Coaching A Coach

I am fortunate that as I pen this blog – yes i wrote this long hand before i entered it – I am skiing in Switzerland. Though a very good skier I always take a series of lessons when I am away for a week or more.

Why? ...... Just to ensure my technique hasn’t got sloppy. It makes me realise that practice makes permanent, only perfect practice makes perfect.

So when was the last time you were coached as a judo player? Having someone critically look at a fight, a throw or a set up you use and then give you constructive advice and help.

That is a bit of an aside as to what I wanted to talk about today....when did you as a coach did you experience life as a student, being taught or coached perhaps in a different sport.

My Swiss ski instructor doing group lessons used different coaching styles and techniques which I recognised – some applied in slightly different manners and which I thought might be useful when doing Judo. It was the handling of group dynamics I found very interesting, in one group he had a family on holiday with teenagers who skied well, a young couple and me. His reinforcing positive points of techniques – only mentioning one teaching point at at a time, building on each, giving time to practice and then feedback.

He then started getting people to observe each other and pass comment on each other. He focused on positive statements it would only be ¾ of the way through the lesson he would mention a negative in an interesting manner .......It is worth saying sometimes people do .....but I haven’t seen it in this group but please be aware if you do this.......

So my skiing is improving and my coaching is too. As I see what a coach’s job is in a different light...I wonder if it could be a tax deductible......