ECB Level 2 cricket coaching course.

From the 26th January until the 23rd February I have been doing my ECB Level 2 coaching course for cricket. 

Doing this course is not just for my benefit as it is another qualification to add to my coaching CV but it is so I can actually go out and a coach a sport I enjoy and help young children learn a sport. As the captain of the 2nd team is my responsibility to bring new, young players through so that the 1st team always have good players to replace there older one's with. With me being the captain of the 2nd team and the Juniors coach this is a lot more in my control and with I thought this qualification would only help me produce better sessions for the kids to learn from.

The ECB course consisted of 8 modules and a Child Safeguarding and First Aid module which were done first. Every Saturday for 5 weeks I did 9am - 3.30pm at Wilmslow High School to learn everything I would need to know for my final assessment in April where I will do a 30 minute session for 10-15 kids based around one batting shot, one bowling action and one aspect of fielding.

I have found doing the course a great experience not only for extra insight on ways to coach and how to plan a session, but I have actually felt my own ability as a player has improved as for the first time I am seeing techniques broken down and am being shown how each shot should be played opposed to self-teaching myself and guessing like I have had to do since I started playing 7-8 years ago.

In terms of my coaching, this course has been a massive aid. I now know how to structure a cricket session a little bit more and that I need to always remember to show demonstrations and talk through the coaching points of the action I am teaching. This way the children will not only see how the technique is done but they will understand how it is done with the use of of the coaching points.

For example, the coaching points for the long barrier in cricket are;

1. Get your head in line with the ball.
2. Go down on your knee with a 90 degree angle, keeping your knee and heel together. (Use the knee opposite to the arm you throw with i.e. right handers go down on left knee)
3. Hands pointing down in front of knee/heel and collect the ball.
4. Pull throwing arm back and release ball towards wicket keeper.

Using these coaching points, the children will understand the stages to the skill and will hopefully be able to pick it up easier.

The other useful tool I picked up from the coaching course was something the ECB use called Coaching Bugs.

 

Generate and Provide Feedback bug

Shows the four key points on how to generate and provide feedback during a session. I.e. limit information to 1-2 key points and keep it simple and specific.

Organise it bug 

Again, four key points on how to organise the session you are running. I.e. keep safety in mind when managing people, space and equipment and how to group the participants in a fair manner.

There are 9 coaching bugs in all and I plan on using all of them every single time I plan a junior coaching session this summer in order to maximise the effectiveness of the session for me and for he junior players I am coaching.

Semester 2 - My aims.

My aims for the second semester are not that different to the aims I set myself in semester one. I am on this course because I want to learn and develop the skills and knowledge I need to be a good coach and that is was I plan on doing in this semester and into next year.

My aims with regards to my assignments this semester are that I will be putting in 100% effort at all times ensuring all the content is specific, valid and relevant to the title question and I want to continue to build on my good grades so far in second year.

Module specific aims (The Reflective Coach) are to continue to keep on top of this blog as I have learnt that it is a lot harder to do when you leave it a few weeks at a time between posts. Also with a very good grade in assignment 1 (72%) I want to make sure I don't bow a good opportunity to get a very good overall module grade so I need to remain focused and go and get the grade I want.

To summarise my aims are;

1. Continue to learn and develop the skills and knowledge needed to become a good coach.
2. Continue to put in 100% effort into all assignments and keeping them relevant and valid to the assignment question.
3. To obtain a good grade in this modules 2nd assignment to back up my first assignment and obtain a very good module grade.

Assignment 1 - Critical Discussion

For the first assignment of this module we had to be in groups of three and structure a coaching session for the rest of our practical group to do. The session designed by me and my group was done on the 22nd November during a practical session. The session Adam, Ben and myself came up with was loosely based on the well known game of "keep ball" but instead of that being the sole objective we expanded it to make it a target based game. The session started off at 2 vs 1 with the attackers having to keep the ball away from the defender and make it to the other end of the coned off area. We progressed this to 4 vs 2 and made each area bigger and a further progression was to make it 8 vs 4 and use the entire coned area. During the 8 vs 4 we took a player off each side and used them as outlets for the attacking team as our final progression.

Although we were not marked on the session it self, it was important that we understood what went well and what could be improved. Directly after the session we had ten-fifteen minutes together as a group and discussed what each of us felt and made some notes on what sort of things we could improve on so we could find the correct academic literature to back up why it was important we made the correct changes for the next time we did the same session or one under similar circumstances.

The assignment itself however was a 20 minute critical discussion (which took place on the 6th December) reflecting on the session and with the use of academic underpinning explaining and understanding what we did well and what we could improve for next time.

Cameron (2009) says that a discussion is used to put across your views to others whilst understanding that it is equally as important to listen to those around you as you can learn just as much from someone else as they can learn from you.

The discussion itself was a new experience for me as I had never done one in those conditions or for the purpose of a grade so it was different and at first I was unsure of how I would do on a personal level. However once Adam and Ben got the ball rolling for the group I found it very easy to say my bit and back up my points with some academic underpinning. For example, we made a point that the gender differences in the small groups of our session gave the lads a small advantage in passing the ball because they were a lot bigger and quicker. I backed this up with Gutierrez and Garcia-Lopez (2012) who said that in invasion type games male participants always want the ball and tend to get quite involved in the game where as female participants tend to act as spectators and only really get the ball when it is thrown to them opposed to them going to get it.

Below is my grade and how I was marked on my contributions to the discussion.

