There is a feeling, in some quarters, that, in order to be able to engage young players in their development, we must use younger coaches.
Being closer in age to their players, the feeling is that, young coaches will be more empathic to the players development needs, having a more recent memory of what learning the game at a young age was like.
However, to be able to expertly develop good or excellent players, we need also to develop coaches who are excellent at what they do. Coaches need to understand the nature of their “game” – is it an early or late developing sport, what are we developing the player to be able to do, what does a competent or expert player look like and what are the stages to help them develop to that point, etc.?
Novice coaches often will work with young players and often, not always, young coaches are novice coaches. People who commence their coaching careers later in life, perhaps at the end of a playing ‘career’ or as a volunteer parent, will also be novice coaches, though their understanding of “the game” or coaching may be at different levels.
There are, of course, many formal academic courses which now prepare students (younger or older) for the science and art of coaching as well as any number of practically based courses to develop their game understanding and the skill of creating effective practice ‘sessions’ and how players learn, amongst other things.
NOVICE IN CHARGE
There is a tendency, especially at the grassroots, where volunteers make any sport ‘work’, to recruit a volunteer and put them in charge of a playing group. Often, this volunteer may well be new to coaching and, especially, new to coaching sport.
Now, I perfectly understand why this is – volunteer coaches are often the parent of a young player; they attend to watch their child play the game, they are available when the players are available and, usually, they are happy to donate their time having a community spirit. All essential qualities of a coach but, perhaps missing the key components of experience, knowledge and training – but we know why that is at this stage.
COACH DEVELOPMENT
So we need to develop coaches and, as described above, we start to do so by having them attend basic courses to attain a rudimentary understanding of a broad base of coaching skills and knowledge. But how do we develop them back in the club environment? Mentoring, in-service sessions, reflective diaries are all some ways in which we can achieve increasing knowledge and expertise.
EXPERT OR “MASTER” COACHES
But just how do you become an expert or master coach? Well, broadly, in the same ways as you do to become an expert player.
Deliberate practice, hours of study, review of and adjustments to practices already delivered, watching other coaches at work (and not just the “sessions” – Xs and Os, but HOW they coach and interact with players, what information and insights they offer and how they deliver or construct that knowledge).
WHAT DOES A MASTER COACH LOOK LIKE?
Typically, they may be older – mainly as a result of the years it takes to truly become a master (at anything) and also tend to be quieter and more studious. They observe (not just watch) much more than they speak.
Whilst younger coaches may have closer related empathic memories, as suggested above, think about grandparent/grandchild relationship – less formal, often playful whilst using homilies and wisdom to drip feed information for the benefit of the young developing child. This may be a less formal relationship, but it is still coaching.
Those grandparents have life (game) experience and have found more effective ways of coaching than, perhaps, the child’s parents or even when they were parents of their own children. In western cultures, we tend to progressively disregard aging individuals’ opinions or views whereas other cultures have valued increasing wisdom much more.
As comedian Richard Pryor once famously said “You don’t get to be old by being a fool !”
PLAYER INVOLVEMENT
They involve the player in their own learning and encourage them to think about the practice in order to deepen their understanding of what they are trying to achieve. It is not so much “the practice” that is important (organisation, balls, bibs cones etc.) as the purpose of the practice – what the player is practising, why they are doing it and what they will have learned whilst doing it.
“Tell me and I forget, show me and I may remember, INVOLVE me and I will UNDERSTAND”
PLAYER NEEDS
Expert coaches assess and understand the individual player’s needs and adjust their coaching to meet those needs. It may not mean adjusting the whole practice, but merely an individual interaction or signal to help that individual. That interaction may mean nuances of body language, tempo and tone of verbal communication as well as the type and content of information being provided.
INFORMATION, CLUES OR QUESTIONS?
It may be that NO information is provided – use of questioning to elicit reasoned outcomes or to challenge player understanding and problem solving are MORE important than giving the player a list of things to remember.
