We are in the business of tying shoelaces...
Last week I was fortunate to have the best learning experience I could wish for. A week, working with some super-engaged, hard-working and open-minded coaches. Even better, these coaches were based Newmarket, a small provincial town just outside of Toronto in Canada. My host, Max, I met in England in 2019, when I was working for Arsenal. Max travelled across the Atlantic to take part in an FA Level 1 that I was running, and the rest as they say, is history!
So how do you approach a week of supporting coaches, with a variety of experiences, who you haven’t really met before, in a different culture, with a whole range of expectations and challenges in their coaching context? That is the sixty-million-dollar question! I’ll tell you what I didn’t do:
I didn’t go content heavy
I didn’t do death by power point
I didn’t tell everyone how much I knew
I didn’t do coach education
The week was about relationships, connection, and built on the belief that the coaches in the room had a lot of the answers to their own coaching challenges within them – they just needed it teasing out of them through a variety of activities, missions, games and challenges.
It would be impossible (and possibly a little boring if you weren’t actually there) to write about everything we did through the week, but there were a number of themes that emerged through the work that we did together, that I thought the wider world of people supporting coaches would benefit from. So here we go…
Design for experience over content
It would be easy to overplay the use of slides and content. Trusty, reliable knowledge. The challenge is, that we are not short of content. Any coach, anywhere, has oceans of research, practices, podcasts and coaching wisdom at their finger tips. In a way it is a level of ‘infobesity’. So, instead, the week was about the experiences that we had, together. Some of my favorite activities included:
We had so much fun playing around with missions. And the magic was that the environment and task gave the coaches the opportunity to reflect on their own experiences, share with others who are earlier in their journey, and come up with unique ideas, right there in the moment.
To add to the experience and connection as a group, I decided to write a narrative through the week, actively using key statements and phrases used by the group. It was a way of drawing out some of the coaches best moments, and turning it in to a story. Here is an exert: “Using our past experiences, as well as our imaginations, we thought about what it would take to design a blueprint for a ‘super cool year’ with the children we coach.?
The group's adaptability shone through, adjusting and extending support to each other, reinforcing the idea that coaching isn't an act limited to the football field—it is happening everywhere, all at once, especially in this room.?
Yet again, every discussion centred on people and relationships. After all, as coaches, we are in the business of tying shoelaces.”
Generate Resources that will live longer than the time you are together
From the start of the experience, I was really keen that the group generated resources and artifacts that would live well beyond the four days we had together. We invested in some blank Coaches Challenge Cards, that we went on to build on through the week. These cards became a way for the group to generate challenges for other coaches who weren’t in the room, as well as swapping “challenge gifts” to each other through the week.
We also had a day themed around Play Their Way (child-first coaching for those of you who aren’t familiar), and played a fun game writing challenges on balloons, keeping them up in the air to the music, and then levelling up the last persons challenge on the balloon you ended up catching. What coaching course have you been on when you’ve been home with a balloon that will help you get better at coaching!
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The week ended with a podcast. The coaches each wrote a question, and asked it to each other. The discussion lasted 30 minutes, and was a fantastic way to capture the experience we all had across the week. It won’t be shared anywhere, but I hope that it will give the group something meaningful to reflect on in time from now. Perhaps a great way to start the next trip, by playing this back!
Incorporate play wherever you can
Play was at the soul of our work. Every day we played a game – whether that was from using story dice to make up totally random stories, throwing ourselves in to Happy Salmon, or other fun activities, play helped people relax, be themselves and let their guard down.
When it comes to learning, play is so important for helping people feel at ease and building relationships. Emily Ryall wrote about the Dutch philosopher Johan Huizinga, noting, “Huizinga argued that play belongs to a magic circle where a temporary world exists outside of normal rules. In this play world you can pretend.”
We used play intentionally, and it worked. It set the tone for each day, and sent a signal in the group that we were here for some serious fun.
Make it meaningful
As well as having a lot of fun, it was important that the week held meaning. The week had to land in a way that people could ‘create sparks’ back in their own coaching environments straight away, as well as having more long-term ideas to reflect on. With this in mind, the types of activities we engaged in were built around the wants and needs of the group.
We finished each day reflecting on what has been valuable, and played forward what a great day would be in the next part of the week. It really stood out that the coaches were experts in their own contexts, so using activities and posing questions that created the opportunity for the group to reflect on their own challenges was key.
One of the activities we finished the week with was around designing an IDP (Individual Development Plan) for yourself. It was really thought provoking, and highlighted the fact that coaches are on the go so much, thinking about their players before themselves. Even just holding some time and space to reflect and think about yourself for an hour or so was enough. We all need to take care in the world of coaching. It is easy to over-play passion. Coaching can creep in to all parts of your life – so please find a way to create a harmony for yourself.
Have experiments
And for me, this week was about experimentation. Living in the moment, and being free in the way I worked alongside the coaches. From the start I wanted to be a companion to the group. A treasure hunter, not a deficit detective – offering the coaches voice and choice and thinking about them as a person first.
I wanted to try new things out, and had space to innovate and play with different approaches to supporting coaches. I was able to let go (I can be a bit of an ‘agenda person’ sometimes!), and go with the flow. It felt energizing, and has really helped me when coming back in to ‘normal’ work.
One the of the resources I made us of as a tutor / coach developer were the UK Coaching Tutor Challenge cards. They just helped me think differently, and gave me something to think differently about when working in a workshop setting.
So, all in all, a fantastic week in Canada. It was top class learning and development for me, and I hope a unique, memorable and developmental week for the coaches who came and took part. I can’t wait to see what comes from the time we had together, and how the ideas spread like blossom. Thank you again Max, for making it all happen!