TL2133 The Reflective Coach - Assessment 1 Critical discussion (40% of module mark)		Mark Awarded			72
Student Name	Steve Mitchell
Demonstrates achievement of relevant learning outcomes		1st	2.1	2.2		3rd	F
1.       Demonstrate coaching knowledge and evaluative skills to assess your own and other’s coaching practice.		X
(Participation in Discussion)		1st	2.1	2.2		3	F
Did you approach the discussion in a logical and coherent manner i.e. turn taking?		X
Did you exhibit listening skills and an ability to take on board other participants’ views?			X
Did you support other participants by probing and asking questions?			X
Did you actively manage the discussion to enable achievement of learning outcomes for all participants?		X
Were themes discussed in a confident and professional style?		X
COMMENTS: You did have a tendency to butt in at times early on. You then became quite quiet and took a bit of a back seat until around 15mins. It might be useful to think about how you could integrate into the discussion more effectively.
(Content)		1st	2.1	2.2		3rd	F
Did the session plan submitted prior to your practical session provide a structured overview of the session?			X
Did you provide evidence of careful planning with reasons for intended activities demonstrating understanding of content?			X
Did you analyse and discuss the material/evidence supplied in your annotated bibliography?			X
Did you demonstrate critical use of theoretical models/concepts and draw insightful conclusions from them?			X
COMMENTS: You did not make reference to literature quite as effectively as the other two.
(Reflection)		1st	2.1	2.2		3rd	F
Did you reflect on how your session went identifying and discussing positives and areas for improvement?		X
Did you identify things you may have done differently and explore any improvement that could have been made?		X
Were the processes you used to reflect both in and on the session clear, and links with theory/literature made?			X
COMMENTS: Good outline of how you felt you reflected both during and after the session.
GENERIC GROUP FEEDBACK: Well-constructed discussion that reflected a depth of knowledge a d understanding. All participants were able to contribute and made effective points.

I can use this feedback to help me improve for next time for example, my discussion technique could do with some work as I was seen to be either too quiet or too eager to talk so I need to find the balance between these two and hopefully I will be able to contribute more and have more of a part in the discussion.

Overall I am very satisfied with the grade I achieved in this assignment. It was a different type of assignment to that I was used to so was a challenge to ensure it was done to the best I could. Creating the drill was very insightful as I got to work with Ben and Adam who both have great ideas and showed me a lot that I could use in my own sessions with my Under 14's cricket back home. The discussion itself has taught me a lot about how to use academic underpinning properly with regards to finding the correct sources that are relevant and valid to the point I am making and using them to improve my sessions by eliminating as many of the little problems as I can.

Cameron, S.(1999). The Business Student's Handbook. Pearson Education Limited, Essex.

Gutierrez, D & Garcia-Lopez, L.M (2012). Gender Differences in game behaviour in invasion games. Physical Education & Sport Pedagogy. 17 (3), 289.

Session 5: Why reflecting as a coach is important and how it can be used to help me develop (15/11/12)

Session 5: Why reflecting as a coach is important and how it can be used to help me develop (15/11/12)

This post is all about why reflection is important and how I can use to help improve as a coach. Cassidy et al (2009) defines reflection as a behaviour of which is a consideration of beliefs that can focus on future action and has a wide scope. Cassidy et al (2009) refers to Dewey (1916) that reflective practice requires looking at three key attributes. These are open mindedness, wholeheartedness and responsibility.

Open mindedness is important in reflection because to help me improve I need to be willing to take on opinions from others on how I can improve my drills, the way I coach and how I structure a session. If I have a closed mind then I will get myself stuck into a particular way of coaching and it might not be the correct way to coach a certain group of people. For example, being autocratic with younger athletes is beneficial to them as they are not as experienced in the skills and techniques you are looking to work on whereas older athletes will already have a bit of experience and would probably respond a lot better to a democratic approach, meaning the athletes and coach have a better working relationship. With an open mind, I will find I will improve a lot more and my development as a coach will not be hindered as I will be trying different things and will know what works best for me and what works best for the participants I work with.

Wholeheartedness is an attribute which is important to a coach, and is something I consider as a weakness of mine because I feel that it is easier for me to sit back and watch a drill rather than constantly staying alert and trying to help my participants the whole time. Wholeheartedness is linked with commitment to what it is I am doing. If I put in 100% effort into what I want to teach whether it be short pass in football or the front foot defensive shot in cricket. If I am committed to making sure that all aspects of the technique are looked at correctly during every session then I know I am doing all I can for my participants and I will feel I am giving them the best chance to develop as an athlete and the best chance for me to learn and develop as a coach.

Finally, responsibility is the final attribute that I will be looking at and focusing on during my reflection from January onwards as this is something that I consider to be very important as taking responsibility for my actions whether they were positive or negative will only allow me to keep developing as a coach. Reflection is not about what goes wrong but about taking into account everything you do in a session and knowing what was good and what was bad. Looking at the positives for me is just as important as looking at the negative because knowing what to do again is essential as is knowing now what to do again. Taking responsibility for my actions within my coaching will help me because if I am not willing to accept that something did or did not work then how did the drill happen? Knowing that it was me who came up with drill, implicated the progressions and asked the questions throughout the session shows that it was my actions which made sure the skill was taught correctly in the manner I wanted and it was my actions that ensured the participants understood what they were doing and how it helped them.

Using these three attributes in my future sessions and ensuring I do all these things when I reflect back on coaching sessions I will be able to know if I did what I could to make my sessions go as well as they could. If I feel that I did not do one of these three attributes as well as I could have done then I will know that I could have made more of an effort in the session I lead.

Reflection will help me a lot in becoming a better coach and by reflecting I will be able to help the people I coach become better at what I teach them, and come the summer when I coach Chelford Cricket Club's under 14s, I will reflect on each session so I can see what went well and what didn't, and I will learn from all this to make me a better coach.

References

Cassidy, T., P. Potrac and R. Jones. (2009). Understanding Sports Coaching, The Social, Cultural and Pedagogical Foundations of Coaching Practice. Routledge, Oxon.