SportCoachingPedagogy/eps/scpep12

E-Portfolio for Sport Coaching Pedagogy semester 1 2012, University of Canberra

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Introduction
My name is Justin and I am a University of Canberra Student studying and double bachelor’s degree in Science in Psychology and Sports Coaching and Exercise Science. This is my E-Portfolio for the unit Sport Coaching Pedagogy Semester 1, 2012. In this E-Portfolio I hope to share my learning journey and reflections of the unit. Moreover, I hope to learn more about the pedagogy of sport coaching and share what I have learnt through this E-Portfolio.

"Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength. ~ Phil Jackson"


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Week 1, Were Underway!!!
Week one did not have any scheduled lectures or tutorials but instead Keith (our Lecturer) focused our attention on some interesting resources in the form of self-directed learning. We were first instructed to look through the unit outline. This revealed that this unit has three main components:

1: A Coaching or Teaching Practical,

2: A Presentation,

3: An E-portfolio (what your reading now)

I was quite delighted to read that the forms of assessment in this unit did not include a final examination and also excited because no other unit that I have completed has included an E-portfolio. I am looking forward to this unit and hope that I will gain new coaching and teaching skills. I almost feel like the climbers in the picture to the left who are at the bottom of the mountain. We have only just begun but, I am looking forward to this experience.

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Week 2
This week’s lecture was of a different format then what I am used to. Instead of using PowerPoint slides with notes and diagrams Keith used only pictures in a Slide cast format. He introduced what sport coaching pedagogy is and some different areas or topics relating to coaching.This method I believe is great in inspiring thought and discussion around relevant topics in coaching or teaching.

One of the pictures He used was of what appears to be a church minister holding a bible maybe. The man in the picture appeared to be confident and appeared to have a charismatic energy about him. This brought to my attention that each person has a different teaching or coaching style. Some of us are outgoing and charismatic where as others can be quite shy and reserved. So what type of coaching style is better? Being charismatic and outgoing or reserved and calm? I think that it depends on the athlete or student and situation the athlete or student is in. If one wishes to ‘rev up’ or energise a rugby team the coach should be charismatic and energetic. If the coach wishes to calm the athlete or focus the maybe a calm coach would be better.

The tutorial mainly focused on picking a social media medium for our e-portfolio. As you the reader might have guessed I chose a Wikiversity page because I wanted to choose something other than a traditional blog for this assessment.

Hope it works out....

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Week 3
Unfortunately instead of driving into the university on a Friday morning and listening to a lecture and attending a tutorial we were able to sleep in and get a jump start on the weekend. Obviously I was not very disappointed with this. We had another week of self-directed learning as Keith pointed our attention to his blog posts.

The post that interested me the most was the post on Erica McWilliam’s 21st century teacher presentation. The one thing in Keith’s Blog about Erica’s presentation that really captured my attention was that Erica suggested that teachers need not play a psychotherapists or counsellors role in the classroom. This is a very interesting topic as Erica suggests that teachers can become a ‘guide on the side’ or passive and can be more concerned about counselling the students then taking charge and teaching them.

This has implications for my own teaching or coaching style. When I used to coach junior basketball I found myself guilty of sometimes being a ‘guide on the side’ as I remember times when I placed a lot of emphasis on recognising how my athlete where feeling emotionally. I can see how this might become problematic if the coach becomes too passive and does not take charge and coach rather than counsel the athletes. However, I think that the coach innately must carry the role of a counsellor as well. This is because sport can be quite demanding mentally and the coach must be able to recognise this and counsel the athletes when appropriate. This can include being able to calm the athlete when he or she becomes frustrated or encouraging them when they are feeling down.

