How to Create Excellence In Coaching

Improving your coaching

Reviewing and improving

For a start, I am not sure I have achieved this, but there are a few things that you can do to help make yourself and your coaching better.

• Learn- observe, participate, read, practice. Not just from the usual key texts, if all you do is read the same 3 books as everyone else, you will do the same as everyone else. Look outside your usual sphere of influence, try different things, listen to what your athletes are telling you.
• Analyse– look at what your athletes do when they move, don’t come with a prepared programme to hand out, see what they can actually do. Look at what the sport requires in the game, using both top performers and beginners as benchmarks. Don’t take an exercise as gospel because Tiger Woods does it. Try to understand why he might do something, and then see if you need to do that.
• Share– share your ideas and opinions and thoughts with others. Physiotherapists, biomechanists, physiologists, coaches will all see the same thing as you, but from their perspective. This will add colour, depth and clarity to your own vision. This should help prevent group think, but also be aware of summating that information into a workable package for your athletes.
• Review- constantly, all the time, after every session, every day, every week, every month, every year. The mini reviews will help you adjust things before your next session. But the bigger reviews require time and no distractions.

Take the time out away from the immediate pressing issues of the day and sit down with a blank piece of paper and a clear mind. Revisit where you want to go, think what you need to get there. Think what you have done and then match the two. Where there are gaps, look to improve.

Why not book onto our new “Foundation in Athletic Development” 1 day course to help improve your coaching?