Category: Uncategorized

Philosophical congruence or not?

It started out like any other game day, the drive to the venue (away but still relatively local), a sense of anticipation and excitement at what was to follow (my childhood dreams of being coach live on), and questions regarding what, where and how we would play? What would be our keys to success? How competitive would we be? These all raced through me like a Saturday afternoon track meet. I was ready to go!

I walked into the venue in my usual game day good mood, the players were already getting changed and organising themselves. I greeted the parents, exchanged pleasantries and made my way to our bench. On my way over I was greeted by a familiar face, it didn’t register with me straight away but there was “I know you” feel about the encounter. However, as we got deeper into our exchange, conversing on what was right and wrong within youth sport, I realised I had witnessed this person berate their charges, demand a parent leave the sports hall and generally argue and shout at anyone and everyone in sight of the game. I continued to listen as they discussed philosophy, values and their winning record of years past. I couldn’t quite put my finger on the request that was being bestowed my way, however I was sure I was just asked to modify our play to meet the needs of the opposing team. I walked to our bench not quite sure what to make of the exchange.

The first quarter was not pretty at all, we couldn’t find our range regardless of how close to the basket the attempt was, we missed everything. They were third from bottom of the table and were with us stride for stride. I could feel a mood change, I was frustrated at our play and began to direct players’, question those on the bench at side of me and generally get after our intensity, execution and quality of movement. I had once more journeyed back to the traditional instructionalist I was currently running from.

The first quarter ended and after a number of miscalls, bad calls and hard fouls my earlier conversation started to show itself. The disconnect between the purported philosophy of the opposition, the relationship with the officials and the presence of a family member on the table began to establish itself and challenge everything sacred about competition, sport and the provision of opportunity for young people.

As we got into the second quarter the bellows from the opposing bench grew louder and louder. At one point there was a full-blown argument between player and coach mid game! I attempted to keep us focused, looking forward at what we were doing and nothing else. The reality was that this was never going to be the case. For the third time one of us went down hard, crashing to the floor with nothing to brace the fall or justify the foul. The game was lost to chaos and anarchy!

In among all of the debris one of us had managed to pick up technical foul whilst waiting at the free throw line to shoot as a result of the latest intentional foul. Can you even pick up a technical foul whilst awaiting the ball to shoot a free throw? The officiating had descended into ludicracy! The call made no sense, but even worse than that, the comments that followed were seemingly personal, the referee had decided that the game belonged to him and he would do as he wished. Making call after call in a personal vacuum validated by opinion as opposed to regulations. I had to sit two players down for picking up four fouls in less minutes. I was now angry, a state of mind and emotion I should not and did not want to express during the playing of a youth basketball game. Had the world gone mad? Had he gone mad? What possible reason could there be for any of these people to be allowed to remain actors and role models in this world? I couldn’t get my breath; thankfully the whistle blew for half time. I walked us back to the changing rooms, for no other reason than to escape the blatant victimisation that was unfolding before me.

In the changing room I paused before speaking, I wanted to say so much that was not appropriate, that should not fall on the ears on young sports participants. They had done no wrong; they had played an honest and fair half of basketball and for their troubles had been beaten up by a biased whistle, indignation without a cause and fuelled by hostility! I finally spoke, my message was clear, say nothing, rise above the challenges and play with heart, ferocity and intent. Had I incited them to ‘run over’ the opposition? I had indeed and that sadden me, but at that moment I felt that our only redress was to play with fury, to rise above what was unfolding and demonstrate that we would not fall to the indiscretions of the officials, the challenges of the opposition or the tyranny of the forceful shouting and screaming.

We finished the game with a 65-point victory, not something that anybody wants to see or that is even necessary within youth sport. However, we played great basketball, we pressed, ran and finished with class. Not one player challenged a call, uttered a word at the opposition or showed any decent at any moment of the game and I was proud of them. They had shown resilience in the face of adversity, they had stood strong and not faulted in their pursuit of personal and collective development.

The game had passed, I was on my way home and my once game day good mood was nothing more than a distant memory. I had been party to everything I fight against in youth sport. We cannot use the word corruption as it is possibly too grand, but it felt like that. The individual lack of professionalism by one had caused the behaviours of many to change and had tainted the fabric of the game I love.

