National Young Coaches Academy, 2013 [part 2]

So continuing from Part 1, the session following lunch was around adaptability and compassion. The session started with an energiser where, in 3s, the coaches would act out a coach, performer and observer - the coaches were asked to coach a simple skill to the performer but with various changes - for example no verbal communication or no actions or gestures. This really stumped some of the coaches, but others were able to excel. I saw some great examples of coaches who really got into the activity and followed the key points for communication, especially eye contact and body language.

Onto the main of the session. Adaptability and compassion work closely together, we have to adapt to be compassionate. This all links into feedback, how can we give feedback and what are some of the top tips.

Starting questions, What is adaptability? What is compassion? How is adaptability and compassion used when coaching? To link back to organisation and the STEP process - how does adaptability fit in? As coaches we should be hoping for the best, but be ready for the worst. A huge learning curve of the weekend [relating to compassion] is knowing your performers, how they learn and how are they motivated. From this we, as coaches, can be compassionate when giving feedback and using a method to gain the maximum success. So taking a player to the side to help, praising, relating to them, knowing what annoys them. Not just knowing them but maybe their personal life to understand why things might go wrong or they performer may under perform? Relating back to earlier, we aren't just coaches, and we aren't just here to develop ability. Thinking back to the philosophy session and using adaptability and compassion the Young Coaches were asked, 1. How will you coach? [equality] 2. How will you ensure that everyone can understand instructions? 3. How will you be inclusive in your demonstrations?

When coaching we should remember that no matter what level our performers are currently at, there is always room to improve, challenge those who struggle and give them the opportunity to test themselves against better performers to see how big the gap is and then a route to improvement, As the recyling advert used to say 'The possibilities are endless!'

Moving onto feedback and questioning, performers have a mind of their own, their opinions are invaluable - without first hand feedback how can we create the next session? How do we know how activities feel if we aren't involved within them? We don't. As a coach we can't feel the game or activity - sure we're all filled with passion but we don't have a clue how our performers feel or what is best for them when competing. If your performer  wants to try something new, let them - let them feel freedom and take a chance which they feel will benefit. Some of the top tips for feedback and questioning were to be honest, be constructive, remember how we are communicating, throwing our arms around is feedback - but not what anyone wants to see.

On the opposite side, tips for questioning, ask open, closed and probing questions. Don't settle for yes and no answers because they won't help anybody. Choose the right words, and be prepared to further question answers which might come up. Questioning isn't just at the end of sessions, but to check for understanding and knowledge right the way through of sessions, challenging performers mentally as well as physically.

The final part of this session looked at the 3 stages of learning, the Mental Stage - beginning of learning where we learn something new, get it into our heads and start to practice. The Practice Stage - where you begin to focus on the quality of the skill and not just the initial learning. And part 3, The Automatic Stage - where the technique becomes more and more automatic, so you can perform a skill with little thinking time.
We used a simple thumb and finger exercise to show this, Amber explained a great analogy to express how these stages work, I've split it up into 5 stages..

1. Imagine walking though a field, you may be walking slowly, there is no current route out so you have got to force one. It may leave a small imprint in the grass, but unless it's revisited then the mark with disappear.

2.The more the route is used a muddy sort of path might appear, more tracks have been made, and skill is recognisable and easier to remember and follow - but it's not wide or safe enough to speed through.

3. A path is then created, with paving slabs, no you can run, cycle or still walk down the path. More opportunities are becoming available as you are progressing with learning the skill. The foundations have clearly been laid.

4. The path becomes a road, more force can be put into hitting the quality of the skill. The road is used a lot so the skill can be progressed and performed quickly, but still to the point where it must be thought about even though there is an increase in pace.

5. Finally, the road becomes a motor-way. It is used all of the time, and there isn't really much of a thought process other than when to get on and off. You can perform other tasks at the same time, the skill becomes automatic.

Onto the last generic session of the day, Honesty and Ethics. Probably one the most important sessions, exploring skills which can be difficult to perform. Everyone knows what honesty is, but it's hard to do. Is honesty really the best policy? Are there routes to feedback that are built on honesty but aren't so patronising and de-moralising? Yes, of course, constructive criticism is huge, giving negative feedback - but a route to improvement. One of the ideas to come up was giving out a burger, 2 positives sandwiching a negative. Lance Pepper, from Endicott [USA] made a valid point not to give a positive and then say 'but' before the negative. That one word can be a turn off straight away.