To see Keith's Blog post click here []

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Week 4
This week we were back into the grove of things with lectures and tutorials. I wanted to talk on some of the topics brought up on the lecture on Coach as Performer. If you would like to view the Slide cast presentation of the lecture click here: []

Keith quoted John Lyle (2004) in the presentation as follows:

‘The coaching process is the contract/agreement between the athlete and coach and the operationalization consists of the purposeful, direct and indirect, formal and informal series of activities and interventions designed to improve competition performance’

This quote to me got me thinking about what exactly we are aiming to achieve in our athletes or students through coaching or teaching. Are we solely focused on increasing performance in sport, academic performance or other forms of performance? I think that as a coach or teacher the outcome of our teaching should be that we have increased the performance of the individual who we are teaching. This lecture also broadened my knowledge on how we as coaches can increase performance in those who we are coaching or teaching.

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Week 5
This week’s lecture was focused on Observation and Augmented information. Keith showed video highlighting different styles of coaching and it brought up an interesting topic:

Do you have to be a good athlete before you can be a good coach?

Interesting, I think that if you have been a professional athlete at the height of your sport surely you would have gained an in depth knowledge of what it takes to achieve this. Moreover, you would know firsthand what it is like to train, participate, succeed, fail and deal with the pressures of the sport. I think this type of experience can only be gained through the participation in the sport. Some of my own coaches that I have had through my participation in various sports have been at the elite level of their sport as an athlete before coaching. However, I still believe that even if you have never played the sport that you are coaching you can still succeed in the sport in fact several of the coaches that I have had who never played the sport they were coaching were still successful.

Interesting…

The tutorial was very enjoyable and insightful. We were on the tennis courts this week playing a sport which Keith made up. The object was to through a ball over the tennis net. Everyone was divided up into teams and if you could not return the ball or it went out the other team got a point. Keith was continuously modifying the rules of the game and it was interesting how modifications in certain rules affect the sport. Coaches should model their strategies on adhering to the rules. Also, it became clear to me that the strategies employed by a coach need to be specific to the athletes on the team. Moreover the coach needs to be flexible to the different capabilities of each athletes and form a game plan to meet the player’s needs.

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Week 6 and 7: Sharing and Presenting Information
I thought I would combine week 6 and 7 blogs together as they had common themes. In week six I was unfortunately unable to attend the lecture but I was able to attend the tutorial in the inspire building. This building was equipped with the appropriate resources for Keith to explore different multimedia resources that we can use in our presentation and other assessment. I was attracted to making a Slide cast for my presentation. In week seven the topic of the lecture was Sharing and Presenting Information.

These past two weeks have highlighted to me the importance of the ways in which we present our information. In a coaching context as a result of various technological advances there has been a large amount of resources made available for coaches to present information to athletes. This enables the coach to provide the athlete with in depth feedback to increases his or her performance.

Interested in this I found a study performed by Bartlett, Franks, Hughes, Katz, Liebermann and McClements (2002) which reviewed the current information technologies that are available to coaches to provide athletes with feedback and the effect of this on athlete performance. The researchers suggest that there are several feedback systems available that provide feedback through vision, audition and proprioception mediums. These can include information technologies such as video footage and three dimensional virtual environments. The researchers also suggest that this can lead to positive effects on athlete performance if feedback is necessary for the acquisition of the skill.

If you want to see this article click here: []

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Week 8 and 9: CBT Presentation
Due to the class free week in week eight and public holiday in week nine These past two week s have not had any lectures or tutorials. I found myself feeling quite happy about this I must admit. This was until I remembered that my presentation was due in week nine. No rest for the wicked.

When thinking about the topic I would choose for this presentation I was completing an assignment for a psychology unit about Cognitive Behavioural-Therapy (CBT). I thought to myself could CBT strategies or programs be applied to a coaching or teaching program and would this increase the performance of the athlete or student. This is interesting as CBT has traditionally been used as a form of psychotherapy for the treatment of mental health disorders.

It turns out that there is heaps of research investigating the effect of CBT on athlete performance. CBT aims to decrease performance interfering thoughts (PITS), increase performance enhancing thoughts (PET) and promote positive behaviour (Frodi et al. 2010). CBT can include goal setting, Imagery or visualization, self-talk, relaxation techniques, altering negative cognitions and increasing athlete and coach alliance. Studies such as Rose (2010) suggest that CBT methods can have positive influences on athlete performance.

