Thursday 9 May 2013

Wrapping Up

SCP has been one of my favourite units. SCP has made me realise that coaching and teaching are very similar. SCP has made me realise how much depth there is to coaching and teaching. SCP has made me realise how much preparation is required to be a good teacher. SCP has made me realise that coaching is not as easy as "pass like this" or "copy what I do". SCP has made me realise the importance of data in sport. SCP has made me realise that my voice is not very loud on camera. SCP has made me realise that there is so much useful literature concerning coaching and teaching. SCP has made me realise the importance of feedback and how it is given. Most of all, SCP has made me realise the importance of the effect we have on the lives that we touch.

My Assignments

For assignment 1, I examined the literature surrounding feedback in coaching. I discovered just how much there was, and how diverse the opinions were. I managed to find some common ground that existed between most research, and that is what I would like to use as a coach. Some examples of these are using positive feedback, and putting positive spins on negative feedback, and only using extrinsic feedback when it is necessary. There is so much technology that can help with extrinsic feedback, and these resources should be used as much as possible. Feedback is so important to coaching, and coaches should consider how what they say can affect their athlete.

For assignment 2, I coached my friend Ben Hogan, who is an elite golfer. Ben is going to Florida to play golf in an American college, so he is trying to perfect his technique as much as possible before he goes. I have played with him for a long time, so I already knew about his struggles with power. I had a preliminary session with him, and found that my drills and ideas were much too basic for him. In my proper session, which was filmed, we used some advanced drills that I found. These drills focused less on quick fixes and more on giving Ben a feel for how to use his hips to drive his swing. The drills we used were very beneficial, and he was improving slightly by the end of the session. I really enjoyed coaching, and I especially enjoyed coaching golf. I liked being able to communicate my thoughts through movements, and I liked Ben telling me how he felt he was playing, and how he thinks he could improve.

Both of my assignments have given me a greater understanding of the world of coaching, and I will take these skills with me.

Coaching

In the Week 14 presentation, Keith included a quote from here that says:

Teacherhood must be based on a profound understanding
about the influence of childhood events on teacher students’
present identity—and on their future identity as teachers as
well.

Having an influence on someone's life is a very rewarding thing, and it is one of the reasons I have chosen to become a teacher. I study to be an English teacher and a Physical Education teacher. I would love to be able to share my love of sport with my students, and maybe influence them to discover their own passions. I would also love to share my love of certain pieces of literature, and to analyse them with a class. I have experienced some teaching on my pracs in schools, and one of my most rewarding experiences has been to show a year 10 boy who hated Shakespeare how relevant Macbeth and the language is to him. The boy became engaged with the text, and it was so rewarding to share my knowledge in a positive.

In addition to this, I tutor a year 8 boy with ADHD. All throughout his schooling, he has struggled to stay on task, and his school work has suffered enormously. At the beginning of this year, his parents were told that he may have to repeat year 8. Since I have been tutoring him, he has started using my strategies to stay engaged in class, and he no longer has to repeat year 8. Words cannot explain how great this feels. Words cannot explain the sheer excitement I got when I heard him explain essay structure to his Dad. This was all from me! I helped him do this! This led me to conclude that helping others is so rewarding that everyone should strive to do this for their whole lives.

LTAD

Keith's slideshare on Long Term Athlete Development made me think of my golfing. I didn't start playing golf until I was 14, and it took a long time for me to become competent enough to play competitions, and then the process of lowering my handicap was long and arduous too. A few of the other junior golfers had been playing since they were old enough to hold a club, because their parents were encouraging. I played cricket and AFL when I was very young, due to my father's interests. The golfers that had been playing for 10 years already when they were 15 were so far ahead of me in their journey as an athlete. The Canadian Alpine Skiing Long-Term Skier Development model is brilliant for nurturing participants from a young age.

