Plan, Deliver & Review A Coaching Session Based Upon Skill Acquisition Theory

LO4: Plan, deliver and review a coaching session based upon skill acquisition theory

In the following blog I am going to describe and evaluate a coaching session I have previously delivered to my peers. Within the session I was looking to progress the skills used within the participants by adding constraints that ultimately change their behaviour. I will also present skill classification evaluations which provides the difference between simple skills and those performed with constraints.

Planning The Session

The session I delivered was a football based session. The participants took part in simple passing drills, simple dribbling drills and competition drills. The aim of the session was to teach the participants the basic skills of passing and dribbling within a footballing context. The goals after that were to get the participants to develop those skill levels by introducing constraints.

The equipment I used within the drill were basic. Throughout I used footballs, cones and the surrounding area of the sports hall space.

The demonstrations I incorporated were simple and understandable. The demonstrations i used were the basic skills of the passing and dribbling which allows the participants to grasp the basic concept of the skill.

Whilst demonstrating the simple 5 yard pass the learners began with I also explained 3 main coaching points:

1. Plant your standing foot adjacent to the ball prior to striking the ball with the opposite foot.
2. Use the instep of your foot to strike the ball towards your partner
3. Keep your knee over the ball to ensure the ball stays on the floor and doesn't rise.

Whilst demonstrating the dribbling technique I explain the following 3 coaching points:

1. Keep your head up at all times to avoid collisions
2. Take small delicate touches to maintain close control
3. Use the instep to begin with and then progress to inside and outside of the foot.

Learning Styles

In terms of the participants themselves and the way they learned, I tried to include visual, auditory as well as a hands on learning approach. According to David Kolb (1984) there are 3 different learning styles to be taken into account when learning skills. These are:

1. 'Acquisition - birth to adolescence - development of basic abilities and 'cognitive structures'
2. Specialization - schooling, early work and personal experiences of adulthood - the development of a particular 'specialized learning style' shaped by 'social, educational, and organizational socialization'
3. Integration - mid-career through to later life - expression of non-dominant learning style in work and personal life'

'Whatever influences the choice of style, the learning style preference itself is actually the product of two pairs of variables, or two separate 'choices' that we make, which Kolb presented as lines of axis, each with 'conflicting' modes at either end'

These learning styles are then separated into either 'grasping experience' (doing or watching), or 'transforming experience' (feeling or thinking)

The two axis that complete the models

With these models, I felt that throughout the coaching session the majority of the learners worked more efficiently with the doing and watching approach to the skills, so I incorporated that theory mainly.

Running The Session

In terms of running the session, I decided to deliver the session in an autocratic manner. Which meant I was instructing the participants on what do do and how they could proceed with the tasks. Using this coaching style would remove all doubts within the participants and the tasks would become clear and easy to understand.

Also included in the running of the session is Mosston and Ashworth's teaching spectrum (1986). 

Mosston and Ashworth's Spectrum of Teaching Styles (1986)

In my eyes this spectrum is a great outline on how to achieve a well organised and successful coaching session. It outlines the different methods used in order to achieve maximal participation as well as what personal requirements are needed in order to succeed. I feel using this as a basis on how you will lead your session will only help the progress you search for. I incorporated these styles within my session and learnt that it gives a great balance to the overall session leading which the learners that benefited from throughout.

Progression & Constraints

Throughout the coaching session, the aim was always to introduce the simple skills to the participants and then include constraints in order to develop those skills further. Below I have completed a skill classification sheet which is an example that highlights and makes clear the difference between the simple skills and those that are constrained. It shows how the skill then differs and can ultimately differ in classification. 

This shows the different skill classifications for short and long distance passing. This constraint is where the task is changed, which then ultimately changes the classification of the skill slightly.

Above is en explanation of why the skills are in their respective classifications.

With this example, Introducing these constraints I felt helped the learners in the long run. To start with the skills were hindered with the constraints, however after reinforcing the coaching points and making sure they focussed on their performance and not the results, ensured that they perfected the technique and were then able to move towards the desired results.

Feedback

Throughout the coaching session I always tried to present the participants with as much feedback as possible, whether that be congratulating them on success, or stopping them and reinforcing the coaching points too them. Tomasz P. Szynalski writes about a feedback based learning and has come up with his most accurate model below:

Feedback is important when coaching throughout sport, as it allows learners to learn the errors of their ways whilst also seeking that personal achievement is recognised. Feedback is delivered in two ways, which are positive and negative. Throughout my coaching session I tried to use each of these in order to highlight:

Positive feedback

• Reinforce learning
• Increase success probability
• Encourage learning

Negative feedback

• Incorrect performance of task
• Various forms, or none at all
• Indicate faults but suggest correction

Also attached to feedback, is knowledge of results and knowledge of performance.

I made this clear to the participants throughout the coaching session, that the knowledge of performance is what you did and how you did it, whereas the knowledge of results, is the outcome of the performance. With this I encouraged the participants to focus on the knowledge of performance superior to results. When ensured they completed the techniques correctly before focusing t=on the results of that performance, which I felt helped their progress throughout.

Strengths/Weaknesses

After evaluating my coaching session I feel I have a few strengths that i have developed and also a few weaknesses that may need working on.

Strengths

• Planning (the plan was clear and understandable, which ensured that the session ran smoothly and efficiently)
• Demonstrations (They were clear and easy to replicate, coaching points were simple and understandable)
• Vocals (I Spoke clearly and with the correct terminology making everything I said simple and easy to understand in regards to the tasks at hand)

Weaknesses

• Constraints (I feel the constraints were simple and not that challenging, which may have made the tasks a little tedious and repetitive)
• Drills (again the drills were simple and basic, although I feel this is a good way to work on the basics and achieve technique, i also feel it could have progressed in difficulty)
• Work with Individuals ( I feel I didn't do this enough as I coached the group on a whole and didn't take personal talent or ability into account. So instead of working with individuals on certain aspects they needed to improve on, I challenged the group, and developed the group as a whole and didn't pick out people that may have been struggling.

Improvements

I feel I can improve on working on the individual benefits of a coaching session instead of concentrating on the group as a whole for the majority of the session. I feel if I can start to work with individuals in unison to the group work then my sessions will be much more beneficial for the participants on a personal development level.

Another improvement of mine would be to improve the progress levels when the constraints are introduced. The example I have given previously show that the progress was simply short passing into long passing. I feel if I could improve the levels of the progression with the constraints the participants may increase their skill levels a lot more. However with this being said, it could also complicate the session too much for people who are either new to the sport or have low skill level in that particular task.