Assisting and observing

I had just finished planning tonight’s session when the phone rang, the Head Coach wanted to integrate our two teams and set up a game based practice to test the two squads. I was more than happy to go along with the idea, playing against the Academy squad would be a suitable test of where we where as a unit. I finished my teaching early, gathered my belongings and made the 100 mile journey over to practice.
Numbers were low, we had a total of 9 of 15 players in attendance, not quite what I was hoping for. I chattered with the Head Coach for a while prior to the start of practice. I have always enjoyed his perspective on the game, player development and coaching in general. I often learn a great deal from just listening, just being in the room and observing what is going on around me, not fully engaged in conversation, rather acting as a secondary participant floating around on the periphery gathering intel and making it my own.
The evening was spent essentially assisting the Head Coach, engaging with and talking to the players, offering an opinion when and where appropriate and generally observing an alternative approach to mine. Interestingly, my players responded a great deal differently to the Head Coach then they did to me, not better or worse, just differently. I wasn’t sure why, or even why to any great extent, however, I knew I was going to spend some time thinking through this point, exploring the why and the rationale behind it. But for the moment I was happy to just observe, learn and contribute when and where needed.
I had attended the GB senior women’s game the previous evening and spent the entire game watching the two opposing coaches in action, much like tonight. Their interaction with the players was almost at polar opposites, one was very hands on, responding to every movement on the court, player mistakes and successes, and the calls of the officials. The other appeared more interested in the officials and spent the majority of their time ‘getting after’ the referees. Throughout the game I envisaged myself coaching the two teams, what I would be saying at each and every moment of the game, where I would make changes and what changes I would make. I was almost in attendance at my own development clinic, extracting what it was I could from the two coaches and making sense of it through my own personalised thoughts and feelings.
To this end, I left the game with some very clear intentions, resolutions if you like that I took into my practice and continued to hold on to as I sat and reflected on my coaching practice from the previous week. They are quite simple, I would continue to enjoy what I do and to t his end wished to further advance my practice with a view to taking a national team into competition. What this development would look like, whether it would be formal, informal or non-formal I am yet to decide. I suspect it will be a combination of all, but it will take place and I will continue to improve my ability to develop coach-athlete relationships, to offer opinion and knowledge, and to share in the construction of a team direction that reflects independent thinking athletes working together towards a shared and competitive performance on the court.
I drove home content that although I had not contributed mush to the evenings session, I had indeed learnt a great deal about my coachself, who I currently was and where it was I wanted to go.

​

Impostor syndrome

The travel over to practice was almost pleasurable, I say this as a measure of the traffic I faced, which on this occasion, was considerable less than usual. The result was a great deal more time to go through my practice plan and consider exactly what it is I was looking for and what the players needed from this evenings session. The concept of outcomes used to be something I took for granted. I knew in my own mind what it was I was planning to cover and built practice around this without ever clearly articulating the metric that would enable me and the players to measure what it was we had achieved. However, I was now very aware of the point we were hoping to reach each session, the steps that would provide us with the opportunity to get there and the questions that would inform how we did this.
Practice started well, the players were engaged and confident in what they were doing, a sense of independence if you like. I gave them the first 15 minutes before jumping in to talk about where we where, what we where hoping to achieve in the next few weeks and what I thought we needed to focus on. I then asked the players what they felt and if it was that they felt the same or differently about our direction. The question wasn’t particularly well formed and as a consequence, the response was less than informative. I moved on quickly, wishing to retain the energy with which the players had started practice. I ‘got into them’, lots of commentary, some of it humour, some of it corrective feedback. I felt the need to interact with them more tonight, to challenge and push them a little harder than normal. With this in mind, I set the parameters for the rest of the evening, we were not going to walk anywhere, we where going to hold each other to account, challenge one another and work together.
The players responded well to begin with, encouraging each other, sharing ideas and helping each other when we failed to be in the right spot. Unfortunately, we quickly began to make mistake after mistake, which seemingly took away from our ‘pace’ and intensity, almost like some of our third quarter performances. In a bid to ‘push’ back and get them to consider more carefully what it was they were doing I employed a punishment (shuttle runs), not something I have done in a very long time and not something I really believe in to any great extent. However, the result was a short, sharp increase in the collective intensity of the players effort, concentration and work rate. I repeated this process three or four times throughout the remainder of the session, I had gotten it in to my head that it was working, that it was good to get them running as a means of sharpening up their thinking and narrowing their focus. I am not sure that I really achieved any of this.
We ended practice well having achieved some short term gains and a number of successes. How sustainable these were is up for debate, however, for the moments following practice the energy was high, players appeared to be happy and the session was well received. It appeared that some learning had occurred, that each individual had taken something away from the content presented to them, the question was, how do I know for sure? Would it present itself within the game, within our gamecraft? Of would I have to wait and see, question and consult with individuals as a means of appraising their competence and understanding of our game model? Once again  I felt uneasy in my coach skin, almost as though I was no longer sure of myself, my knowledge and my ability to conduct a meaningful session that would lead to the development of meaning and the acquisition of knowledge.

