It’s been a really cool couple of weeks in which I have had a number of opportunities to connect and collaborate with coaches from a variety of sports, including a fun podcast with Magic Academy wizard Russell Earnshaw.
Coach behaviour and motivation have been a feature across these conversations and some ideas I presented around match day coaching have sparked some curiosity across a number of coaching circles. Whilst this is exciting, I am mindful that in all instances I only brushed the surface and provided some very general examples. In a hope to paint a clearer picture for coaches I have decided to commit to paper some extra stuff.
At a recent get together with coaches I threw the following questions out to room:
Coach behaviour and motivation have been a feature across these conversations and some ideas I presented around match day coaching have sparked some curiosity across a number of coaching circles. Whilst this is exciting, I am mindful that in all instances I only brushed the surface and provided some very general examples. In a hope to paint a clearer picture for coaches I have decided to commit to paper some extra stuff.
At a recent get together with coaches I threw the following questions out to room:
A week later my good friend John Fletcher threw the same questions at a different audience. The enthusiasm and energy in both rooms soared as coaches reflected upon their own motivations for coaching. Perhaps unsurprisingly the following responses were not heard:
Instead reasons for coaching were centred around ‘giving something back’; ‘love for the game’; ‘to give young people a positive experience’; ‘helping people get better’; ‘creating incredible memories’.
Reflecting on the second question what is good coaching, responses were again super positive and centred around learning, fun and care. Again, perhaps unsurprisingly, the following responses were not heard (or coaches refrained from sharing such views):
I found it incredibly refreshing to hear the coaches depicting such inspiring coaching environments. Of course I needed to probe a little further because my own experience tells me that statements such as those listed above are sadly all too common across junior sport settings.
Whilst it was unsurprising to me that these ‘common behaviours’ weren’t forthcoming in the first instance, it was also unsurprising to find the vast majority later acknowledging that they could be tried and found guilty for many of them.
I genuinely believe that the majority (if not all) will be coaching with good intentions at heart. So why is it then, that many coaches (of whom many are determined to deliver positive and memorable experiences) are so prone to displaying adult centric behaviours in settings that are supposed to be centred around children?
How we see the world depends on the lens through which we look
How we come to see the world is in some way shaped by experience and interaction, and these images of the world become progressively built (hard wired) into our memory. It could be said that a traditional view of what coaching is and how coaches behave has firmly embedded itself in our societal culture, and these images are often reinforced by live professional adult sport and in Hollywood movies. I’d suggest that this traditional view of coaching has a tendency to look at matches as one-off events. A view that I believe has some potentially negative implications for those operating within the development world.
The coach who is results focused will be much more likely to view a match day as an event. This coach would be much more likely to become emotionally involved in the game which will undoubtedly influence the behaviours they display, decisions they make and how they interact with others.
The coach who is learning focused will be far more likely to view a match day as an experience. This coach would be much more likely to create an environment for the players, parents and coaches which is positive and progressive regardless of what the scoreboard displays.
The coach who is learning focused will be far more likely to view a match day as an experience. This coach would be much more likely to create an environment for the players, parents and coaches which is positive and progressive regardless of what the scoreboard displays.
Here are some strategies and behaviours that coaches could practise to make match days more of an experience for the players:
Viewing the game as an experience might help you step back and let the players live the experience
When I first started on my coaching journey I was very fortunate to have a mentor (my boss) who created opportunities for me to explore and experiment with my coaching practice, and despite the numerous slip-ups and mishaps he was always allowing for my mistakes. His genuine interest in the development and growth of others led to him creating an environment rich in trial and error. Even as a company director he had the confidence to step back and allow the experience to unfold knowing the opportunities for learning that would stem from my own reflections in-the-moment and reflective conversations post event.
I’m sure there were times where he thought about jumping in with a solution to the problem or offering suggestions to improve my practice, but how impactful would the resultant reflections have been? What emotional feelings would be fuelling my reflective practice and my drive to improve? How would I make sense of an experience I hadn’t lived?
Of course I am not suggesting that it is always a good idea to leave coaches or players to struggle, as there is always the risk of sinking. What I am suggesting is that in order for learners to begin making sense of stuff they need to have a bank of lived experiences that evoke feelings that fuel self-reflection.
As coaches we are not the only source of feedback. Some of the very best feedback comes from the game itself when you let it unfold and allow time for reflection and experimentation. I often use the analogy of the boxer who receives great feedback from being punched in the face!