Splitting the development into Gliding Start, Skier Essentials, Learn to Train, Learn to Race, Train to Race, Train to Win, and Ski for Life means that all participants can grow and improve. I really like the end product being someone who can Ski for Life. Any skill will improve from a lot of practice, and spreading the practice over a whole childhood means that there is a lot of time spent skiing and a lot of improvement. I wish that my parents had somehow predicted that I was going to love golf, and entered me into lessons at a young age, because my scores and technique would have been significantly better.

LTAD is an excellent way to cultivate brilliant athletes. By identifying players at a young age, they can improve slowly and steadily throughout their childhood.



Reference:

http://canadiansportforlife.ca/find-quality-sport-programs/alpine-skiing

"Each and every life we touch is the legacy we leave."

I read the story that was shared on http://keithlyons.me/cowbird-alex-and-zadie/ and I really enjoyed it. Like Keith says, anyone can be ordinary, it takes no effort. Willing to be extraordinary in any aspect of life means that every life you touch is more effected and that is the legacy we leave. Every conversation we have with anyone affects them in some way. Even the smallest exchange can have an impact.

This relates to all of life. In sport, for example, I could tell someone later today about the research I did on dynamic stretching, and how it is more beneficial than static stretching. The person I tell could take the information on board and change how they warm up, or they could tell someone else, who may do this. I think that we do not realise the impact that we have on the lives of others, but it is something that should be cherished.

Tailored Defence

After the tutorial that made me realise that defence techniques should be tailored to fit the other team's playing style, I remembered a conversation that Keith had with us about the Mexican women's soccer team. He said that him and the Australian coaches realised that the Mexican captain would always use the same tactic when doing a goal kick. By predicting her strategy, the Australians counterattacked very well and managed to win.

With the availability of videos, statistics, and computer software, there is no excuse for not researching the opponent before you play them, and not organising strategies to beat them, based on their previous performances.

Zone Defence

In one of the SCP tutorials, my team was asked to use the zone defence when playing basketball. I am not a very natural basketball player, I would even say it is one of my weakest sports, but I can still understand the tactics. This is not enough though. I know where to be for the zone, and I know when the player is my responsibility, but I don't have the natural basketball defensive skills to help me. For example, I don't natural stick a hand up for every shot, which effects the outcome of the shot greatly, and I don't use my arms to make it harder to pass. This emphasises the importance of basic skills, because without a solid understanding of man-to-man defence, a zone defence doesn't work.

We also had to use the tactic of a full court press, which is where we played man-to-man and tried to stop the opponent's progress up the court. This tactic is exhausting, because the whole team is sprinting around trying to hinder the passing of the other team.

After trying both defensive techniques, we were given free reign. Our team chose to use the zone defence, and to let all but one player on the other team shoot. There was only one player on the other team that could shoot well, so by letting the others miss, we had a chance of getting the rebound.

From this tutorial, I learned that although there are plenty of ways to defend, it is always best to tailor your defence to the other team's strengths and weaknesses.

Warming Up - Dynamic vs. Static Stretching


In a study in the Journal of Athletic Training concerning the effects of dynamic warm-up protocols on female high school athletes, it is said that a number of researchers reported that static stretching before exercise may reduce anaerobic performance through decreases in force and power, and that it may have a similar impact on children and athletics. The researchers conducting the study on dynamic stretching found that warm-up protocols that include dynamic exercises resulted in superior performance when compared to a warm-up protocol that included static stretching.

This research is very interesting, especially because in one of the SCP tutorials, we were asked to warm up in any way that we wanted. Most people did short runs, and everyone did static stretching. It is fascinating that when asked to warm up, athletes will go straight to static stretches. It has been proven that dynamic stretching is much more beneficial, so this should be added to the routines of players from an early age. If all players automatically used dynamic stretches when asked to warm up, all performances would benefit.





Reference:

Faigenbaum, A. D., McFarland, J. E., Schwerdtman, J. A., Ratamess, N. A., Jie, K., & Hoffman, J. R. (2006). Dynamic Warm-Up Protocols, With and Without a Weighted Vest, and Fitness Performance in High School Female Athletes. Journal Of Athletic Training41(4), 357-363.