Also within the session we looked at ethics, team and personal. What is your team ethos, is this followed through by yourself and your performers? Similar to philosophy, what do you think is right? And how is this put into practice? How important are codes of conduct, team rules and what comes first?

The penultimate session for the day, the start of The Big Team Challenge! The challenge, come up with and perform a presentation of what you have learnt over during the academy, you don't have to perform everything and it should last for 10 minutes. Along with this there must be a code of conduct and a feedback sheet.

At this point we were now with the footballers, and during this my role was to ask questions and help where needed with any problems/the brainstorming of ideas. The 3 groups came up with ideas pretty quickly, but the delivery of the presentations had to wait until Sunday morning!

Last session of the day was 'An evening with...' The National Young Coaches Academy joined up with the National Talent Orientation Camp for the evening where 3 Olympians and 3 coaches were questioned. The athletes were, Richard Hounslow [Kayaking], Ashleigh Ball [Hockey] and Ben Pipes [Volleyball]. In terms of coaches we heard from, Paul Hall [Coach of gymnast Louis Smith], Olivia Murphy [England Netball U'21s coach] and Stuart McLaren [Head coach of Loughborough University's Men's side].
 
Each guest spoke of their experiences and how they have had to adapt and develop as a coach to get to where they are and to continuously develop their athletes. A lot of messages came out from the session surrounding how athletes prefer their coach to act, and how as coaches we should behave and look to communicate and be compassionate all of the time.

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Unbelievably we got a whole 20 minute ly in on Sunday! Mixed emotions hit at breakfast - the last day of camp had arrived. Straight down to the sports hall for 8.30am, the football crew had 30 minutes to put in the final pieces of their performances and have a last run through. The groups had 10 minutes each to perform their presentation and then 10 minutes for feedback. The feedback was delivered using 3 different methods, Q and A's, Using the COACHE acronym, ask the audiences to rank the components into what they felt were the shown most within the performance and a 1-5 ranking system, so questions were asked and the audience had to stand by the number which they felt answered the question best.

Each of the 3 presentations were different, we had a silent coaching session, The Jeremy Kyle Show and a presentation where each member gave their opinion. It was great to see what the coaches had learnt over the weekend and remembered to perform. A very fulfilling moment for myself to see that everything had pulled together despite early doubts. A key part of the final performance 'Coaching isn't about sport, or winning, it's about life.'

2 key questions were put to the groups, what are you trying to portray? What are your key messages?

Onto the National Governing Body sessions, the topic, Developing the coach-mentor relationship. Some good questions were asked to get the coaches thinking, why is it good to have a mentor? What qualities and skills should they have? What do you want from your mentor?

Myself and Amber shared a few experiences of our own from having mentors and fit them into the a diagram with shows 10 areas which are looked at when meeting your mentor and then starting to set up a rapport, goals and then looking to reach them. Everyone will experience different things, but this gave a sort of flavour of what might be in store.
 
The next step was putting together an action plan, setting 3 goals and some sort of route to getting there. Using the SMART acronym [Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistc, Time] these goals could be made to then be reached over a period of time.

The last activity of the day. Reflection. What have you learnt from the NYCA? What was your proudest moment? What has challenged you and taken you out of your comfort zone? Some big questions which were followed by huge answers which under-pinned the learning of the coaches and also us as mentors. A big thing from me is that just because 'Coaching' was in the title, doesn't mean that that is the only topic and learning point. So much was to be gained and it was pleasing to hear of experiences and challenges which the coaches have had and over-come.

The very final exercise, What is you dream? Where do you want to go? I drew mine with a little help, and have started to piece together a route there - using the mountain analogy, I have a base where I am now, and mountains to climb before I get to where I want to be. It will take time, but if I miss things out by running too quickly, I will be the one effected in the long run.
 
Onto the closing ceremony. We were spoken to by rugby players and now coaches ,Andy Farrell and Graham Roundtree. Both of them spoke of their experiences, and their passion for rugby to play and to coach. Leading the ceremony was Sue Campbell an inspiration to anyone who , following the awards ceremony, she left us with this task.. Close your eyes, remove any of those people who doubt you and have told you, you won't make it. Picture your goal/dream - you've made it there, fill up with the feeling.. Open your eyes. Honestly the feeling that I got hasn't gone away yet, Sue said all of our eyes were glaring full of excitement.. glaring with something to be told, we now have to go and write the story.