If questioning does not provide evidence of understanding, then master coaches do not resort to giving players “The” answer (it may only be one possibility anyway) – they will provide a clue in order to test the players reasoning and allow players thinking time to resolve.
“If it’s a choice between me TELLING them to do something, or them figuring it out, I’ll take the second option every time.” – Robert Lansdorp, Tennis Coach
GAME RELATED PRACTICES
Practices designed, developed and delivered by master coaches will be game related – probably not the whole game, but a modified version of it that allows players lots of goes at those elements from which they will most benefit from practising. You won’t see master coaches providing a coaching session involving line drills – they are simply not effective in learning and understanding the game.
THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAIL
Delivery or the extraction from the players of, specific detail is one of the key differences between sessions of novice coaches when compared to expert coaches.
Novices tend to deal in generalisations whereas the expert deals in minutiae – mainly because of their game knowledge but also because they know to what they are developing their players.
Famously, university basketball coach John Wooden began each year showing players how to correctly put on their socks to help avoid developing blisters (now THAT’S detail !)
IT’S NOT THE THING WE DO 100% BETTER, IT’S THE 100 THINGS WE DO 1% BETTER
Experienced coaches look for small improvements in individuals and teams rather than big strides. However, when coaching young players, you may see big improvements as they learn the game but as they get older, those improvements may not be so great, week on week.
INDEPENDENT THINKERS
Most importantly, coaches of complex, continuous games such as soccer, recognise the absolute importance of developing players who are INDEPENDENT thinkers.
As a coach, you can develop a vision and communicate a preferred game style and the principles of how you want your club/team to play the game. But, ultimately, it is the PLAYERS who have to interpret those elements and actually PLAY the game
"The game itself is chaotic. You go out and the game is chaotic and they’re the conditions you have to practice for. You have to replicate the game in training and develop players who can make sense of the chaos.” - Les Bee, manager of coaching and officiating Victoria Coaching Centre, Australia.
POSITIVE AND AUTHENTIC RELATIONSHIPS
Master Coaches place the athlete/player at the centre of what they do. True development can only occur when the ‘student’ wants to learn and the coach understands that learning is what the player gleans from the experience and is not something that is ‘done’ to the player.
It grows and develops from the exchanges between individuals and is entirely dependent on a sympathetic, synergistic and mutually respectful relationship.
SO, WHO ARE THESE “MASTER” COACHES ?
Well, they come from different backgrounds and walks of life; sports, business, media and may not always be recognised as ‘coaches’ in the accepted sense of the word but here are some famous examples:
– John Wooden, (see above) Jose Mourinho (different characters !)
Steven Spielberg (Director is sometimes a misnomer) – sure they direct, but their ‘players’ (the actors) interpret the vision (game-style) of the director (coach) and bring it to life on the screen/stage (pitch) using their developed skills, craft understanding and decisions about the character (decision making, game understanding and role requirements depending on where they are on the pitch)
Steven Covey - Educator, Author and businessman
Master Coaches have a vision and principles allied to their knowledge and expertise in order to help the individuals they serve to develop themselves.
Who do you KNOW or recognise who is a master coach?
FINALLY - VOLUNTEERS
Volunteers, no matter their experience ARE the lifeblood of sport in this and, I suspect, most, countries. They deserve our respect support and gratitude irrespective of what we think they SHOULD be coaching (do we really have enough understanding to make a judgement?)
Please consider –
“Volunteers are unpaid NOT because they are USELESS but because they are PRICELESS”
– Darren Moss, Norfolk FA - 2012
References:
“The Talent Code” by Daniel Coyle http://thetalentcode.com/author/
“They Call Me Coach” by John Wooden http://www.coachwooden.com/index2.html
“Principle Centred Leadership” by Steven Covey https://www.stephencovey.com/about/about.php
“Motor Learning & Performance” by Schmidt and Wrisberg
“Athlete-centred Coaching” by Lynn Kidman
“Teaching Games for Understanding – Theory, Research and Practice” by Linda L. Griffin and Joy I. Butler
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO LEAVE COMMENTS / OBSERVATIONS / FEEDBACK
Being closer in age to their players, the feeling is that, young coaches will be more empathic to the players development needs, having a more recent memory of what learning the game at a young age was like.
