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