So next time your team concede a goal, try, basket or your best batsman gets out for an unexpected duck pause and remind yourself (and others) it’s just great feedback!
Viewing the game as an experience might positively change your language
Here are a couple of examples from real world half time confabs. In both, the voice I heard was that of the ‘event coach’ and this sparked my thinking as to how a subtle change in language could shift us towards the world of an ‘experience coach’.
Event coach: “We need to move the ball quicker. Play on less touches!”
Experience coach: “Let’s see what happens if we play on less touches.”
Event coach: “We need to move more. Stop putting yourselves in physical duels!”
Event coach: “We need to move more. Stop putting yourselves in physical duels!”
Experience coach: “Try to play as much of the second half as you can free from duels.”
Viewing the game as an experience might make you more aware of opportunities to adapt the game to support learning
Again here are a few real world experiences from my time spent supporting grassroots coaches over the past twelve months. The examples shared below each had a positive influence on player behaviour.
Become a games maker
One Saturday morning I stood alongside a coach who found himself becoming more and more agitated by the game he was watching. This was a game being played between 8 and 9 year old players. Concerned by his growing unrest I enquired as to what he was finding so frustrating. “Every time the ball goes out of play they all switch off and start chatting amongst themselves” he replied. In ear shot of our conversation the coach for the other team jumped in to say “yeah my lot do that a lot too”.
We watched the game for a little longer and it was clear that both coaches were accurate in their observations. A really cool discussion followed resulting in the acknowledgement that this behaviour really isn’t anything to get stressed about and that some of the children were visibly excited by these moments for social interaction and many were full of laughter. We came to recognise the potential value of these experiences.
I also saw this as an opportunity to demonstrate how as coaches we can play the role of games maker - adapting the game in a bid to challenge and influence the behaviour of the those involved. We came up with a rule change that we introduced for the final fifteen minutes. The kids absolutely loved it and their attention never shifted from the action for the full duration (including times when the ball was out of play).
What we tried… when the ball leaves the pitch it’s nobody’s ball. Instead it’s a scramble, meaning first player to get two hands on the loose ball gets it and his/her team will restart. This rule change subtly sent the message to the players that the game never stops.
We watched the game for a little longer and it was clear that both coaches were accurate in their observations. A really cool discussion followed resulting in the acknowledgement that this behaviour really isn’t anything to get stressed about and that some of the children were visibly excited by these moments for social interaction and many were full of laughter. We came to recognise the potential value of these experiences.
I also saw this as an opportunity to demonstrate how as coaches we can play the role of games maker - adapting the game in a bid to challenge and influence the behaviour of the those involved. We came up with a rule change that we introduced for the final fifteen minutes. The kids absolutely loved it and their attention never shifted from the action for the full duration (including times when the ball was out of play).
What we tried… when the ball leaves the pitch it’s nobody’s ball. Instead it’s a scramble, meaning first player to get two hands on the loose ball gets it and his/her team will restart. This rule change subtly sent the message to the players that the game never stops.
Change The Score
On another occasion I was supporting a coach and we decided that we would explore how introducing new ways to either score points or lose points might affect on-field behaviour.
What we tried… we used clickers (thanks Rusty 😃) to score 1v1 dribble attempts in games. Every time a player chose to be positive and looked to evade an opponent with the ball we awarded their team a point. The number of dribble attempts increased dramatically as the kids were desperate to win a click for their team, resulting in increased practise of the focus skill. This then sparked a discussion with the kids about what might characterise a dribble as successful and what might characterise a dribble as unsuccessful. Using their criteria we then awarded points for successful dribbles over the next play. Dribble attempts remained high, but this was now coupled with heightened decision making for when and where to attempt it. Clearly there are lots of lots of ways we can scaffold this further by simply adapting the score and shifting the challenge point.
Another cool thing we tried was to experiment with the reverse outcome - giving points away if…
We’d observed the ball going out of play often, with some players even electing to kick the ball out of play when under pressure as opposed to playing with some risk and showing confidence in themselves to deal with pressure situations.
On another occasion I was supporting a coach and we decided that we would explore how introducing new ways to either score points or lose points might affect on-field behaviour.