However, to be able to expertly develop good or excellent players, we need also to develop coaches who are excellent at what they do. Coaches need to understand the nature of their “game” – is it an early or late developing sport, what are we developing the player to be able to do, what does a competent or expert player look like and what are the stages to help them develop to that point, etc.?
Novice coaches often will work with young players and often, not always, young coaches are novice coaches. People who commence their coaching careers later in life, perhaps at the end of a playing ‘career’ or as a volunteer parent, will also be novice coaches, though their understanding of “the game” or coaching may be at different levels.
There are, of course, many formal academic courses which now prepare students (younger or older) for the science and art of coaching as well as any number of practically based courses to develop their game understanding and the skill of creating effective practice ‘sessions’ and how players learn, amongst other things.
NOVICE IN CHARGE
There is a tendency, especially at the grassroots, where volunteers make any sport ‘work’, to recruit a volunteer and put them in charge of a playing group. Often, this volunteer may well be new to coaching and, especially, new to coaching sport.
Now, I perfectly understand why this is – volunteer coaches are often the parent of a young player; they attend to watch their child play the game, they are available when the players are available and, usually, they are happy to donate their time having a community spirit. All essential qualities of a coach but, perhaps missing the key components of experience, knowledge and training – but we know why that is at this stage.
COACH DEVELOPMENT
So we need to develop coaches and, as described above, we start to do so by having them attend basic courses to attain a rudimentary understanding of a broad base of coaching skills and knowledge. But how do we develop them back in the club environment? Mentoring, in-service sessions, reflective diaries are all some ways in which we can achieve increasing knowledge and expertise.
EXPERT OR “MASTER” COACHES
But just how do you become an expert or master coach? Well, broadly, in the same ways as you do to become an expert player.
Deliberate practice, hours of study, review of and adjustments to practices already delivered, watching other coaches at work (and not just the “sessions” – Xs and Os, but HOW they coach and interact with players, what information and insights they offer and how they deliver or construct that knowledge).
WHAT DOES A MASTER COACH LOOK LIKE?
Typically, they may be older – mainly as a result of the years it takes to truly become a master (at anything) and also tend to be quieter and more studious. They observe (not just watch) much more than they speak.
Whilst younger coaches may have closer related empathic memories, as suggested above, think about grandparent/grandchild relationship – less formal, often playful whilst using homilies and wisdom to drip feed information for the benefit of the young developing child. This may be a less formal relationship, but it is still coaching.
Those grandparents have life (game) experience and have found more effective ways of coaching than, perhaps, the child’s parents or even when they were parents of their own children. In western cultures, we tend to progressively disregard aging individuals’ opinions or views whereas other cultures have valued increasing wisdom much more.
As comedian Richard Pryor once famously said “You don’t get to be old by being a fool !”
PLAYER INVOLVEMENT
They involve the player in their own learning and encourage them to think about the practice in order to deepen their understanding of what they are trying to achieve. It is not so much “the practice” that is important (organisation, balls, bibs cones etc.) as the purpose of the practice – what the player is practising, why they are doing it and what they will have learned whilst doing it.
“Tell me and I forget, show me and I may remember, INVOLVE me and I will UNDERSTAND”
PLAYER NEEDS
Expert coaches assess and understand the individual player’s needs and adjust their coaching to meet those needs. It may not mean adjusting the whole practice, but merely an individual interaction or signal to help that individual. That interaction may mean nuances of body language, tempo and tone of verbal communication as well as the type and content of information being provided.
INFORMATION, CLUES OR QUESTIONS?
It may be that NO information is provided – use of questioning to elicit reasoned outcomes or to challenge player understanding and problem solving are MORE important than giving the player a list of things to remember.
If questioning does not provide evidence of understanding, then master coaches do not resort to giving players “The” answer (it may only be one possibility anyway) – they will provide a clue in order to test the players reasoning and allow players thinking time to resolve.
