More on Coach Development

They don’t know what they don’t know

Today I had a good day. A colleague of mine, for the umpteenth time, expressed his concern at the state of coaching, especially the situation of all the volunteer coaches. Social media comments and some email exchanges have brought the topic out in the open again which is always a stimulant to me. As usual, it has created another chance for me to comment on some of these elements. This time though I am doing it to join the many who are sending in some thoughts on the matter. Out of sharing and commentary just might come some solutions.

All National Governing Bodies offer a Coach Education journey where they assemble what they think is relevant information into an expensive, certified course and then create an income stream from it. Once the certificate is given out the new coach is on their own until the next level of the income stream becomes available. The success of this Coach Education pathway is measured in the number of certificates given out while the important assessment should be – is the journey of the athlete being enhanced?

These coaches, with their certificate, are then responsible for the development of the young person they are coaching. They are responsible for the technical, tactical, physical and mental well-being of the young person often for more than 8 hours a week. I mention ‘young’ people here as most of the youth of today involved in the development layers of sport are coached by volunteer coaches. Make no mistake, there are many volunteer coaches working with adults as well but I will continue to offer the idea that what happens in adulthood is dependent on ‘what has gone before’ which should highlight the importance of what happens in the development layers.

The coaches are responsible for a very important period of the journey of this young person to adulthood as well as the journey to improved sports performance. They assume some of the responsibility and accountability we see in the teaching profession as well as in the responsibility and accountability of parents. They need the skills of communication as well as an understanding of how a person learns. They need to be adaptable and flexible in all they do to accommodate the ever-changing social, emotional and physical environment of the maturing person they are coaching. They need the ability to recognise when they have to change their role from ‘instructor’ to ‘partner’ as the athlete gains more experience and life-skills when they enter adulthood. Add to this the basic understanding required to know ‘Why’ something needs to be coached, ‘What’ needs to be coached, ‘When’ it needs to be coached and ‘How’ it needs to be coached and you have a general outline of the journey this person needs to take. One simple outcome that must prevail is that by their efforts the coach should present an environment that the young athlete always wants to return to year after year. This description of the coaching landscape should also give a clear indication of how a sports governing body should prepare and create the educational / development journey of all their coaches.

I was recently interviewed for the position of Coaching Development Director and during the interview I used a quote from a fellow coach about the problems apparent in the coaching environment of the sport. ?“Coaches not feeling valued or respected. General?poor feelings towards the NGB. Poor communication from the NGB. NGB not dealing with complaints. Poor treatment of personal coaches”.

It is apparent that the world of coaching and coach development is not simply about the ‘Why, What, When and How’ but is also about the culture created by the NGB and how it impacts the coach.

Also during the interview another question was nearly asked but the conversation led to a different topic. This question referred to the issue of ‘coach mentoring’ that I had brought up as being part of the Coach Development strategy one could consider. The question dealt with a potential problem of the coach losing their autonomy if a NGB led coach mentoring system were to be put in place. The question immediately illustrated a culture that exists but is seldom spoken about. The NGB acts, not as a service provider for the coaches but as a controller of them. The system in place today is one of ‘top-down’ as opposed to ‘bottom-up’. The NGB bureaucracy has assumed the role of benign dictatorship and in some cases, not so benign. This is an ideal juncture to introduce the title of this topic into the dialogue – in far too many cases the NGB ‘don’t know what they don’t know’. Over many decades the NGB bureaucracy has assumed much and guessed even more about the knowledge and workings of the coaches at the coal-face of participation and performance.

So, recommendation one is, stop guessing and get out and experience session after session of what is actually happening at the coach/athlete interface. This is not a visit to tick a box so that the current strategy can be perpetuated. It is a strategy that exposes the truth about what is happening. Once this ‘truth’ is understood then appropriate steps can be made to create a meaningful journey for the coaches. Whoever represents the NGB must turn up and leave their ego at the door, establish a friendly, working relationship with the coaches and ask, ‘how can I help’. This is not a visit from ‘Head Office’ nor is it a visit from an employer or ‘lord and master’. It is a visit that epitomises humility and service. ‘Watch and learn’ over several visits is the mantra. The person doing the visiting must be of the highest calibre of experience, empathy and understanding because there are barriers to be negotiated before the truth is known.

I was also asked another question in the interview – ‘do you see any difficulty because you have been out of the mainstream for so long?’. I coach every day as a volunteer; I mentor coaches most days both professionally and non-professionally; I engage with NGB’s regularly about a range of performance/participation topics; I continue to create and refine and deliver courses; I continue to develop resources to support certain recommended journeys e.g. The General to Related to Specific movement journey. Being out of the ‘mainstream’ seems to have given me a better view of what is appropriate and what isn’t. For the last 40 years the ‘mainstream’ has created the current cultural and content limitations that pervade the coaching world. Strange that I was asked that question.

