Role Models

I have been reading some Rugby League articles recently and there is a lot of talk about the Sam Tomkins 'V' salute to the Leeds fans in the Carnegie Challenge Cup Final at Wembley. Some talk about the game losing its character and its roots by not accepting this is part and parcel of professional sport, however others highlighting that Mr Tomkins is not setting a great example to the children and young people watching it.

Personally, I felt there was an over reaction from fans of other teams. It was a game which had a big prize but that doesn't make the act acceptable. I liked the way that both the club and player came out to apologise about the incident. It did get me thinking about role models within sport and how it linked to a recent incident at the club I coach at.

Sports personalities are definitely considered role models, you can see it across all sport. Rugby league players affect the way children behave on the field and, as an example, on my recent level two there was a lot of talk about how children copy their role models in the tackle by not using the correct technique and tackling really lazily.

These sporting personalities have also been seen to promote positive images in their communities. Take the recent 'State of Mind' round in Super League, where the sport has tried to promote the message that it's okay to talk about mental health issues with up to 1 in 4 suffering mental health issues in their life.

It's not only the players that are role models in sport though. Us coaches, the parents of children and young people and other players can be people to look up to.

Personally, I have always considered myself to be a role model to all the children I have come in contact with, be it through coaching sport and when I worked at an American summer camp; working with children from a range of social backgrounds. Take the recent programme I supported, in which the children of two estates in Manchester were engaged to reduce anti-social activity. Here, the coaches were role models and attempted to promote positive attitudes to these children who may not have these influences currently in their life. Us coaches, in my opinion, do have a big part to play.

It was this that got me a little worried last week while attending a coaching session. I wouldn't say these children come from the same background as those I've previously mentioned however, from what I understand, they don't all have the same support many of us do.

To give you a little background how the session works. As the children start to arrive at the club they congregate on benches while the coaches and club members prepare for the evening's coaching sessions. This area is outside next to the car park and is the logical meeting point considering the location of equipment, indoor and outdoor facilities. This was only my second week and I hadn't noticed it before, but on this evening parents and other coaches were smoking in this area. Hopefully it's not a common occurrence and it was a one off but if it is not it's something I'm unhappy about.

Is this me being picky though? Are we telling these children it's okay to smoke around them? Will the children be actually aware of these adults smoking?

Surely the club should be making the most of the opportunities it has by promoting healthy lifestyles - the same way that sport is promoted in conjunction with many health initiatives. We shouldn't be showing children that smoking is an acceptable part of social life. As adults shouldn't we be promoting healthy and socially appropriate activities: eating well, being physically active, being good friends to each other, for example.

In my opinion it is poor form by all involved. Like Wigan, the club should take some responsibility and take a stance on this problem. I was told on Wednesday they were looking at creating a code of conduct (which should be already available) for players behaviour at training and when they are representing the club on game day, after dealing with some serious issues. They've seriously got to think about expecting the children to conform to rules set by the adults regarding behaviour but let the coaches and other parents act inappropriately. I'm going to be making my point for a parent and coach code of conduct, or something of that nature at the next committee meeting. 

What does play on my mind though is that I'm not sure how they're going to react to the new coach. We'll have to see.

Patience

Wednesday 7 September 2011 - The day I started a voluntary role as head coach for one under 10 rugby league team in Oldham. It's a brand new start, providing some familiar challenges, however I'm the main person to deal with these. I'm excited yet apprehensive for the future.

Before turning up today I didn't have much knowledge of the children who were members of this club. I didn't know numbers, background, ability, school year and definitely not names. The session plan I originally organised for the evening did not exactly go to plan. Immediately I realised I have a few challenges with this group.

After a chat with other members of the club, I understand that these are children who need keeping connected and involved within activities, otherwise they are easily distracted. However, as the only coach with this group, it became difficult to organise the next activities and keep the children occupied. This allowed the children to start to play about, throw balls at each other, stamp on each other and use some foul language. At times I felt the pressure.