​

Home v Home!

Game day felt somewhat different today, we were matched up against the second team in a National League fixture, only in basketball would this be an acceptable picture. I arrived early, chatted to whomever would listen to me and generally relaxed myself with a view to almost removing myself from the task at hand. I did however quickly speak to the captain to ask that we conduct ourselves in an appropriate manner, that we demonstrate professionalism and respect for our fellow club members.
The ball went up and from that moment on it was an ever decreasing spiral downwards, filled with a mix of emotions. There were lots of things going on around me, in front of me and within the game but with with no real high or low moment, no spike or obvious context to draw from, not for me anyway, it was all a bit of blur. We did a number of things well, but also managed to turn the ball over more than necessary, and often unopposed and without cause or reason other than as a result of a bad decision. We didn’t seem able to ‘tidy our play up’ (a phrase I use to encourage us to be better). I wasn’t sure whether we were being ‘too nice’ or that we just didn’t recognise what it was we were doing. Some of us looked tired, was it that perhaps? We looked so mentally and physically fatigued but I wasn’t sure why. It is currently a very difficult year for this age group and I was mindful of this and all that they had to contend with (mock exams, late teenage identity, growing social lives etc.). Or perhaps it was more about the nature of the young people I was working with? They were after all really good kids, respectful, polite, well-grounded etc., may be I was asking more than they had to give?
We moved through the quarters without any real energy, it was almost as though we expected to win, a position I didn’t like as it felt too much like complacency, almost as though we had gone away from what we needed to do because we had assured ourselves that we would win. A great deal of literature provides a picture of coaching that as great influence on the athletes within the setting, not just performance orientated, but more psychosocial. Important traits like self-efficacy, confidence, autonomy, all of the things that I wished to impact upon within my charges. Unfortunately, I wasn’t reaching some of them and I wasn’t sure why.
The drive home was a mixed bag of emotions, I wanted to be happy for the players, after all, we had won by 30+ points. However, we hadn’t been at our best, our passing was all over the place, we missed lay up after lay up and failed to play together with any degree of consistency. If we had played against a team higher up the table in the same fashion it would have been a completely different result, not one that we would have been able to justify or indeed live with!!

​

Lost in coaching!

What just happened there then? I had arrived at practice with all the hope and anticipation of a coach that felt like a coach. The season was going well, I had managed to develop some strong relationships within the group, I still had a way to go but felt comfortable with our direction of travel. In fact, we had travelled some distance in a short space of time. We had begun to understand some of our basic principles, such as ball movement, player movement, spacing, communication and engagement. I had stuck to these five offensive principles my entire coaching career, 27 years, and was convinced that these were fundamental to the effective execution of any offensive game model, regardless of what it was you were running. I had written these five principles down whilst working in retail, I still have the scrap of paper that I used to jot them down on. I had pursed them for many years and with multiple teams to varying degrees of success. So what had I just experienced for 90 minutes? What unfolded before me was about as far away from my own personal idea of basketball that I was left questioning my own ability to coach.
Across on the other court I heard a completely different approach to the practice and delivery of coaching, there was a more directive, somewhat coach-centred approach to the session. Yet, the level of intensity, the engagement and the progress appeared to be far greater than I had achieved tonight. It begs the question, how should I coach? What is the more effective methodology? I was no longer sure, I wanted to remain faithful to my thinking, to my research and to what I believed was right for this group of athletes. However, everything around me was telling me something different. I would perhaps put more into my planning (I keep blaming my lack of planning when in actual fact I am spending two hours for a 90 minute session). I know I can do better, I can question more, allow them more time to explore and be patient with what emerges, give it time to grow, like the oak tree, it will not mature over night!!
The next day I continued to battle over my approach, the associated learning theory, the provision of a performance environment and coaching pedagogy. There truly was a great void between the theory and practice of my trade and I was trapped squarely in the middle of not knowing. Every example around me appeared to employ behaviours that were far more stringent, forceful, directive and authoritative. I needed to find my true coach self, a state that I believed in but which was also effective.

