The weekend that just passed has been an emotional rollercoaster. I have been supporting coaches within Brothers rugby club this season and the club had six teams in grand finals, winning four. Personally, it’s been a while since I have been so close to the highs and lows of sport, and of course it’s been a privilege, an emotional roller-coaster, but it has also been a huge learning opportunity. I have learned more from working with our coaches and DoR than they have from me. Working with good people isn’t only good when they (we) win.
The deeper the foundation, the higher the building
Naturally, relationships evolve over time. I started supporting coaches at the tail end of pre-season. The connection I have with an individual coach determines the quality of the product (which is always evolving). Building relationships and being a good person to be around is something I have placed an extra emphasis on over the past 6 months. When working in the coach learning space, if the coach I am supporting is not having me, then I have no chance of helping them and I could very possibly hinder them. Connection and quality relationships are the foundation to a prosperous and enjoyable working relationship in anything, but particularly coaching and coach development.
Losing is a catalyst for critical self-reflection
The reflective process is a potent tool. It provides the groundwork for changes in thinking and improved practice. In an ideal world, coaches (and everyone, myself included) would engage in reflective practice after every training session and every game. But losing is a powerful experience to stimulate such reflection – coaches may ask themselves “is the something I need to do better?” or “what if….?” There was one example of that when a coach reached out after a poor result and wanted to get a fresh perspective on their game day process. Losing, however that is defined, spurs humility and a willingness to search deeply for potential solutions (which may or may not exist, such is the reality of the complex and chaotic world we live and compete in).
A potentially useful framework involves critical thinking, to critical reflection, to critical self-reflection, and ultimately to transformation. Jones (2014) provides a useful discussion on this framework. Critical thinking means thinking about thinking, and can occur whenever one judges, decides or solves a problem, or when one must figure out what to believe or what to do, while doing so in a reasonable and reflective way. Critical thinking is underpinned by metacognitive skills, which can be a huge challenge for coaches, especially if they have never reflected before. Critical reflection is a natural extension of critical thinking, and this involves probing and challenging one’s own thoughts about concepts, practices and ideas. This is a retrospective process to analyse the consequences of our actions and decisions. Finally, critical self-reflection is the deep water being vulnerable unpacking your own practice. This can be challenging and somewhat intimidating and further illustrates why a strong connection is needed to allow for the prosperous relationship. Critical self-reflection challenges individuals to uncover underlying assumptions in the taken-for-granted and habitual practices that exist. Questioning the reasons, motivations and values attached to the way we think, and do things, as a means of unearthing new knowledge and therefore enhancing the experiential learning process. At the end of all of this is the transformation learning process, which allows coaches to become critically aware of their own tacit assumptions and assessing their relevance for supporting their decision-making.
The reflective practice aspect of coaching is what I have tried to support on more than anything else, and I have shared some earlier thoughts and reflections on that here.
Present difficult situations as learning opportunities
One particular game in the season, the prem team returned to the dressing room and half-time 26-0 down. Far from ideal situation, and all the head coach (Ben McCormack) could do was smile with his players. But the discussion from players and coaches at half-time was calm, balanced and directed. I think this is an opportunity for coaches to set the standards for behaviour, and players will follow. If coaches behave and speak erratically, then players will too. The focus was on learning points from first half, ensuring alignment between player and coach perspectives, and going into the second half with hope and a plan. But the standout moment for me came when the attack coach (Carl Marshall) spoke: “This is a really good challenge for us, we haven’t been here before.”
It worked well as the team came back to draw, but it’s also important to recognize that this result (and every result) is a culmination of many interacting factors and it cannot be attributed to any one component. The team found themselves in an almost identical position at half time two weeks later, and the same calmness was presented by the coaches, but they were beaten convincingly. Dissociating valuable behaviour from results is crucial for development in any complex environment, but especially sport. As in - winning does not make a good coach, and losing does not make a bad one, it's a bit more complex than that.
Facilitating awareness around challenge-based framework
The challenge-based framework (Hodges & Lohse, 2022) is one of my favourite tools to support coaches with. This is aligned with the research that I do in skill acquisition. I have discussed this framework previously here, but I leaned on it throughout the back end of the season, as teams approached finals. Coaches need to present players with pictures and situations they will likely face in the finals series. “Finals footy” is very different to regular play, and everyone knows it. For players to best cope with these kinds of situations, they need to practice it. Scoreboard pressure, territory, playing the clock, kicking pressure, playing down the clock are all things that coaches can incorporate into practice to ensure greater transfer from training to competition.
Hodges and Lohse (2022)
Application of skill learning principles is underpinned by knowledge of the sport.
Coach support is a collaborative process. I have discussed where I see skill acquisition in the coaching process before (here and here). But accurately applying such principle requires a good understanding of the sport. My understanding of the sport may not be quite where it needs to be, but this is why coach learning is a collaborate effort. Working with the coach to identify needs and solutions to those needs (mostly through the facilitation of reflective practice) requires input from me and mostly from the coach. This is something I have spoken with Andy Abraham too; knowledge of the sport is absolutely crucial in understanding how best to apply skill learning principles.
Abraham and Collins (2011)
Learning loads, and having fun while doing it.
Reference
Abraham, A., & Collins, D. (2011). Effective skill development: how should athletes' skills be developed? In D. Collins, A. Button, & H. Richards (Eds.), Performance Psychology (pp. 207-229). Churchill Livingstone. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-06734-1.00015-8
Hodges, N. J., & Lohse, K. R. (2022). An extended challenge-based framework for practice design in sports coaching. J Sports Sci, 40(7), 754-768. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2021.2015917
Jones, L. W. (2014). The contextual and micropolitical world of aspiring professional coaches / Leigh William Jones Thesis University of Wales].
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