So an inspirational weekend at the NYCA, something which will live long in the memory. That's been a bit of a whistle stop tour of what went on, but I want to just put across my feelings and thoughts. This weekend I've really woken up to the journey which I am on, how far I have already come on and the strengths which I have. I need to stop worrying about my weaknesses and just run with them, they will only become strengths if I allow them to flourish. This weekend has been as much about the people around me as the task in hand. I think that Sunday was one of the best days of my life so far, just knowing that I am doing things right and I need to wake up and realise why I was chosen to be a YCM. I've now decided upon my dream, I've got to create a route to get there - at the minute it's just a grass field which I need to find a path through - is that to find one? Or create one?

So thank you to The FA and The Youth Sport Trust for granting me this opportunity to return to the academy. To John Heathcote and Stuart Brown for your support over the weekend. Nat Fitzgerald for handing over such responsibility and allowing us to shape the weekend. Lance Pepper for being a top friend and also for your input, I won't be using 'but' so often any more. Amber Wildgust for putting up with me, being a top co-mentor and opening my eyes to how far I have come. And all of the Young Coaches who have shaped the weekend, worked incredibly hard to develop as people as well as coaches.

'Life's a climb, but the view is great'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG2zyeVRcbs

National Young Coaches Academy, 2013 [Part 1]

From the 3rd-6th of January I was at Loughborough University for the National Young Coaches Academy. Hockey and athletics has been added to the list of sports, so more young coaches and new opinions on coaching. The academy is to help and support coaches to develop their 'how to', personal and 'what' coaching skills. Top level coaches and tutors were in place to challenge the young coaches and push them out of their comfort zones to improve and develop.

This year I was asked to return to the academy and represent The FA as one of their Young Coach Mentors, my partner in crime being Amber Wildgust. Our purpose was to support the young coaches to maximise the opportunity and to achieve their personal best; it sounded so simple but that was not to be.

So, Thursday 3rd January 2013, 10am, Loughborough Stadium held the last training day prior to the NYCA. 18 Young Coach Mentors (2 YCMs for each sport, no YCMs provided for hockey) arrived wondering what to expect, clearly it would be more than just wandering around helping to answer questions. Straight into work, we were split into a colour groups and introduced to our National Faculty member. Team Green was the place to be. Before going into the plans for the weekend we as YCMs were asked 3 questions.

1. From last years’ experience, what have you learnt about you?

2.What did you learn about coaching? [COACHE acronym]

3.What do you need to be ready for?

Huge amounts of paper were put in front of us with our NatFac [National Faculty] taking us through it. Showing us the exact plan for the weekend. It seemed crazy the amount of responsibility handed over to us as YCMs to help deliver and support huge parts of the weekend, genuinely, I didn't think we would be granted a chance to take charge of sessions and shape the weekend.

As YCMs we had to remember that as coaches we are developing personalities not just ability.. Personalities last a lifetime, ability only for a career. Coaches aren't just about whistles and clipboards, we are serving people, not the sport.

Final part of the training day, National Governing Body work. Finding out what was in store for the finals day of the academy. A lot to read through and remember for what was an unbelievable weekend.

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Friday morning soon came, time to set up the registration room, tables and kits and for our final briefing. Last minute doubts started creeping as the start of the academy was so close! However boring the checking in process was, it seemed to go quite quickly meaning the first session came around swiftly.

Session 1, An opening to the weekend, ideal coaches, hopes and fears and the main part of the session.. Coaching Philosophy.

Some of the key points from the opening of the session were, what did the young coaches want to get out of the academy? And what were their hopes and fears, some of the answers we got were; they were hoping to meet new people and share ideas between different sports. The main fear was not knowing anybody and not knowing what to expect.

Onto philosophy, what is it? What morals and beliefs do you have when coaching and maybe in life? Who we are is how we coach, but who are we? where are we going? Key words to come from the young coaches were respect, responsiblity and fun. Does this relate to what we want as a coach or how we coach? Our philosophies help when making decisions, do you stick to your morals? Or would you change them to fit around the situation? Already, very early into the camp, huge questions were asked of the coaches, getting them to think and look outside of their comfort zones to find answers.

The key process for developing our philosophy runs in a continuous wheel; You hold certain beliefs and principles, Events occur- an athlete shows disrespect, You respond based on your beliefs, Experience conquers your actions, You change or adjust to strengthen your beliefs. These 5 steps work in a continuous loop, so we were always adjusting to our athlete, situations and our surroundings.