​

After the break

Isn’t it funny how quickly a week passes by when you are on holiday? I wasn’t actually abroad or even relaxing in some of the beautiful countryside the UK has to offer, it was merely half-term and a week away from the court. I still had to attend to my nine-to-five job and basketball was still very much a part of my thinking on most day’s! This being said, I had missed the weekly engagement with the players, negotiating our way through strategies, physical conditioning and the allocation of time. As a much younger man I had aspirations of becoming a professional coach and in some form or another I still held on to this aspiration, perhaps when I retire from teaching?
Bang on 7.30pm I blew my whistle, I was ready! I wanted to get them going, for them to match my enthusiasm for our return to the court. I moved through the next forty minutes like a gazelle, fuelled and ready for anything and everything, with all of the coaching knowledge I had. I probed and prompted, challenged and tasked players with constructing meaning, sharing understanding and allowing everybody in view to add their own personalised perception of what it was we were doing. It felt good to be back on court. The question was whether or not I was coaching for me or for the players? I had taken over the coaching space and although I asked questions of the players, paused to allow them time to solve the problem they had been presented with, I wasn’t sure, on reflection, just how much of the session was about them and how much was about me.
The drive home was filled with a sense of achievement, I think, had it been a good session? Did we achieve anything? I do often wonder what a good session is? In fact, during a review of planning, I had explained to my students that a ‘good’ session demonstrated how the learning objectives had been met, what the distance travelled was and how the sharing of ideas had evolved into learning. Had I accomplished that tonight? Did we learn something new? I wasn’t sure, perhaps so, I thought so to some extent, although not as much as what I would have liked. We certainly explored the concept of ball circulation, of passing and moving into and out of space and moving the ball in a bid to locate a ‘good’ shot. I did however wonder if the players saw it that way? Did they understand what it was we had just done in ninety minutes of practice? It almost feels as though the practice looked good, felt good, but in actual fact I was unsure whether or not it was good. But then the use of the word good did not help, effective is a far better metric, unfortunately, it may just spotlight the fact that perhaps the session was not as effective as it felt!!

​

No practice

As is sometimes the case, the venue closes its doors to us leaving us homeless with nowhere to practice. Today was one of those day’s, no drive to the north of the city, no planning, not for today anyway, and no coaching. In a way, the closure offered me the opportunity to reflect on our first six games, the direction of our practices and my relationship with some of the players.

Following a brief conversation with an authoritative figure at the weekend and after our victory, I started to think about what we were covering in our practice sessions, about the content or curriculum if you like. It wasn’t very broad, we had committed to doing a number of things well. Central to this was the creation of independent thinking, to the development of each athletes ability to problem-solve and make decisions based on the information presented to them at any given moment of the game. My thinking was simple, challenge the players mentally, tasks them to lead, self-direct, hold each other to account and to mentally engage in a thought process. I found myself now questioning the approach, was I selling short the provision of basketball? I felt as though we worked on the technical, tactical, physical and mental as best as we could in our allotted time. Maybe it wasn’t enough?