If you want to view my presentation click here: []

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Week 10
So were back into the swing of things with lectures and tutorials after a two week break. This week’s topic was producing resources for coaching and teaching. The lecture provided interesting ideas and explanations in the way we share and produce resources for teaching. Keith in his Slide cast Etienne Wenger, Beverly Trayner and Maarten de Laat’s (2011) as follows:

'Not all the value produced by a community or a network is immediately realized. Activities and interactions can produce “knowledge capital” whose value lies in its potential to be realized later. Note that this potential can be useful even if it is never realized.'

This part of the presentation kind off jumped out at me as I think of how technology advancements have created a ‘knowledge capital’. The rise of the internet and social media resources has allowed individuals to produce an unlimited amount of resources. These resources might not be needed initially but later be of importance. A coach can communicate with the athlete through a variety of mediums including social media platforms and exchange information. In have had a similar experience to this as a coach from my judo club has set up a website which collects and produces several resources for athletes and coaches. Such resources that I have found useful include Matt’s instructional videos which go through a variety of techniques and the articles that give advice about certain areas of the sport. The website is Beyond Grappling and if you want to see it click here: []

Anyway, my point is that producing and sharing resources is just a click away and coaches should take full advantage of this.

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Week 11
Week 11 has been quite exciting. The lecture was on Planning Programs which to me is a very important part of coaching and teaching. To quote Keith’s Slide cast:

‘Periodisation ... an organised division of training’

I would like to elaborate on this quote from Keith’s presentation. From my own experience periodisation can be a difficult process and needs practice. Not so much for Micro-cycles but for Meso and Macro cycles as they attempt to plan out periods of months and years even depending on the competition calendar. However, they are very useful in that they provide organisation to an individual or team and can foster goal setting. A coach needs to develop a training program that has the appropriate training intensity and frequency depending on whether the team or individual athlete is in a preparation, completion and transition period. Periodisation can allow a coach to keep track of and plan the appropriate training routine.

The tutorial this week was fun and insightful. We were in the basketball gym practicing our coaching methods. Keith divided us into pairs were we had the task of teaching a skill to the other person. I taught how to shoot a free throw shot. Near the end of the tute Keith focused on the skill that stuart was teaching. Stuart was asked to teach the class the ‘Parkour Slam Dunk’ which involved kicking off the wall a dunking the basketball. This was awesome. Being 175cm tall and about 100 kilograms I was not built to slam dunk the basketball but, when kicking off the wall I was able to get up higher and slam dunk the basketball. This tute highlighted that when coaching a skill the coach needs to adapt to the different capabilities of his or her athletes.

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Week 12 and 13
How can I be an expert coach?

I wanted to combine my post on week 12 and 13 to answer the above question.

In week 12 we dived into the topic Expert Pedagogue. Pedagogy to me is a weird word and Keith defined it as:

‘The interaction between how one learns, how one teaches, what is being taught and the context in which it is being taught.’

This quote to me sums up what a coach should do in that coaching firstly is a constant cycle as you are constantly learning and new skills and teaching them. Also, that a coach needs to teach in the appropriate way depending on the context of which the teaching is occurring in. Moreover, I would teach a 12 and 19 year old differently and I would adapt my training plan for different times in the season.

In week 13 we discussed the topic of occupation and vocation. Keith highlighted that if coaching or teaching is your occupation then you should live off it and live for it. Interesting, this suggests that we should be able to support ourselves from the teaching or coaching and be passionate about it.

So, how can I be an expert coach? I think that if I want to be an expert coach I need to first be able to understand the concept of coaching pedagogue. Coaching involves constantly adapting and learning and being highly flexible. Also, as highlighted in week 13 coaching needs to not only be a profession but a passion.

The tutorial in week 12 was fun.