Back to the coaches. There are major commitments at the moment in some quarters in the realm of the ‘online’ world. Coaching resources are becoming more and more available in the online world and this is a positive step in today’s digital environment. During my interview it was stated that the new ideas about Coach Development would include a more personal journey for the coaches. In essence, this is giving the coach the choice of how and when they navigate their education pathway. This is a means of giving the coach the chance to choose what they are interested in or what they think they might need to know. As an idea, this strategy of ‘personalising‘ the coach's journey may have some merit. Let’s be frank, the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach we have used for the last 40+ years has not been as successful as it should have been. One of the key elements of this failure has been the total lack of follow-up after a coach gets their certificate. The income stream may have been satisfied; the coaching certificate numbers may have risen but there is no quality control in place to support the newly certified coach to best practice. Participation is still in decline, injuries continue to rise in the younger age groups, technical development shows less resilience when under pressure, the transition from junior to senior sport is still fraught with problems. It appears reasonable to state that the coaches, particularly those taking their first steps along the coaching continuum, ‘don’t know what they don’t know’. Hard, therefore, to offer them their own chosen pathway.

Each time I visit a coaching session I see more and more what the coaches need in terms of content and delivery skills. When I get the chance to participate in the session I often get the opportunity to deliver some illustrations of the common errors taking place and offer some easily understood solutions – all done in a manner that supports the coach and their credibility with their athletes while attempting to create better practice. Doing this over the last 25 years (being out of the ‘mainstream’) has taught me what the important things are that the coach needs within the session. Seeing all this has helped me create courses and workshops that are appropriate to the real environment of the coaches. The main aim of one of my introductory, ‘first steps’ course is to give them the tools to ‘know some of what they don’t know’. The experience allows them to see the other coaching infrastructures and online resources in a relevant context. When they visit the online opportunities they are far more able to make appropriate decisions on what they learn next. Once they understand the ‘Why’ it is far easier for them to seek out the appropriate ‘What’ and the ’How’.

Now the key issue – no matter what courses and workshops are made available, no matter how appropriate the content may be, the failure that we currently see will continue unless we support every coach during the session. This is paramount as they take their early steps along the coaching continuum. Fear not, as the coach gathers experience and learns from their mistakes, the intervention of direct mentorship will change. The Coach Developers doing the mentoring will slowly and appropriately withdraw from the direct coaching environment and continue their role in a more indirect way. Coach Development systems must show investment where the ‘rubber meets the road’ – the actual coaching session. Because there is no existing strategy to examine and learn from I present some questions to stimulate more discussion:

Manpower - Where are the Coach Developers? Who are these people? How are they trained? How are they recruited?

How likely is it that tertiary education institutions could act as the catalyst for the education and creation of Coach Developers? Is it possible for these institutions to regain the high ground in Pedagogy as opposed to the pseudo-science, research-based practitioners being trained? For those of a certain age, you might remember the glory days of PE Teaching in the UK, where a handful of institutions, with Pedagogy at their centre, delivered to the community a population of PE Teachers who had the hard and soft skills of learning embedded in their psyche.

How are Clubs structured in terms of Coaching Development? ?Does each Club have a well trained, experienced Coaching Director who is able to act as the coach mentor? How are such people trained? Who trains them? How are they recruited? Is there a central curriculum of workshops, progressive technical activities, progressive physical activities, progressive mental (behavioural) activities, that these mentors can work from so there is continuity and consistency across the nation?

What about the coordination of a number of local Clubs into a Coach Development hub where coach development is shared?

Again, history shows that at one previous stage in Track & Field Athletics in the UK there was what was called a National Event Coaching structure. Each event had a National lead coach and this coach had Staff Event Coaches to work with and regional and local teams of Assistant Event Coaches. The professional National and Staff coaches were supported by the NGB to work at the sharp-end with the other coaches. The line of communication was a conduit for sharing information. There appeared a camaraderie in the event and these layers of relationships supported coaches in a formal and informal way.

Back in the day when pedagogy ruled and there were infrastructures that helped where the ‘rubber met the road’ things were a little better. With a little thought and some brave decisions there are opportunities to support the scores and scores of volunteer coaches. There are opportunities to reduce the limitations seen in the ‘Development to High Performance’ continuum. There are opportunities to reduce the catastrophic reduction in participation that blight the younger generations.

The answer is not just more certificate-based courses. Nor is it solely about more online resources. It is a matter of developing systems, strategies, processes and protocols that reflect accurately the needs of what is happening at the coach-athlete interface. Find out what language?and vocabulary is being used at the coal-face; spend some hours immersed in the sessions to see what is happening from the coaching viewpoint and, more importantly from the athlete's viewpoint.

What is happening? Is it working? Stop just making more and more administrative titles in the hope that someone happens on to a solution. Carry out a diagnosis, done by someone outside your organisation who will know and tell you the truth. Look directly at the person requiring the service – the athlete. Get in their shoes and see if the ‘Why’ they are being taught is accurate and appropriate; find out if ‘What’ they are being taught is appropriate for where they are on the journey; find out ‘How’ they are being taught and if this is sound from a learning point of view.

It is these elements, issues and questions that I think are appropriate enough to be discussed by those considering the plight of all the coaches out there. If there is a move to create an entity that supports coaches then it cannot just be an organisation like a trade union. Start an organisation that reflects the needs of the coaches in terms of their journey to repeatable excellence. By all means create an organisation that the NGB simply must respect, appreciate and listen to but the most effective strategy is one that makes the coach better at their job. ?