What we tried… we used clickers (thanks Rusty 😃) to score 1v1 dribble attempts in games. Every time a player chose to be positive and looked to evade an opponent with the ball we awarded their team a point. The number of dribble attempts increased dramatically as the kids were desperate to win a click for their team, resulting in increased practise of the focus skill. This then sparked a discussion with the kids about what might characterise a dribble as successful and what might characterise a dribble as unsuccessful. Using their criteria we then awarded points for successful dribbles over the next play. Dribble attempts remained high, but this was now coupled with heightened decision making for when and where to attempt it. Clearly there are lots of lots of ways we can scaffold this further by simply adapting the score and shifting the challenge point.
Another cool thing we tried was to experiment with the reverse outcome - giving points away if…
We’d observed the ball going out of play often, with some players even electing to kick the ball out of play when under pressure as opposed to playing with some risk and showing confidence in themselves to deal with pressure situations.
What we tried… again we used clickers (one per team) and awarded points to the opposition each time a team kicked the ball out of play rather than exploring a technique to retain the ball for the team when faced with pressure.
In the same way that we saw behaviour change following a reward constraint we again saw a positive shift in behaviour when experimenting with penalty constraints. Over a thirty minute period the ball remained in play much longer than it had previously. The kids also took more risks and showed more confidence to stay on the ball, rather than kicking the ball away - an experience that lends itself neatly to development.
In both of these experiences we learnt that children will often play whatever game you put in-front of them and are very open to the idea of changing game rules and even playing multiple games (i.e. mini games within the bigger game).
In the same way that we saw behaviour change following a reward constraint we again saw a positive shift in behaviour when experimenting with penalty constraints. Over a thirty minute period the ball remained in play much longer than it had previously. The kids also took more risks and showed more confidence to stay on the ball, rather than kicking the ball away - an experience that lends itself neatly to development.
In both of these experiences we learnt that children will often play whatever game you put in-front of them and are very open to the idea of changing game rules and even playing multiple games (i.e. mini games within the bigger game).
Change The Challenge Point
With traditional views of coaching prominent across sport it is perhaps easy for some to lose sight of long-term player development in pursuit of short-term glory. I am actively encouraging coaches of children to reflect on their own behaviour and my intention is to nudge them gradually away from the ‘ready for Saturday’ mentality that I have come to see often.
I am a big believer that the greatest performance advantage for young developing children, players, athletes is to learn faster than others. As a result I have redefined winning, with a little help from Goldilocks:
I am a big believer that the greatest performance advantage for young developing children, players, athletes is to learn faster than others. As a result I have redefined winning, with a little help from Goldilocks:
As coaches of children and young people we are in the game of development, therefore to win is to spend optimal time within the learning zone. As coaches we need to be aware of where each young learner is positioned on the Goldilocks spectrum. Whether the experience is too easy or too hard coaches must be alert to moments during play that require an intervention to positively shift the learner back towards their learning zone (just right!). The further we stray from the level of challenge being ‘just right’ the greater the need to intervene in some way. Working collaboratively with the other coaches will certainly be an important step towards navigating this spectrum effectively for all players, but the first big step must be to make a conscious effort to move away from being the event coach who ‘secretly’ doesn’t want to put the game in any doubt (a characteristic of the learning zone).
To use a non-football example I recall a conversation with a friend of mine who coaches rugby. He was telling me about a player on the team who was physically more developed than others within his age group and how it was becoming very easy for him to steamroll his way through tackles. His solution was to encourage him to offload quicker and more often - a common intervention I’m sure. My immediate response was to ask “so when does he get the chance to deceive and evade opponents? It’s not his fault he has matured early”. In the goldilocks model this child is experiencing a task (in this case getting past opponents) that is too easy within the rules laid out in front of him. But what if the rules changed? Why does he have to play to the same rules as everyone else?
What we tried… we introduced a rule where any touch on him resulted in a successful tackle, meaning he could no longer rely on his physical superiority. Instead he was challenged to explore movements to evade incoming contact and the timing of his offloads became an important consideration.
Note: The same applies for any child or team at any age and stage of their development. It is our role as coaches to find ways to best support them and to present challenges and problems that are just right for them at that moment in time.
Viewing the game as an experience might bring more variety to your programme
The event coach is likely to stick with tried and tested methods, not wanting to disrupt routine or risk complacency in an effort to beat the competition. The coach with an eye on long term development and continuous learning is more likely to present his/her players with a rich variety of valuable experiences even if some of these come at the expense of a win being recorded on the scoreboard. Of course the coach who is able to redefine winning may already have characterised this new experience as a winning moment for the players.
