My First Research Papers
Recently I was contacted by Sports Coach UK to do some research for them into 2 areas. The first being how coaches can use technology to improve their coaching, aimed mainly at grassroots coaching. The second was to look into methods of how coaches can share best practice online. Both pieces are really only an overview of what could really be looked into and I would have loved more time to write my articles however both appear to have been very well received very well. The links to the report are shown below. Feel free to comment and rate them on the Sports Coach UK website, all feedback is welcome!
Report 1: http://www.sportscoachuk.org/resource/technology-use-your-coaching
Report 2: http://www.sportscoachuk.org/resource/sharing-good-practice-coaching
Maturity level leagues
After our game yesterday it has got me thinking again about having leagues for maturity. My team are physically small yet yesterday we can up against a team where most of the players were bigger than me! This is at under 13 level and it was no where near a fair contest. Even if the ability levels had been the same, my girls continually got pushed off the ball. About half of my squad also picked up injuries because they were constantly being shoved off the ball by someone twice their size!
I honestly think that having a size difference like that is dangerous but what can coaches do if the league rules do not permit them to be split. I fully understand that some people will try to cheat however I think that size wise it is quite obvious who should be where. The difficulty is when it comes to ability and that is where we need to educate coaches into a more developmental mindset for grassroots sport and not a competitive mindset. At under 13 there can be such a massive gap that some of the late developers drop out due to the injuries they constantly pick up. It’s time to think about the long term future of our athletes and move with the ltad information we are all given. Ignore this birthday issue and start organising sport like it should be for kids… On ability and maturity!
Passion
It is great when you realise your true passion about a subject. I have been lucky to have some amazing and inspirational teachers and lecturers over the years. It makes a great difference to how much you love a subject, yet oddly my passion is something I have never been taught. Using social media and technology in sport was proved to be my passion today when sitting in a Dtlls lesson about information communication technology and being so excited about the topic I actually thought I was going to burst! It is weird how something that has never been taught to me has proven to be a great love of mine, and whilst one lecturer encouraged my love of it, it occurred to me that perhaps the things we teach ourselves are the things we are most interested in. I suppose this is good because if everyone became passionate about something someone else had already taught them, nothing new would ever be discovered!
Technology in Sport
I haven’t posted on here in so long as I have been very busy however I thought that I would get started again. The topic for today was thought of when I was planning my lesson for tomorrow. I have one of the best topics to teach… technology in sport. Now for those of you new to following me or to my blog you may be asking why is that so great? Those of you who have been here before will understand what a massive geek I am and how technology in sport is a passion of mine.
So I was writing up my lesson for tomorrow, deciding which areas to cover as I only have a certain amount of time to do it in and it took me back to when I was doing my DT A level. I had 2 projects which I based around my love of football, the first was a research project into the evolution of football boots. The project was very interesting and I learnt a lot about football boots and technology used to create products in general. The second was a practical project where I took a product and looked to improve it. My product was to improve the shin pads and then I linked up with a local company who creates seats for racing drivers out of kevlar (and obviously other products with this). At the time kevlar was amazing to me, it was light and tough at the same time. I took a piece into my DT group and challenged them to break it, nobody was successful despite the use of hammers drills and saws etc. I would like to point out that at this point in my life I was very lazy (yes ok so not much has changed!) but I do owe a lot to Tillett and in particular Steve Tillett who spent the time to show me around the buildings, advised me on my project and helped me to realise the potential there is for sports equipment. Looking at some of the new products and technology out there whilst researching for my lesson I have realised how quickly everything has moved on and how things such as d3o could now be used in so many pieces of sports equipment.
It also made me realise how technology can actually be used in sport and that nearly everything we now do in sport is reliant on technology at the top level. Whilst I tend to focus on a particular area it really is spectacular how sport has gone from training as hard and long as you can to ensuring that everything is looked at in detail and from a scientific perspective such as diet and heart rate etc. Nothing is left to chance, showing how science has such a large part to play in everything we do now. This could lead me on to another topic but I think I will save that for tomorrow.
I cannot wait to see what the future holds for technology in sport and I hope that I can play a small part in improving athletic performance at the top level through this technology.