The initial thought was to offer these children an opportunity to earn a weekly prize, with a bigger prize at the end of this short season or even at the end of the month. The original thought is something I have picked up from watching a local football run session providing the child who puts the most into learning and taking part with a trophy. Do I link it back to my experience at camp where the first bunk to win 5 inspections were offered ice cream or pizza parties? Do I bribe them with treats like you do with pets? That would certainly go against my own values. If I was to follow this route, what incentives would I use?

The thought which is currently occupying my mind though is that in some way I'm going to have to develop a relationship with this group that commands their respect. Today, it could possibly be the children playing up and testing their 'new coach'. Could it by my delivery style? I'm not an autocratic coach and I definitely believe that in these early stages it would be detrimental to progress in the long term if I was to show signs of it. Am I going to need to be a co-operative coach? Do I give them responsibility for their own learning? I tried that tonight and didn't get the big response. Do I become submissive and let them pick what they want to do? I didn't get the chance for them to identify their own learning next week.

The feedback I received today identified that I demonstrated a lot of patience with the group, something which may have been lacking with some of their previous coaches. Showing patience is a good thing, right? I'm not sure though if I'm too easy to let them get on with this behaviour until I have their attention. Surely there will be no progress with their development as a team if the sessions were to continue in this manner? If there is no progress would the children move on to clubs that will allow them to develop as they could and should? Or would they drop out of sport completely? Some serious questions to be considered in order to help the club maintain its presence in that community.

As I stated at the beginning of this post, I'm excited with this opportunity yet apprehensive. This will be a serious test of character, my ability to coach a developing side and my enthusiasm to continue coaching in the community.

Stevie

The geek with the clipboard

Today was the first day towards gaining a level two certificate in coaching rugby league. I'm a big fan of courses (and CPD) but today was very long and tiring. Maybe this was linked to not having enough sleep or the fact that I rode my bike 5 miles up hill to get there! I arrived today with usual enthusiasm though, with my clipboard, whistle and watch in my bag. There was no real need for me to use any of them and it possibly made me look like a geek. I, however, felt prepared and ready for the day.

Regarding the course I entered with the usual scout about the room - or scanning the ball in technical terms (oh jeez). Even though the course is all about my personal development, like a competition, I was comparing myself to other candidates on the course trying to gauge backgrounds maybe to see if I would be looked down upon by those who play the game week-in week-out. Like usual all I could see was the stereotypical rugby players. Beasts. What was I in for?

The course consisted of all the usual formalities (paperwork, demonstrations, theory) and during the evaluation section I had to rate myself as a coach. I normally see myself in a negative light but during this exercise I found that I was scoring myself rather highly compared to other candidates. Was I doing this wrong? I didn't want to be seen asking questions all the time. Was it because the choices were between one (low) and three (high) providing no real opportunity to be specific? Who knows? I was satisfied with my responses at the time so I'm going to stick to my guns and believe it is a good representation.

Finally the course lead on to receiving our coaching topics:

Week 1 - Pass and Catch including progression development one

Week 2 - Picking up a moving ball, catching a high ball

Week 3 - Grip, Carry, Catch and Pass, Mapping

Week 4 (the one that counts!) - Protective falling, side and block tackle... a topic which I really enjoy and I had a lot of fun with on my level one.

On the basis of today's delivery I shouldn't be worrying too much about the delivery part of the course. Following other candidates I gradually shook off the nerves and found myself some much needed confidence. I delivered what I and the assessor thought was a very good session. 

Surprisingly  communication, what I normally perceive as my weakest area of my coaching, turned out to be a very strong point, which was fed back to me by the other coaches. The communication shown I was confident and that I knew what I was talking about. I bet that's the first time that someone has thought that about me! I was even aware of the language that I used. 

I'm quite the conscientious coach though and I like to give an accurate representation of myself to the audience. In being confident today though I got the impression that I may have come across as pretty cocky. On the one hand that's not the person I want to be or even be seen as but on the other hand can this be seen as the idea of having a 'coaching hat' for delivery separate from my 'everyday hat'? An idea that two talent development coaches have mentioned to me. Do I need to show others that this isn't me in everyday life? Why do I think these things? Although these questions have arisen today, I may have inadvertently found a little out about myself.