Haven just written seven pages stuffed with detail for a three hour session at an elevated level of play I was aware that so much could be forced into a practice unit. That if the planning was accurate and well thought out you could actually achieve a great deal in ninety-minutes. In fact, my late afternoon lecture today was on effective planning. We discussed form and function, what we considered to be the appropriate content and how such a task should be completed. It is interesting just how much you can learn from the practice of others, even from young inexperienced coaches just entering into the world of coaching. I was beginning to think that I could actually change the structure of my planning to help direct my thinking and ensure that I cover more of what is needed. The question remained, what was needed? How would I fit it all in?

Like many other practitioners, something that bothered me was time, time to coach, time to develop strong relationships with the 14 charges that I shared a court with for the 2018-2019 season and time to do more. I was certain that I was missing a trick here. My engagement with social media was well above par, in fact, I wouldn’t get on to a municipal course with my handicap. I needed to do better. In my mind I pictured the use of a digital playbook, images and video footage to help support the players and provide models for them to visualise and work through. I often saw the benefit of a webpage stocked with hints, tips and my philosophy, accessible to all and at a time that was convenient to them. Certainly, I could do more, more with applications such as WhatsApp. This blended approach to learning and coaching was something that I was well aware of, I had been recognised nationally for my teaching practice and the use of ICT to support learners in their academic journey. So why had I not engaged more within my coaching? We did have a WhatsApp group and we do communicate with each other. However, how much did I actually engage with the tool? Was I using it as a means for general and specific communication to better understand the young men I spend five to six hours a week with. Unfortunately, the answer is not very much. I am no digital native, I barely pass as a digital immigrant, I lack the patients to self teach beyond the bare minimum and so accept, reluctantly, that I am on the outside of the digital world. perhaps I will ask the players, they are very much the experts in this area, their digital skills would far out shine mine.

 