As I've mentioned, coaching isn't just about ability and our performers, it's about coaches finding who they are and then helping athletes know who they are. This is huge, a coach can be either a positive or negative role model, not just a coach but a friend, mentor, motivator.

Last task in the session, mark yourselves on the 3 selves. The real self, the public self and the ideal self. A very simple task, but it looks at where are we now, how are we looked at and how should we look.

The final event of the opening day, was the opening ceremony, with 2 key speakers, John Steele the Chief Executive of the Youth Sport Trust and Bonita Norris, at the time she was the youngest person to climb Mount. Everest. The key questions and point were inspiring and questions that need to be answered honestly.

John asked, 'Do I understand what it takes to be the best coach?' and 'Am I honestly prepared to make those choices to follow that pathway?'

Bonita's key points were, 'It's not reaching the summit, it was the journey, the struggle that meant the most to me.' She had a moment of inspiration which hit her in the strangest of places, she had a lot of critics saying she couldn't climb Everest, but by setting realistic goals, step by step her dream could be reached. Her climb to reaching her goal was very much an individual mental battle, having confidence and self-belief was vital to her success.

The evening ended, literally on a high. Inspiration was filling the room, and it was an unforgettable talk which will live long in the memory to fill us when dreams seem to fade - but having that belief is the route to success. No-one else can reach your dreams for you, no-one else can believe in you from the 1st to the last minute. A last point for the night, Bonita said that the hardest work was put in when no-one was looking, the times when no-one would help, but she still believed and had confidence. Sure there were bad days when giving up sounded good, but giving up shouldn't be an option, anything is possible if you can win over yourself - after all you're your biggest critic.

 

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Day 2 of the Camp [Day 3 for the YCMs] started early, out of the hotel for 6.45am and into our first session for the day at 8.15am. A mini keynote session with Ian Wynne, a former sprint canoer and now coach. Based on organisation and communication Ian spoke about his experience and how he now works with other performers.

The big messages were about how to communicate with others, how people learn differently and that you need to understand how you are communicating and the messages you are portraying. Ian's example was with a visual learner - whilst driving in a speed boat nearby he was trying to tell a performer that his right arm was incorrectly positioned, but he was using his left arm to demonstrate. The performer couldn't understand the message as Ian was telling him to correct his right arm but showing them with his left. This also relates to knowing your performers.

Remember, you have 2 eyes and 2 ears but only 1 mouth, listen and observe twice as much as you speak. Listen whilst you are communicating.

Another situation Ian dealt with was a performer who felt nervous before a race. Instead of racing to an answer, Ian thought about his answer. Instead of throwing out confidence boosting lines, he turned the negative into a positive. He told his athlete that the nerves were the body's way of preparing for the race. Adrenalin was building creating the 'butterflies' but is preparation not nerves. This moment Ian took before giving any advice allowed him to collect his thoughts and give and constructive answers. The athlete went on to win the race.

'In order to fulfil your potential the single greatest asset is the development of your mind.' Ian Wynne.

Session 2 of the day, Communication and Organisation, how do we use it? and how can it be effective? There are a number of ways to communicate, but in terms of a conversation there are some key points; what you are saying is key - but it's not just what you say but how you say it. Eye contact, to be trusted and look like you want to be in the conversation keep eye contact and body language, you can give out messages without saying a word. One thing I've learnt is even when talking and giving eye contact, I still talk with my hands.

There are 3 different types of learners, visual, auditory and kinaesthetic. So when coaching we could look at communicating with each type of learner to get the point across. Maybe using whiteboards, marking out positions using bibs in a small space, demonstrate and show case someone performing correctly.

Communication is needed all of the time especially between coach and athlete. A bond must be built, a kind of honesty and trust. Talking about goals, performance, personal life, and anything which might affect the athlete. As a coach we should be looking at the messages which we are sending and receiving. Are our messages getting across how we intend, what are we receiving? Not always straight away in a verbal sense, maybe in a body language or even how the performer reacts physically.

In terms of organisation, there is a basic guide to follow when putting together a session and its adaptations. STEP, Space, Task, Equipment and People. So when putting together a session think about the space, size of your facility and size of your drill. The task, what do you want your performers to do and what are the aims. What equipment do you have? Can you make use of it? People, who will be in your session and what is their ability level? How do they learn? In terms of adapting sessions, can the space be made bigger or smaller? Have you got easier and harder progressions? Can use change the equipment, introduce and take away objects to aid the performers? and the people, what if you are low on numbers or even have more people than expected? Have you planned for it?

... continued in part 2.