“If it’s a choice between me TELLING them to do something, or them figuring it out, I’ll take the second option every time.” – Robert Lansdorp, Tennis Coach
GAME RELATED PRACTICES
Practices designed, developed and delivered by master coaches will be game related – probably not the whole game, but a modified version of it that allows players lots of goes at those elements from which they will most benefit from practising. You won’t see master coaches providing a coaching session involving line drills – they are simply not effective in learning and understanding the game.
THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAIL
Delivery or the extraction from the players of, specific detail is one of the key differences between sessions of novice coaches when compared to expert coaches.
Novices tend to deal in generalisations whereas the expert deals in minutiae – mainly because of their game knowledge but also because they know to what they are developing their players.
Famously, university basketball coach John Wooden began each year showing players how to correctly put on their socks to help avoid developing blisters (now THAT’S detail !)
IT’S NOT THE THING WE DO 100% BETTER, IT’S THE 100 THINGS WE DO 1% BETTER
Experienced coaches look for small improvements in individuals and teams rather than big strides. However, when coaching young players, you may see big improvements as they learn the game but as they get older, those improvements may not be so great, week on week.
INDEPENDENT THINKERS
Most importantly, coaches of complex, continuous games such as soccer, recognise the absolute importance of developing players who are INDEPENDENT thinkers.
As a coach, you can develop a vision and communicate a preferred game style and the principles of how you want your club/team to play the game. But, ultimately, it is the PLAYERS who have to interpret those elements and actually PLAY the game
"The game itself is chaotic. You go out and the game is chaotic and they’re the conditions you have to practice for. You have to replicate the game in training and develop players who can make sense of the chaos.” - Les Bee, manager of coaching and officiating Victoria Coaching Centre, Australia.
POSITIVE AND AUTHENTIC RELATIONSHIPS
Master Coaches place the athlete/player at the centre of what they do. True development can only occur when the ‘student’ wants to learn and the coach understands that learning is what the player gleans from the experience and is not something that is ‘done’ to the player.
It grows and develops from the exchanges between individuals and is entirely dependent on a sympathetic, synergistic and mutually respectful relationship.
SO, WHO ARE THESE “MASTER” COACHES ?
Well, they come from different backgrounds and walks of life; sports, business, media and may not always be recognised as ‘coaches’ in the accepted sense of the word but here are some famous examples:
– John Wooden, (see above) Jose Mourinho (different characters !)
Steven Spielberg (Director is sometimes a misnomer) – sure they direct, but their ‘players’ (the actors) interpret the vision (game-style) of the director (coach) and bring it to life on the screen/stage (pitch) using their developed skills, craft understanding and decisions about the character (decision making, game understanding and role requirements depending on where they are on the pitch)
Steven Covey - Educator, Author and businessman
Master Coaches have a vision and principles allied to their knowledge and expertise in order to help the individuals they serve to develop themselves.
Who do you KNOW or recognise who is a master coach?
FINALLY - VOLUNTEERS
Volunteers, no matter their experience ARE the lifeblood of sport in this and, I suspect, most, countries. They deserve our respect support and gratitude irrespective of what we think they SHOULD be coaching (do we really have enough understanding to make a judgement?)
Please consider –
“Volunteers are unpaid NOT because they are USELESS but because they are PRICELESS”
– Darren Moss, Norfolk FA - 2012
References:
“The Talent Code” by Daniel Coyle http://thetalentcode.com/author/
“They Call Me Coach” by John Wooden http://www.coachwooden.com/index2.html
“Principle Centred Leadership” by Steven Covey https://www.stephencovey.com/about/about.php
“Motor Learning & Performance” by Schmidt and Wrisberg
“Athlete-centred Coaching” by Lynn Kidman
“Teaching Games for Understanding – Theory, Research and Practice” by Linda L. Griffin and Joy I. Butler
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO LEAVE COMMENTS / OBSERVATIONS / FEEDBACK