Anyone with an interest in developing adaptable players should guard against set routines and prescriptive methods which by definition can only lead learners towards a limited skill-set and dependent behaviour.
I often use the following metaphor of forests and pathways to describe two contrasting approaches to support this point.
Imagine a forest with some tracks that have been laid through time and other potential avenues that are still to be explored. The coach is the guide through this forest. They can take the new traveller (learner) along the familiar paths and through repetition the traveller should quickly learn those simple ways through the forest. However the coach with an eye on the player's development will want them to use their creativity and challenge them by offering the chance to explore unfamiliar areas of the forest, even the chance to develop new paths. Through time the traveller gets to know the familiar paths well but has also developed a network of less worn paths (some of which they may have created themselves) that will aid the journey and widen their knowledge. Such experience broadens skill-set.
Now imagine the traveller who knows only the familiar paths, confronting opposition along the way. They will have limited opportunities to escape or outwit the enemy. The traveller with a wider knowledge of the forest and its subtle pathways has a much better chance of outfoxing the opposition, particularly those enemies whose own knowledge is limited to the familiar pathways that they are expecting the traveller to use. Thus the player with the broader knowledge has the advantage of knowing both the simple routes and the more creative approaches to their destination.
Over the years I have experimented with a number of ideas which I have woven into various coaching programme to ensure young players enjoy a rich variety of experiences that challenge them as players, people and learners. Here are a few examples:
To use a non-football example I recall a conversation with a friend of mine who coaches rugby. He was telling me about a player on the team who was physically more developed than others within his age group and how it was becoming very easy for him to steamroll his way through tackles. His solution was to encourage him to offload quicker and more often - a common intervention I’m sure. My immediate response was to ask “so when does he get the chance to deceive and evade opponents? It’s not his fault he has matured early”. In the goldilocks model this child is experiencing a task (in this case getting past opponents) that is too easy within the rules laid out in front of him. But what if the rules changed? Why does he have to play to the same rules as everyone else?
What we tried… we introduced a rule where any touch on him resulted in a successful tackle, meaning he could no longer rely on his physical superiority. Instead he was challenged to explore movements to evade incoming contact and the timing of his offloads became an important consideration.
Note: The same applies for any child or team at any age and stage of their development. It is our role as coaches to find ways to best support them and to present challenges and problems that are just right for them at that moment in time.
Viewing the game as an experience might bring more variety to your programme
The event coach is likely to stick with tried and tested methods, not wanting to disrupt routine or risk complacency in an effort to beat the competition. The coach with an eye on long term development and continuous learning is more likely to present his/her players with a rich variety of valuable experiences even if some of these come at the expense of a win being recorded on the scoreboard. Of course the coach who is able to redefine winning may already have characterised this new experience as a winning moment for the players.
Anyone with an interest in developing adaptable players should guard against set routines and prescriptive methods which by definition can only lead learners towards a limited skill-set and dependent behaviour.
I often use the following metaphor of forests and pathways to describe two contrasting approaches to support this point.
Imagine a forest with some tracks that have been laid through time and other potential avenues that are still to be explored. The coach is the guide through this forest. They can take the new traveller (learner) along the familiar paths and through repetition the traveller should quickly learn those simple ways through the forest. However the coach with an eye on the player's development will want them to use their creativity and challenge them by offering the chance to explore unfamiliar areas of the forest, even the chance to develop new paths. Through time the traveller gets to know the familiar paths well but has also developed a network of less worn paths (some of which they may have created themselves) that will aid the journey and widen their knowledge. Such experience broadens skill-set.
Now imagine the traveller who knows only the familiar paths, confronting opposition along the way. They will have limited opportunities to escape or outwit the enemy. The traveller with a wider knowledge of the forest and its subtle pathways has a much better chance of outfoxing the opposition, particularly those enemies whose own knowledge is limited to the familiar pathways that they are expecting the traveller to use. Thus the player with the broader knowledge has the advantage of knowing both the simple routes and the more creative approaches to their destination.
Over the years I have experimented with a number of ideas which I have woven into various coaching programme to ensure young players enjoy a rich variety of experiences that challenge them as players, people and learners. Here are a few examples:
Taking The Late Bus
The thought of arriving at a game with only minutes to go until kick off could be enough to push the event coach over the edge. The experience coach on the other might choose to carefully plan for this experience from time-to-time, particularly if skills like self organising, resourcefulness and resilience are valued.
