Session 5 was back at Swinderby the sun was shinning for the first time in a while so the outdoor play area was used. Slightly bigger than the sports hall and with various markings it was perfect for the game of Quicksticks. With different colour shapes all around enabling cones to not be used and as a result less balls will go everywhere after hitting a cone, which turned out to have a huge positive effect on the session. There are also some oddly shaped animals dotted around the court this allowed me to create teams based on their names. So for the competition at the end the lions zebras and monkeys took part in various drills to become champions of the playground jungle. The excitement levels in primary school kids it something to behold. Compared to secondary level where hormones get in the way they are so happy to do anything they speak their mind at all times. Coaching youngsters is extremely rewarding and although some are slightly mischievous you are able to control them through rewards in the session while at secondary level they just say no.  Stickers meant a lot to the pupils and were given out at the end of the session to the five pupils who had amassed the most points. This was an initiative brought in to reward the children for their effort during the lesson.

An afternoon session in the local village hall. With 31 students in a small village hall It was very cramped and congested. Because of this I decided to develop the drills into a more stop start to enable the pupils to all take part but giving more space to carry out the activity. To get the pupils who were watching the others take part in the drill to keep interested we made it into a team competition where there was two teams blue and red and half the team would play half of the other group and they would then change roles. The game ‘Quicksticks’ can be played on grass or any other surface as long as a prior risk assessment is carried out. The reason this session was in a village hall was as a result of the weather. Snow fall had covered the cricket and football pitches which resulted in the village hall being used. I feel that the game of ‘Quicksticks’ is enjoyed by most of the pupils as it is very basic and based around a load of game like situations.

The morning session of the 14^th of February was back at Swinderby, with the same group as last week. One change was that a child, who wasn’t present in the week before, had learning difficulties, he was called Charlie. The teacher informed us that he just needs to keep being informed of what to do. Although this added a harder concept to the coaching of the session it also added a massive goal. I had worked in a classroom environment with children with learning disabilities before, but not in a coaching environment. My goal was to see whether I could provide a session for all to enjoy without making durastic changes.

I enforced my ‘Relax’ ruling again, running Charlie through the rules of when I coach and he appeared, similarly to the others to respond to this ruling in a positive manner. However, this response didn’t last long, and Charlie began to take longer and longer to stop, which in turn allowed other members of the group to continue doing so. Applying different coaching tactics (Galton, 1980) allowed me to create a different way of stopping the session, using Charlie. I informed the group, that Charlie was now going to be my deputy policeman, and if he or I shouted relax, it still meant the session had to stop. So each time I wanted the session to stop, I organised with Charlie that if I asked Charlie a prompt question like: ‘Charlie do you need a rest?’ He would then no that in a short space of time after he would shout relax.

I felt this was a perfect way of combatting the slight misbehaviours of the group, and also encouraging Charlie to remain focused throughout the session whilst still enjoying it.

References

Galton, M., Simon,B. & Croll, P. (1980) Inside the Primary Classroom. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

The second session of the day took place at another village school in the Lincolnshire area, with similar numbers to the morning session I had completed. However in this session, it was not one year group who were attending. It was a mixture of years 3,4,5 and 6, which at first seemed to be an issue. This did not prove to be the case, as once again there was 2 coaches present we split the group in to years 3+4 and 5+6. We later found out the reason for the vast array of age groups was because the school only had around 65 pupils in total. We agreed as coaches, that to try and coach all years mixed together in 2 groups would have provided us with to much of a coaching barrier, which is why we opted for the year group split. This left us knowing which style was appropriate and best to use for our group, rather than having to provide a mixture throughout the sesison, which could have privided not only confusion for the participants but also for me as a coach. The spectrum model came up with many different styles for coaching. A framework of possible options in the relationship between teacher and learner (Mosston & Ashworth, 1986).

As a coach I now had the task of managing to age groups, althogh not to disimilar in age, their skill levels were of a wider gap. I began with a game of ‘Trucks and Trailers’ which is a task which involves dribbling, spacial awareness, short passing and communication. The idea is to be in pairs, one person at the front with the ball, dribbling around the marked area, while the other follows. After a certain amount of time I will call change, the front person (the truck) will control the ball, turn and pass it to the person behind (the trailer) and the session will continue with the roles reversed. I allowed the speed of the trucks to be at the participants discression, coaching in a democratic mannor for enjoyment (Chelladurai & Carron, 1981) however, if the participants started to take this for granted and travel to fast with no control, defying the point of the session, I would introduce myself as a ‘Police Truck’ and send anyone who was speeding to the ‘truck jail’. This acted as a perfect deterrant for any participant who thought they could run around and not behvae appropriately.

References

 Mosston, M & Ashworth, S(1986) Teaching Physical Education. Columbus, OH; Merril.

SURUJLAL, J, & DHURUP, M 2012, ‘Athlete preference of coach’s leadership style’, African Journal For Physical, Health Education, Recreation & Dance, 18, 1, pp. 111-121, SPORTDiscus with Full Text, EBSCOhost

Session 1

The first session I attended, along with another coach from the University of Lincoln took place at Swinderby Primary School, just outside Lincoln. The group had 28 pupils in, which left us the idea of splitting the group in two, and one coach taking one half of the group and the other coach taking the other. The first session began quite timidly with us, as coaches attempting to earn the respect from the students and the students having no knoweldge of both us as coaches and QuickSticks. However, as I had previously worked in primary schools I soon settled in to my comfort zone and began interacting with the group well, which led to the pupils becoming more involved and less shy, answering questions and being open to attempt this new sport I was providing them with. Rogers (2007) talks about a whole school approach, where the school has certain actions to stop rules being broken and also as behaviour management. The whole school approach is not something which can be instilled into a contracted sports coach who delivers a session a week very easily. However the sports coach can bring there own approach. To prevent any misbehaviours throughout the sessions I created my own list of techniques to deal with any behaviour concerns, one being my ‘Relax’ rule. When I shouted relax to the group, everyone must stop what they are doing immediately and put their equipment by the feet. I also praised the children who did this well as I felt appraisal for good behaviour would encourage the rest of the group to behave well.

 References

Bill Rogers (2007). Behaviour Management, A whole School Approach. 2nd ed. p11-57