6 Enhancing your coach developer skills

This course takes the perspective that becoming a more effective coach developer is an ongoing learning process, and you need tangible forms of support and guidance to help you learn and acquire more expertise.

Figure 11 Developing your own expertise as a coach developer

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A coach in discussion with four players next to a badminton net.

Figure 11 Developing your own expertise as a coach developer

In the following activity two experienced coach developers provide a personal reflection on their own learning and development.

Activity 6 Developing your coach developer expertise

Timing: Allow about 15 minutes

Watch the following video of an interview with two experienced coach developers: Andy Bradshaw, Coaching Manager (Talent and Inclusion) at UK Coaching and coach/mentor with England Hockey, and Jane Lomax, Senior Lecturer in PE and Coaching at the University of Chichester and England Netball tutor. How do they believe they have accumulated the expertise that has helped them become more effective coach developers?

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Transcript: Video 5

ANDY BRADSHAW

The way I've learned over a number of years has been working with more experienced coach developers, making sense of their practise, applying it my own, and trying things.

JANE LOMAX

One of the most powerful influences on that is working alongside other coach developers, people who've been doing it longer than me, and bouncing ideas with them, and having a look at how they use those adult learning principles to tease out the learning from the coaches. I find that very informative and really helpful.

ANDY BRADSHAW

It's been crucial in my learning to find the time and the space to reflect effectively and critically on what I do, and how I do it, and how I can improve.

JANE LOMAX

Well, I'm quite a sort of thinker. And when I finish trying something, whether that was in teaching, coaching myself, or whether in coach development, I will always think about it afterwards. And sometimes, some of the things that you try work really well, and sometimes you try the same idea on someone else, and it doesn't work nearly so well. So those car journeys on the way home are particularly busy in my head because I spend a lot of time thinking about how could I make it better.

ANDY BRADSHAW

The process of looking at current research and trying to make sense of that in my mind to try to understand why I'm doing what I'm doing and possibly why I'm not doing other things is crucially important. So an example from the last six months would be exploring the think aloud process, so that is as simple as a coach or a coach developer verbalising their decision making process. And that is something that can really bring to life coaching practise and Coach development practise. And I found it as useful for me as a coach developer as it is for coaches.

JANE LOMAX

Well, I have a great support network. Most of my coaching and coach development work happens in England Netball. We have a regular basis of courses that we all go to and meet, and that exchange of ideas with other people working in the same sport and trying to develop coaches within an England Netball ethos of what we're after is a very rich source. Some of those are compulsory, and some I would volunteer to go on anyway because I always find that exchange is really important for consistency across the sport as well.

ANDY BRADSHAW

Curiosity is a big part of the learning process for me. Finding out different sources of information, maybe from different sectors, different sports, and applying that learning into my own practise.

Building a network of trusted colleagues and peers has been a really important part of my development, and I think it's important just to think of the depth of reflection and some challenge as well, so not always surrounding myself with people that agree with me. Finding that challenge point and reflecting on it effectively.

End transcript: Video 5

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Discussion

Andy and Jane identify a range of learning opportunities from which they have benefited. These opportunities include:

1. Learning by working alongside more experienced colleagues, making sense of their practice and bouncing ideas off them.
2. Finding the time and space to critically reflect on their practice and learning from what works and what didn’t and why.
3. Being curious and drawing on research and evidence to support and develop their practice and understanding why they are doing what they are doing.
4. Having a trusted group of colleagues who can challenge their thinking and a supportive network within their own governing body.

Like learning to become a better coach, becoming a better coach developer is a journey with its own challenges, difficulties and different paths to follow. This course itself can be part of your journey towards becoming a more effective and expert coach developer.