During my time at a professional football club academy I deliberately arranged for the bus to pick us up late on more than one occasion. This meant that we would arrive much closer to the arranged kick off time than the usual routine creating new conditions under which to coach and play.
During my time at a professional football club academy I deliberately arranged for the bus to pick us up late on more than one occasion. This meant that we would arrive much closer to the arranged kick off time than the usual routine creating new conditions under which to coach and play.
Play Across Ages and Stages
I am a firm believer that children and young people should have regular experiences playing alongside and against a wide variety of other children who present different challenges and opportunities. For years street play has provided children with an environment rich in mixed age and informal play. Often there is no hierarchy in these street games with personnel and groupings likely to change in response to the collective experience. Mixing with older, younger, bigger, smaller, stronger, weaker, faster, slower kids would be common in these settings.
We now live in a society that is quick to categorise children (for example into age groups and/or ability levels) and often they can become imprisoned there for long periods of time. My own experience tells me that categorising or grouping children in such rigid ways can lead to missed opportunities for development. My advice is to create more experiences for players to play across age groups and with players at a variety of stages in their development. To use a sporting example I would be saying “here you are a Foundation Phase player, not an U10 player. You will get lots of opportunities to be around younger, older and same age children.”
We now live in a society that is quick to categorise children (for example into age groups and/or ability levels) and often they can become imprisoned there for long periods of time. My own experience tells me that categorising or grouping children in such rigid ways can lead to missed opportunities for development. My advice is to create more experiences for players to play across age groups and with players at a variety of stages in their development. To use a sporting example I would be saying “here you are a Foundation Phase player, not an U10 player. You will get lots of opportunities to be around younger, older and same age children.”
Playgrounds, Parks & Pristine Pitches
It is fantastic to see the growing number of artificial pitches across the UK, however I do worry (particularly within the pro club academy world) that consistency of playing surface and same size playing areas is doing nothing for the adaptability of young players in this country. If we want to develop players who relish new and/or difficult challenges it is essential that we regularly refresh the learning experiences offered to them and present them with new problems and challenges that range in difficulty. Challenging players to adapt to new playing surfaces and varying space can only be helpful in creating players more adaptable and resourceful players.
More, Less or The Same
Another way to vary the conditions under which children play and learn is to change the playing numbers in games. Playing with a numerical advantage or disadvantage may present new opportunities and challenges to the players, therefore offering a new dimension to their technical, tactical, physical or psycho-social learning. As with all of the above suggestions this type of experience moves both players and coaches a little closer to being able to say “I have faced this situation before and have some strategies to help me and my team deal with it” in the future.
A few years back The Premier League experimented with an In and Out of Balance tournament as part of their games programme. This was designed to stretch and challenge the players to strategise and adapt to changing game conditions. In sum the format was as follows:
Period 1: Team 1 are reduced to 5 players, meaning they were outnumbered 7v5.
A few years back The Premier League experimented with an In and Out of Balance tournament as part of their games programme. This was designed to stretch and challenge the players to strategise and adapt to changing game conditions. In sum the format was as follows:
Period 1: Team 1 are reduced to 5 players, meaning they were outnumbered 7v5.
Period 2: Team 2 are reduced to 5, now giving Team 1 the numerical advantage 7v5.
Period 3: Teams are even, playing 7v7.
This fresh and exciting format became a huge hit with clubs, coaches and players as it brought a new twist and refreshing challenge to the match day experience.
I recently mentored a newly qualified coach who was keen to provide his players with extra playing opportunities and to maximise playing time for all. He arranged weekly football and futsal games in order to offer a variety of playing opportunities across the weekend. After challenging him to look upon games as experiences rather than events he elected to randomly split his squad of ten players into two teams of five week-to-week, rather than taking larger squads to both which would likely be favoured by the event coach. His rationale was i) to give every player involved the opportunity to participate in every minute of the game; ii) for players to experience the challenges of playing when feeling fatigued; and iii) to open up opportunities for his team to face the challenge of playing with reduced numbers.
The coach who looks upon each game as another ‘must win’ event is unlikely to support my suggestions to mix it up more often, however a coach who recognises that from every experience we can learn something new this approach may seem a worthwhile consideration.
Viewing the game as an experience might be good for your health
Coaching children’s sport should not be a stressful or unhappy experience! Spectating and supporting children in sport should not be a stressful or unhappy experience! Participating in sport as a child should not be a stressful or unhappy experience!