Social Media for the Coach
I think that social media is becoming a part of every day life, especially for the younger generations. As coaches it is important to realise how social media can be used with the athlete to improve performance because that is what we are here for at the end of the day! Whilst there are hundreds of thousands of ways of using social media I believe that social media’s uses for coaches can be split into 4 key categories. Communication, Performance Analysis, Monitoring and Marketing. My aim will be to write about these in much more detail in the future however for now here is a short(ish) introduction.
Communication
Communication is a vital part of both the coaching process and the coach athlete relationship and the right type of communication can make the difference to an athlete’s performance. Obviously communication ranges from the coach giving information on dates of training and competitions to athletes through to ensuring their welfare. Both can be covered through social media. Whilst at a talk on social media in sport with Lance Wicks I picked up on the phrase “ambient social awareness” which means knowing what is going on with someone or something however it is generally in the background. In coaching terms this means knowing if your athlete is going out drinking regularly to finding out if they found a training session tough and are aching the next day. Whilst they won’t come and tell you this normally you are able to pick up on this and work with them in a slightly different way to improve their performance. It will also help you to realise when you can push your athletes and when they are likely to switch off to you. Sites like pitchero and teamer are also a good way of communicating competition and training times with your team or athletes.
Performance Analysis
This allows you and your athlete to discuss their performance at a competition or training session, videos placed on youtube or the club website can be very useful. This will take up less time within your training session so that the practical element of practicing the skills and techniques can be covered rather than talking about past performances.
Monitoring
This can link in with the “ambient social awareness” that i have already discussed however it can also consider the monitoring of training outside of your club. Most people now have smart phones which allow people to download apps such as run keeper or even something such as a pedometer. This will allow you to track your athlete’s runs and extra exercise. Online training logs can also be used to help keep track of this. This is especially important n your athletes as they may regularly be competing for schools and other sports clubs and you will not want your athlete to burn out or injure themselves by overtraining.
Marketing
As a coach the likelihood of you having the benefit of a marketing team is low unless you are working at a top level. You therefore will need to advertise your club’s successes and try to recruit new members. Advertising yourself as a coach is also a good idea. There are many platforms you can do this through from facebook to linkedin, it all depends on your requirements.
I have had a few ideas recently of what to do when the weather gets so bad that we can’t go outside to train. I think that if you want your players to develop then you need to be giving them every opportunity to learn so I have come up with the following ideas:
Balloon footballs – They are great for indoors and last year I used them in the changing rooms to do a bit of a warm up rather than spending longer outside in the freezing cold (first match we won by the way!) If you have a club house or changing rooms where you train you could also do some ball juggling and practicing tricks in slow motion so players build up their muscle memory of a particular action.
Video Games – Whilst we are trying to get kids off video games and doing something active a video game of your sport can be great if you give them a particular focus such as “think of where you can support your team mates” etc.
Show them a video of a football game, get them to focus on a particular position and where they move. You could even show them a video of their last match and see what they think about it.
Use the whiteboards – Get players to write down key points of a game or draw on tactics
Plan the next session – Get the players to decide what they want to do next session, perhaps get them to plan it or plan the warm up.
Quiz – Do a quiz related to football, and I don’t mean who won the premiership last year. I am talking about quizzing them about the game, get them to work in small groups and make it into a competition. You might use the tactics board to set up a scenario and get them to solve it and come back with answers.
Hire a hall – This is obviously the more expensive option but it does allow you to carry on your sessions. You could even have a game of futsal!
Admin – You could always do the admin side of things and sitting down with players, getting to know them and setting/reviewing goals etc.
Whatever you chose to do make sure it is fun, if it isn’t the kids won’t get anything out of it!
Running a Coaching Course
Just a brief post today but thought I would share my thoughts on organising a coaching course. First point – It’s hard work and very stressful!
The hard work I put in though definitely paid off as we had a smoothly run course and everyone seemed to enjoy it. My arms are now killing me and my right arm is currently shaking as I am writing this but it was great fun! I believe that by running this course our students will gain a lot more and be able to deliver handball in schools.
Organising a coaching course is tough and stressful, but very rewarding!
