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?
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.
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.
On the lines of path finding for these youths, may I suggest you personally do not give them the answers, and perhaps ask them for an answer. Maybe there is scope for a non-sport form of team work (group analagy task), or even offering responsibility after a few sessions for them to create a small sided game with rules. You could let them referee and if you have 2/3 groups, maybe this is a way to both help their own awareness of discipline, but also respect for each other within the group. The activity wouldnt have to be RL specific, but could use skills that are similar - Netball, Turnover touch, or Handball?
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