Backstage coach and his princess

I had company today, my three year old granddaughter joined me at our game, which was somewhat outside of my game day routine, but I am unable to resist her smile and never miss an opportunity to babysit. However, I do like to be organised on game day and as such I often employ a routine as a means of keeping me focused. I wasn’t sure whether doting on my little princess was going to allow me the space to focus, but I was willing to try. We arrived at the venue hand in hand and was confronted by a different look, the show court was dismantled and the two side courts were set up for simultaneous games. I didn’t think much of it at the time. I greeted parents and players, often part of my routine, introduced them to my assistant coach (my granddaughter), not a normal part of my game day activities, and chatted casually about our performance to-date.
Entering the changing rooms for our pre-game talk I felt relaxed, I hadn’t written anything on the board, something I always do, but then I wanted a change, or perhaps the change had been imposed upon me? I wasn’t sure whether or not my little princess was in fact having a calming effect on me, perhaps Goffman’s Dramaturgical framework theory of front and backstage facade’s was at play. Was it that there was a difference between my coach-self and my grandparent-self? Theorising aside, I actually didn’t want to over burden the players, rather remind them of how good they were individually and what each and everyone of them brought to the collective ‘Gold’ unit. I sought to raise their levels of confidence and allow this to play out in the game. I spoke briefly, adding what I believed to be a rich motivational narrative to our team talk, one that would pull at their hearts and drive their collective desire to perform at their very best, their ‘Sunday Best’. I often challenge the players to bring their ‘Sunday Best’, a phrase I grew up with, it was in reference to the clothes I wore for a particular occasion, a reminder to be on my very best behaviour, a way of being that was demanded of me as walked the short walk to church, to the neighbours house, and to anywhere that mattered to my parents and to our simple life.
We got out to a flyer, by far our very best start, our ‘Sunday Best’ start, and what a start it was! In fact, it looked more like a lay up drill than a start to a game, and this was against one of the better teams in the conference, and certainly one of the stronger offensive teams we would come across. The shrill of the whistle distracted my serene mood, the referee blew for Timeout, their coach demanded their attention and at that very minute. As the players jogged in, laughing, cheering and emanating a sense of pride, I waited, just a moment, but I waited, I didn’t say anything, I merely smiled and looked at the players. They couldn’t see what I could see. They would have to wait, but I could see it, confidence! It was everywhere, their smiles, high fives, fist bumps, they were demonstrating a collective confidence, something we had sought for sometime. They deserved it as well, I smiled and calmly said, “I don’t have anything to say”, great job. I guess I did have something to say after all! The point was, we had established ‘Home’, defended the ball, ‘helped’ when needed, pushed the ball and ‘hit’ strongside every single time, I couldn’t ask for more, great job.
We finished out the quarter with a 29 – 13 lead. In an attempt to think beyond the moment I had already decided that we needed to maintain a ten point advantage if we were to win the game. This would shape my rotations and would help us secure the win. Our opponents were strong and talented, far more aggressive than us in the physical sense. Yet they couldn’t harness their strength to create an advantage. In fact, the advantage was ours, we played aggressive defence, got out and ran the floor and took care of the opportunities granted to us as a result of our effort. It is funny I know, but I could feel every bump, every clatter of bodies coming together. It seemed as though I had become ultra sensitive to the game, to every bounce of the ball and to every call made. I was responding to everything, calling out every cut, not out loud, but in my head. It was almost as though I was playing the game. I tried to control my emotions, pull myself together as it were. I walked the quiet walk down the bench and out to the side of out team area in a bid to regather my thoughts. I wanted to rejoin the composed army that sat behind me waiting to enter the game, but as that particular moment, I was was the one that required a substitution.
We got to the half still up by a considerable amount, I couldn’t have been more impressed with their style of play, their composure and their level of intensity, the question was, how do we bottle such play? This aside, I was still mindful that the wave was yet to come. The third quarter onslaught that had never failed to visit me as a player and as a coach. Early in the aforementioned quarter I was aware that the bench had become shorter, my rotations were not quite as I wanted them to be. I tried with all that I had to lengthen the bench but it appeared that I had lost faith in our ten man rotation. I wasn’t seeing the same degree of confidence in all of us and I wasn’t brave enough to throw caution to the wind. The game, the proximity of the crowd and my promise to get players into the game as much as possible was falling away from me. I tried to address the situation in a timeout, pleading with the team to see themselves as a team, regardless of the role they played. I am not sure my cries were met with any sympathy or interest. I had sat on the bench for many a game and it never bothered me, I knew that as a player there were plenty alongside me that were far more talented than I. It didn’t matter, I would work harder than anybody else, I would help them to be better players because I guarded them with all that I had, that was my role. I went nose to nose with each and every one of them and I wasn’t afraid. Was I expecting this from my players? I wasn’t sure it was my place to impose a way of being, an approach to playing that was not theirs! Yet taking on a role, excepting it and delivering it with all that you had was surely the place of every athlete at every level of play? It all became very ‘cloudy’, I wasn’t sure what my approach was. I knew that they would get longer runs against other teams, that it would balance itself out. Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure that they knew this and that was on me.
The game continued in the same vein throughout the fourth quarter, the opposition pushed and pushed, we countered and eventually came out the other side as the victors. We seemed happy enough, proud of what we had accomplished, the way we had played. However, I could see disappointment, frustration and a little anger. I wanted to comfort those players, to let them know that we, the greater we had just accomplished a milestone within our play, we had competed for forty minutes against a strong opponent and triumphed. It didn’t happen, it needed to, but for the minute it remained unsaid. My granddaughter jumped into my arms, hugged me tight and we went home for ice cream, I had promised her!!

​

Their twenty minutes

Having taught for the majority of the day and arriving at my car at 4.40pm, the prospect of getting to practice for 6.30pm was not one I was willing to bet on. I WhatsApp’d the team (is that even a word?) to inform them I would be 20 minutes late and asked them to utilise the time wisely. I didn’t say anymore, again, it was about empowerment, allowing them space to grow and construct their learning together. I didn’t need to hold on to this element of my practice, I was comfortable that they were now fully aware of what we were trying to do. The drive was surprisingly friendly, other than the odd young ‘buck’ who insisted in controlling the M180 with driving reminiscent of a drunken sailor!! I arrived 18 minutes late and was confronted with practice. The players were moving, talking and smiling. I smiled too, stood to the side and watched them coach.

As they concluded their warm up a number of players greeted me and checked on my welfare. Funny, allowing players to be themselves actually brought their very best selfs to the front stage. I joined them, thanked them for their professionalism, congratulated them on a good start to the practice and then set about explaining what I wanted us to do. In doing so, I was presented with a number of questions, which I happily responded to, questions led to learning for me and I actively encouraged and applauded those that showed confidence in their willingness to challenge me.

