time related. When doing this, it's useful to ask questions like:

 

• How will you know the goal has been achieved?
• How will you know when the problem or issue is solved?
• Does this goal fit with the overall career objectives?
• What might be the obstacles to achieving the goal?
• Who might be able to add support?
• What level of commitment is there to achieve the goal?

Reality

Describe the current reality. Useful questions to explore the reality:

 

• What is happening now (what, who, when, and how often)?
• What is the effect or result of this?
• Have you already taken any steps towards this goal?
• Does this goal conflict with any other goals or objectives?
• Can this goal realistically be met?
  

   

Options

Determine what is possible from all possible options discussed. Brainstorm as many options as possible, then prioritise. Possible questions to explore options are as follows:

• What else could you do?
• What if this or that constraint were removed?
• Would that change things?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of each option?
• What factors or considerations will you use to weigh the options?
• What do you need to stop doing in order to achieve this goal?
• What obstacles stand in your way?

 

Way Forward

 

By examining the current reality and exploring the options, you should now have a better idea of how to achieve the identified goal. The final step however is to establish the level of commitment you have to the specific actions, in order to move forward. This will establish the desire and motivation to achieve.

 

Useful questions to ask here include:

 

• So, what will you do now and when?
• What else will you do?
• What could stop you moving forward?
• How will you overcome this?
• How can you keep yourself motivated?
• When do you need to review progress? Daily, weekly, monthly?

Finally, decide on a review date. This will provide some accountability and allow for a change in direction or approach if the original plan falters.

 

Putting this into Action

When taking over as Head of Cricket at Bloxham School, the first task to undertake was to create a plan, a vision of where we want to be in 5 years time. For me personally it was vital I sought advice, opinion and clarification from all the cricket coaches and the children, as they are going to be the individuals putting this plan into action. Together, we came up with the below:

Mission

Bloxham School to be renowned as a top cricket school which thrives on enjoyment, development, high performance and winning culture.

Vision

Cricket at Bloxham School will be an enjoyable experience for all Cricketers. An environment will be created where coaches and players will understand what talent is available, access what can realistically be achieved and then plan programmes to improve and succeed in reaching player and team goals.

 

In order to plan for this mission I asked 3 questions of Bloxham Cricket, I find these 3 questions are applicable in all sporting situations:

• Where is Bloxham School Cricket Now in 2014
• Where do we want to be in 5 years time
• What are the actions to be taken to achieve our plan

 

Conclusion

Whatever your style or method of planning, having a detailed and personalised plan/goal will hopefully ensure you overcome the difficulties that are faced within a sporting environment. Lastly, make these plans public to friends, family and colleagues, for it is this social network that will provide support throughout your goal setting journey.

 

I would like to thank and acknowledge Nevil Jeffery from the Rugby Football Union for his advice on Goal Setting and Planning in a previous CPD event.