[Before I start, please change “Strength and Conditioning Coach” to whatever you may call yourself or whatever you feel the profession should be called. Until we get universal agreement, this is what we will be called. Don’t get sh*tty with me because you believe you should be called an Athletic Development Specialist.] (as you may be able to tell I have ZERO tolerance of naysayers and negative nancys at the minute, just crawl back in to your holes, and stay there)
Just flicked through this journal article. I will read over again tomorrow a lot closer but I wanted to get this out there to see what you think. I got a little carried away thinking about this so thought it must to write it and look for debate around this.
“The Expert-Performance Approach as a Framework for Understanding and Enhancing Coaching Performance, Expertise and Learning”
http://multi-science.metapress.com/content/e51885243l5927vj/?p=e70e522709cb4f51b67820ef8f4d0d85&pi=8
I don’t have to tell you guys but read it from an S+C point of view. There are some really interesting points of how to assess yourself as a coach, although I do think that with every athlete, squad, group, you will interact with differently and this may change daily and so a perfect model will not necessarily be available. But self-reflection is a must if you are to get any better.
Also look at it from developing expert pathways with athletes. I tend to look at this from a movement then a performance point of view, you may be different but give it a try. There are 3 stages to the approach – 1st capture expert performance, 2ndly identify the underlying mechanisms, 3rdly examine how expertise is developed. I firmly believe that in order for skills to be developed with a player, they must be able to physically be able to complete the skill and then be robust enough to practice the skill deliberately over time. Then we can work on the enhancing performance.
A lot of people have been emailing directly rather than posting comments. That’s absolutely no problem, love to hear any feedback anyone may have. Just make sure you get in touch.
Cheers,
Mackers
Good blog Mackers. I'm really interested in the ideas around self reflection and how this expresses itself in an individuals beliefs, world view, skills/talents and interactions with others - in this case our work with athletes.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that the really successful coaches (think Wayne Bennett in League) are very self aware, seem to have intuitive skills in getting the best out of diverse groups of people and can reproduce their results over very extended periods of time. They seem to know themselves and the people they are dealing with.
Is the capacity for self reflection innate or learnable, is it the study of others that initiates your own self reflection or vice versa? Do you need understanding of yourself to succeed in working with others?
Thank you David for the Comment/Questions.
ReplyDelete1stly I cant believe it took you that long to write a 3 paragraph reply, you got the old 2 finger - old man typing going on? ha ha! (I was in the office when he was replying people - Im not just picking on old people - he deserves it!)
Seriously though, as a starting point, I think that to be aware of what you yourself are doing as a starting point without this you will be shooting in the dark with a lot of things and leave yourself open to serious criticism and then lack of respect from your athletes/players.
From here, you are mindful of how you deal with each group and individual, and make sure to take the time to empathise with each and dont just come in with the sledgehammer effect, you will lose 10 for every 1 you gain.
I dont think you "learn" self reflection, but it is something that you will do as you decide to be more aware. Some people do this more than others, but the key is not to simply ponder this but to consider and to act upon your reflection to get the optimal out of those around you, and yourself.
Your questions require far greater responses but I hope this is a starting point, maybe the discussion can continue in the comments here, if you can find the 3 hours needed for you to write a sentence reply? :-) (seriously people, he deserves it, I will get it back dont worry about that)