Never in my four years of being at university have I played basketball for an entire tutorial session. This session was loads of fun and involved us splitting up into two teams and pretty much playing basketball. As the tutorial progressed Keith would constantly call timeouts and manipulate the rules or call for a draft (he would send the best players from one team or another, to the delight of my ego this was mainly me). The main thing I got from this was that as the teams changed and the rules changed the coaches needed to adapt their game plan. Moreover, they needed to employ and coaching pedagogue mentality. They would have to realise the potentials of the athletes on both teams coach to the individual needs of each team.

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An interesting Experience: Carlos Machado Seminar
I thought I would share an interesting experience with you. This week on Tuesday the 8th of May I attended a Carlos Machado seminar or coaching session. If you don’t know who Carlos Machado is you’re probably not a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) nut. Carlos is an 8th degree red and black which is one of the highest ranks in BJJ in the world and has won numerous world championships when he used to compete. He is one of the best coaches in the world in BJJ and I was lucky enough to attend a seminar run by him this week. During this seminar Carlos taught several moves or techniques. When doing so he gave a name to each technique such as jack hammer. He suggested that this would create a mental image in the student’s mind of the technique and would therefore be easier to remember.

Research such as Hanrahan, Klingner, Tversky (2001) suggests that visual stimuli produces less cognitive load than does verbal stimulus. Also, the researchers suggest that visual stimuli produce greater memory and learning outcomes then do verbal stimulus. Also, research has also suggested that mental imagery can increase sporting performance (Hardy & White, 1995). To read these articles click here:[][]

So maybe Carlos’s clam that visualising techniques and creating mental images increases positive memory outcomes may be true. This was an interesting strategy that I might implement when whenever I am coaching.

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Week 14
This week I did not attend the lecture unfortunately but I attended the tutorial which I must say was fun. Just Like week 12’s tutorial we pretty much played basketball the whole time and Keith as usual would manipulate to rules to illustrate certain points.

The first rule which was quite funny, was that upon exiting and entering the court you had to walk directly over the half court line. He would yell and make a fuss about us not walking over the line and congratulate us for doing it correctly. I thought to myself why is he doing this and then in the debrief he mentioned Operant Conditioning. Operant Conditioning is fairly familiar to me as I am doing a double degree with psychology. It pretty much involves decreasing or increasing behaviour through either punishment or reward. As I think about it more and more Operant conditioning has a place in coaching and teaching. We want to reward our athletes to promote desired behaviour and punish them (not too frequently obviously) for undesirable behaviour.

Another rule manipulation that Keith would employ was that he would be constantly changing the amount of players on each team. He would make it 4 on 4, 2 on 1, 3 on 4 etc. This highlighted to me that a coach’s game plan is highly contextual. That is sport has many different situations such as when you are down a player like in today’s tutorial. If you are down a player maybe you shouldn’t play one on one defence but switch to a zone.

Lastly, as the tute was low in numbers probably because it is week 14 Keith asked two people who were not enrolled in our course to join in. There was a language barrier between us and these two gentlemen but we were still able to play and communicate effectively. This highlights the universal nature of sport and taught us how to communicate and coach someone with a different first language.

All in all, it was quite an insightful tutorial.

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Final Remarks: We did it!!!
The end of the semester is here. Firstly A personal goal of mine as shown in the introduction was to share my learning experience of Coaching Pedagogy with you the reader. I hope that I was successful in this and that it was not too boring. I also stated that I wanted to learn more about the pedagogy of sport which to can be defined as the science and teaching or sport. I believe that I was successful in this and that this unit has opened my eyes to the complexity of teaching and coaching.

I can honestly say that I enjoyed this unit.

Thanks, Kind Regards.

Hello, Justin

I am delighted we were able to meet on this unit.

Thank you for choosing Wikiversity as your sharing platform. I have enjoyed your observations about the unit and have been impressed by your basketball virtuosity.

I do hope you will continue with your writing.

Best wishes

Keith
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