The main weakness overall in my coaching session was regarding my progressions. I'm always harping on about making the drill game specific when I talk to other people about coaching, which has probably been drilled into me at Uni. Is it though, by concentrating on fulfilling the criteria expected of me during that session (and course) the reason that I missed a few opportunities to provide game related experience? Most likely. Would I like normally try and make the coaching game specific? Ideally, yes. It's a good start to the course though and it's gave me some good feedback and positive opportunities to work towards improving myself as a coach.

The next steps on completing the course -

Reflect on today's coaching episode using the standard reflection sheet

Plan next week's coaching episode

Identify an opportunity to and plan and deliver an external coaching episode

Undertake the required course tasks

Stevie

'It's been fun, even though some people have questioned why I got myself involved'

With me finishing helping out on the rugby programme aimed at using the sport of rugby as a diversionary programme on two estates in Manchester, I thought I would write another blog post. 

I've had many different thoughts on the programme. It's provided me with some excellent opportunities to work with kids from another social background, there are some great (and of course not so great!) children there that will have taken part in and enjoyed rugby for the first time and I feel that the club have an opportunity to start a team where rugby league isn't really known (which I think can be shown with two parent's interest in what was being promoted). Trying to promote the fundamental principles of the sport to the children through games such as Tag and Touch have been challenging - to pass backwards, to not be scared of being tackled, to even stay on the pitch! Personally, the whole experience has been fun. Even though some people have questioned why I got myself involved, I've met some cool people from coaches to kids and kept myself busy. From a non-coaching perspective though it would also be great if the programme's stakeholders took a more hands-on approach, helping to promote it to it's intended target group.

Next up though is my level two, which I'm looking forward to. Quick thoughts is that I feel that with my experience I'm coaching at that level although normally on these courses I'm somehow made aware of something new. I also believe I'm going to be surrounded by Rugby League nuts grilling me to see what my background in the sport is. I've bought myself a whistle to make myself look the part, too! I'll be looking to give a few blog posts about this course over the coming weeks.

Then on Wednesday I (hopefully) start with a new club being a lead coach for their under 10s, which should be a good test. All being well I will be able to commit until November at least when this mini season finishes. I'm hoping to blog weekly on each individual session and cover a few different ideas (including the league fixtures!). Let's see what happens when it gets going.

CAYPABLE

I attended the CAYPABLE CPD tonight aimed at current club coaches who work with children and young people. First thoughts are that it is rather interesting to see the concepts and theory shaping this programme, which also forms the basis of the current level 1.

The 'Becoming Caypable' resource pack is very handy for coaches such as myself, considering the little background I have in this sport. The pack has a fantastic amount of content which I'm going to be a massive geek about and read through. It's really gave me a little more enthusiasm to get out there and try out some of the plans and it will help that the fundamental aspects of the course and resource pack will be easily transferable across other sports (Win-win!). One thing that was pointed out tonight is that I need to remain on top of the session and step in when players are not performing the 'correct' technique! I'm not going to be too critical of myself today.

It looks like I've found myself a club and a team at u10 too. Although it does clash with another project, it is looking positive. Even if the chairman kept highlighting the children's behavioural issues!

The little things

At the minute I'm trying to further myself by coaching and networking in sport with the hope that it'll open up an opportunity for me to be employed by someone. For the last three weeks, I've been supporting a community rugby league club promote the sport in Greater Manchester. They are running a programme aimed at using sport as a tool to reduce anti-social and criminal behaviour locally by targeting disadvantage children under 16.

With recent events across the country, there has been a considerable amount of opinion in the media about youths from these backgrounds being the scourge of society. Typically the children attending are showing their attitudes among their peers; wanting to be the centre of attention and disrupting the session at all opportunities. It normally follows one of two of the group starting to mess about and then they all follow. It is kind of frustrating when you're just getting going. What is this a reflection of though? Is it the children trying to push the boundaries in front of their peers? Is it something to do with me as a coach? 

 

Their reaction to the coaches turning up is always good to see. I've experienced these behaviours before though, with lads and girls from more affluent backgrounds. So can it be determined by socio-economic background? I don't think so, although it may be partly responsible. Can it be because they are kids? Maybe it's a natural kid thing? Can it be because of the coach? Now this is what I believe is a major attribute of a good coach; being able to command the attention and respect of all those involved. It is this which I believe is a major flaw for me as a coach.