If we rewind back to the first time we participated in sport as a player, coach or supporter/parent enjoyment is likely to be the key driver for our decision to hang around and continue. In a 2014 study Amanda Visik reports “fun” as the number one reason why children take part in sport. So why do so many adults appear to lose sight of this and why are so many children pointing towards negative adult behaviour as the root cause for them dropping out of sport?
Have you ever noticed that we live in a world where almost everything we do is based on measurement - how we measure up to others or against expectation/targets is common practice in many parts of our daily lives. This culture is particularly common in education and sport systems. This measurement culture only fuels the behaviour and mentality of the event coach, but at what cost?
The measurement focussed event coach will set goals and strive for these. In sport thoughts of how we measure up are often dominated by results. Are we going to win? Where are we in the table? Is the other team higher or lower than us? Can we beat them?
You might think this is a good mentality to have because it helps us to focus, gives you something to measure your performance by, and gives you something to aim for.
This fresh and exciting format became a huge hit with clubs, coaches and players as it brought a new twist and refreshing challenge to the match day experience.
I recently mentored a newly qualified coach who was keen to provide his players with extra playing opportunities and to maximise playing time for all. He arranged weekly football and futsal games in order to offer a variety of playing opportunities across the weekend. After challenging him to look upon games as experiences rather than events he elected to randomly split his squad of ten players into two teams of five week-to-week, rather than taking larger squads to both which would likely be favoured by the event coach. His rationale was i) to give every player involved the opportunity to participate in every minute of the game; ii) for players to experience the challenges of playing when feeling fatigued; and iii) to open up opportunities for his team to face the challenge of playing with reduced numbers.
The coach who looks upon each game as another ‘must win’ event is unlikely to support my suggestions to mix it up more often, however a coach who recognises that from every experience we can learn something new this approach may seem a worthwhile consideration.
Viewing the game as an experience might be good for your health
Coaching children’s sport should not be a stressful or unhappy experience! Spectating and supporting children in sport should not be a stressful or unhappy experience! Participating in sport as a child should not be a stressful or unhappy experience!
If we rewind back to the first time we participated in sport as a player, coach or supporter/parent enjoyment is likely to be the key driver for our decision to hang around and continue. In a 2014 study Amanda Visik reports “fun” as the number one reason why children take part in sport. So why do so many adults appear to lose sight of this and why are so many children pointing towards negative adult behaviour as the root cause for them dropping out of sport?
Have you ever noticed that we live in a world where almost everything we do is based on measurement - how we measure up to others or against expectation/targets is common practice in many parts of our daily lives. This culture is particularly common in education and sport systems. This measurement culture only fuels the behaviour and mentality of the event coach, but at what cost?
The measurement focussed event coach will set goals and strive for these. In sport thoughts of how we measure up are often dominated by results. Are we going to win? Where are we in the table? Is the other team higher or lower than us? Can we beat them?
You might think this is a good mentality to have because it helps us to focus, gives you something to measure your performance by, and gives you something to aim for.
So what happens then? How does the event coach respond to the inevitable 'bang ups’ and 'hang ups’? From experience I have seen energy sapped teams. Coaches, players and parents start looking for people to blame. Whose fault was it? Who’s the weakest link? Why did he let that goal in? Who’s letting the side down?
In this environment players can become afraid of trying things out because they fear the criticism that will come if they get it wrong. Where scoring goals and winning are the only things that matter in a club there is a skewed vision about the game - lots of good, constructive things that are going on in the match can be ignored or forgotten if the goals don’t come or the game is lost.
The good news is that there is another way of thinking about the game. And the better news is that not only will this alternative mentality keep the level of enthusiasm and enjoyment up - over time it is likely to bring results.
Enter the experience coach who sets the context and lets life unfold - an approach that I call ‘lets find out coaching’. With this approach there is no good or bad, win or lose, right or wrong. It’s all an experience from which learners will each take something different to help them grow.
Instead of focussing on how we measure up the experience coach is alive to the feelings and thoughts of any given moment. He or she will be primed to support individuals based on the realities of any given moment. The coach will celebrate the contribution being made by others, shine the torch on areas of potential interest and will look upon mistakes as opportunities for learning.
In sum, the experience coach is not there to lead the players. Instead they are there to learn alongside the players. If they were to lead in any way it would be in the form of a role model - a role model who helps others to see that every experience presents new possibilities and opportunities for further learning.