As we got to the end I attempted to insert a number of difficult concepts, the structure and delivery wasn’t great and assumed a great deal of prior knowledge and ability. The net result was less than productive, I had to take responsibility for the lack of learning and accept that my planning was poor. We moved on to our final examination of our Game Model. It wasn’t a great way to finish practice, our movement was clumsy, we demonstrated poor decision making and were were unable to get a ‘good look’. I wasn’t sure if the previous unit had infiltrated the final element of our practice or if the players were merely defeated after the confusion of the last drill. Either way, I became frustrated at the our sudden lack of focus and our inability to execute. Time was up, the polite smiles from the centre staff as they quickly moved about transitioning from our world to that of netball suggested that we had to vacate the hard wood at speed. I unleashed a ‘must do better’ monologue that included a sting worthy of a great creature. Not how I wanted to finish!

As we gathered our belongings I moved through the players and parents in an attempt to get them back on side. I smiled, laughed and even attempted a few jokes. I was surprised to learn that they were far more resilient than I gave them credit for. They smiled back, thanked me for practice, shook my hand and bid me farewell. As I walked to my car I began to gather my thoughts, one of which was – “there must be a better way”.

Sharing our practice space

I spent the majority of the day exploring capital, observing student coaches and seeing my own practice through the various lenses that fill my day. It always intrigues me just how much observing others coaching practice provides visions of my own. The opportunity to scrutinise, evaluate and assess my practice through numerous frames and measures is a chance to get just that little bit better. However, I did like where I currently was, my coach identity foregrounded much of the day, my practice was planned and included a raised awareness of my actions. I do however ask, could I be better? I am sure I could!! Observing others provided me with the prompts, moments of reflection and teachable incidents that direct my focus and provide me with new lines of inquiry, new avenues to venture down in pursuit of a better coach self.
Today had been one of those day’s, having explored and shared concepts in planning, periodisation and marginal gains, my drive to practice was about what more could I do, what small margin could I improve? I greeted the players, set a number of tasks and stood back and observed the unfolding of our practice. We were cumbersome, awkward in our organisation yet we were getting there. We spent longer than I would like – note to self – is it about I? There was a great deal of politicking, discussion, directing of bodies to spots, perhaps there was too many leaders? I reminded myself to stay patient, allow them to work out their practice, to construct the moment with which they would engage and flourish as contributors to our Game Model. It was a difficult undertaking, yet the end game was pleasing.
Having rejoined the practice we moved through a number of efficiency points, the sharpening of our movement and the clarification of our direction. The players were engaged, motivated and almost at the rowdy state of being. I didn’t however challenge, I allowed them to self-direct, hold each other to account and lead themselves to a point of focus. The whole concept of patients and control is such a difficult beast to tame. You want to so jump in, challenge and scold for what you perceive to be chaos, yet with a little patients, the mayhem unfolds to reveal learning, collaboration and confidence. The need to intervene is the desire to regain ones cultural capital, to reassert the legitimate power bestowed upon the coach as a means of elevating ones standing within the field. To relinquish this power and distribute capital equally across the field is to confront ones own ego and set aside the power struggle present in traditional coaching practices.
We played our weekly contest against the second team, much of what we did reflected an authentic attempt at being us, executing our roles and doing so through informed movement and the direction of our on-court leaders. There were times when it didn’t quite resemble the ‘we’ talked about in our planning, the movement went rouge and was individualised. Again, this felt like moments when I needed to improve my ability to be patient, construct a question that would prompt a degree of introspection and challenge the culprit to reflect on the detraction from our Game Model. I tried, I really did, but what fell out was a jumbled message that included my thoughts and opinions as oppose to eliciting those of the players.
Aside from my lack of questioning ability I was somewhat content. Practice had been a high energy affair, led by the players, who were accountable to one another throughout the 90 minutes, and who had challenged themselves to be better. As I walked back to the car following the conclusion of our time together, I shared a laugh and a smile with many of the players who walked alongside me. It felt good to share in our environment as oppose to wanting to control it, even though it was difficult to fully let go.

​