You may expect with their background to deal with children who have some stereotypical behaviours. I'm going to say that is the case here. The use of foul language is a problem, where isn't it? Here though, it is used in quite a nasty manner, which I do believe comes from their social interactions on the estate. Their little disputes, which can come from a forward pass to someone being tackled, end in each kid wanting to fight (and kill) each other rather than looking towards using that incorrect behaviour in a constructive way and what they can do to prevent that happening again. It comes across that if they don't succeed at every opportunity they've failed and they need to find the person responsible.

How can I adapt to get these players to understand this? After every incident (yes, there was many), I asked the children on my side questions to guide them to understand what went wrong before explaining what can be done to avoid this situation. Did this work? I'm not too sure. It is a constant learning experience for me.

Along with the children's behaviours between each other, I am also trying to engage with new ways of adapting sessions to promote specific sporting behaviours. I never played the sport of rugby league in my youth so it is a little difficult for me to draw upon experiences of playing and being coached. Yesterday the lads wanted to pick up the ball as dummy half, run at the opposition defence and eventually run out of tackles. Another coach implemented a rule of two passes after the ball is picked up to stop this behaviour. It is in this situation I question my ability to adapt sessions. I know at specific ages the league's rule is that if a dummy half is tackled it is an automatic turnover. Why didn't I think of using this to my advantage? Something else that comes with experience? We'll see.

My experiences coaching

My experiences playing sport

I know this is about me coaching but these experiences have been one reason for me becoming a coach and shaped me to be the coach that I am. I'll have wrote something similar as part of my degree and I'll try not to bore you.

I grew up playing football for an 11-a-side team in Reddish, Stockport. It wasn't the best footballing side but I enjoyed going down Wednesday and Sunday to 'play'. When I say 'play', I mean stand as a substitute for 70-90 minutes each game depending on the quality of the opposition with the odd start here and there. I don't blame the coach and other players for expecting this to be the case. I was a school year younger than the rest, physically I hadn't developed like the majority of other players and they wanted to compete against the other teams we faced. I was always a believer in my own ability (I still am now) but I had one major weakness - I was physically unfit.

According to a school report, I was part of a basketball club (is this a way of saying I wasn't good enough for the team?), I trained with my year's cricket team at school, playing one game out of a possible one (seems strange considering what school children have had the opportunity to do now), and outside of school I gave track cycling at the velodrome a go, which I thoroughly enjoyed but somehow never stuck to.

My experiences coaching

I didn't really take to coaching straight away and my primary focus for wanting to work and be involved in sport was aimed at me becoming a development officer, promoting sporting participation within the community. I can see how both roles are interlinked from the experiences that I have had and overtime I have come to enjoy this role.

Past experiences have seen me amass hundreds upon hundreds of hours as a coach, in a wide range of sports. I've coached in roles supporting local authority school holiday sports camps, leading on programmes such as Active Playtimes and Sportslinx, coaching at a community junior rugby league club, supporting a local talent development camp, supporting the expansion of sport into a new City through coaching in schools and I was a counsellor at a summer camp in the USA for two summers. At the minute I'm supporting a local rugby league club deliver activities aimed at under 16s to keep these children children away from anti-social behaviour and criminal activities.

I wouldn't say I was lucky to get into rugby league cause there are opportunities to get into the sport across the country, especially in areas where they are looking to expand.  I will say though that I was lucky to meet and have support from the people I did. They've done a lot to channel my enthusiasm for sport. In 2009 there wasn't much I knew about the sport other than the ball has to be passed back! So along with coaching being a process I am adapting to, I am also always learning about this new sport.

All my experiences in coaching have been to give people the same opportunities I had. Alongside this I want to let all the children (young people and adults) have equal opportunities to participate. I don't want to see children turn up to be the sub every week like I had the misfortune of doing. I believe rugby league is a game that is suitable for all children and there is one position that everyone can excel in. I would honestly (and I do mean this) rather the players won/lost/drawn knowing that it was a result the whole team had been responsible for rather than focusing on a team that consists of the strongest players week-in week-out. I'll probably go into this and make myself a little clearer another time.