Teenage aged players will be initially excited at the prospect of being a coach of a junior team to wins and losses, but are unlikely to have the full developed tactical knowledge or Skill development (pedagogical) skills necessary to be totally effective in this new role.
Often, similar to when a parent is put in charge of a team, there is no choice or decision it is simply a matter of need. Sometimes though, especially in the case of engaging existing teenage players into coaching roles the Director of Coaching or committee will consider the young persons prior experience of sport or potential leadership qualities.
When the role is being offered to the young person there are a series of things, the DOC (Director of Coaching) must consider first.
First, make sure the young person is fully aware of what a coaching role entails and that it is more than what they might think of just game day responsibilities. Depending on the situation make sure they are aware of training requirements both pre and post as well as before and after games. With this clear picture the young coach will be able to make an informed choice of whether they are interested in taking on the role of team coach. Clubs can also choose to have the young coach sign a coaching agreement for extra validation. By having something like this example below in place the DOC can refer to this in discussions with the coach throughout the year and reinforce the required and agreed to behaviours.
As team coach I agree to:
- Attend all coaching briefings.
- Lead the team in practice sessions.
- Be enthusiastic and organized conducting practices.
- Provide help and advice to players during practices. • Listen to player’s opinions and ideas for practices and games.
- Make sure ALL players are given equal opportunities to practice and participate.
Name: __________________________ Signature: ______________________
When the agreement is shared it is important that it is explained, and each dot point is defined. These requirements might seem clear to an adult, or someone with an established history of coaching, young people are likely to come into coaching with prior conceptions of how these responsibilities should be enacted.
You would hope that these conceptions have been shaped positively by coaches they had coming through your club’s system in their youth, however, these perceptions of how a coach interacts may not always align with the current coaching philosophy of the club or indeed the requirements of the role this young person will be taking on. In most instances the DOC will be wanting to emphasize a teaching focus on developing competent and enthusiastic players without an emphasis or focus on winning and any exclusionary practices.
The young coaches also need to understand that becoming an effective coach takes practice, reflection and effort, and may take multiple seasons to accomplish.
Give the young coaches some shadow support to develop basic skills
If you have multiple new coaches joining your program, you can have all the coaches come together and observe a session delivered by yourself or another coach which model behaviours and drills they can imitate and replicate.
The demonstrator can also educate the new coaches on how to provide feedback to players with some specific error-detecting feedback cues that could be used once the coaches have set up the learning task. These learning cues should be visually represented and referenced by placing them on an individual coaching task card.
Task Goal : Offensive pair try and score past single defender into opposition basket.
Organisation :
- Groups of 3 players
- Attackers in pairs
- One defender defending basket
- One ball per pair of attackers
Potential Modifications:
- Allow offence players to fake passes or shots
- Allow defender more movement freedom
Coaching Feedback cues:
- Take the space the defender gives you
- Non Ball Handler don’t crowd ball handler, look for space
- Ball Handler, look where you are passing
Scaffolding questions:
- When should the player look to pass ?
- What is a good position for the defensive player to be in ?
Developing student coach independence and problem-solving capacities
If the coaches are operating under the guidance of a head coach, encourage that head coach to always gather them together at the start and provide a short explanation of the expectations of the upcoming practice. These discussions should clarify and ensure consistency around what the expectations are on the coaches to facilitate knowledge scaffolding and creating an environment that is more problem solving for their group/team. The young coaches should be comfortable starting the session with some potential task modifications in their “pocket” and also a range of feedback cues that are designed toward scaffolding questions to the players.
Young people especially should be encouraged to use questioning, rather than direct feedback statements for prompting players comprehension of these game problems. Using this approach makes the young coaches more aware of different instructional strategies and also helps create an environment with their players to think about their performance.
By asking players to formulate answers to these questions the coaches create a dialogue between team members which begins to share the responsibility for learning. As teammates develop a greater understanding of the game there is also more potential for them to help others in the group and as such devolve some of the coaching responsibilities among the group.
Developing an accountability for coaching performance
Early in a season it may be necessary to establish a system that rewards specific coaching behaviors. This public recognition of specific coaching behaviors not only reinforces good role performance for the individual coaches, but also clearly demonstrates to the other coaches how valuable you consider their performance.
As the DOC progresses to a less prescriptive facilitation role, they need to foster specific strategies and accountabilities that encourage coach-led dialogue. The DOC needs also to be aware of their feedback behaviors and how it influences the dynamics of coaching. If the DOC provides specific cues directly to players during team practice this will often ‘silence’ the young coach, as they will perceive that the lesson is reverting back to a more “Adult” -directed approach. DOC scaffolding prompts and questions directed to the coach will likely initiate more coach feedback or dialogue with their team.
It is also beneficial to during the season build in time for off court development. Provide young coaches the opportunity to watch video footage of themselves coaching and discussing their effectiveness to formulate strategies for change.
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