Angling Trust's The Coaching Angle Issue 10 | Page 8

INSPIRE
GOOD BEHAVIOUR
THE CONDUCT OF YOUR PARTICIPANTS CAN MAKE OR BREAK A
SESSION. WITH ALL THAT AT STAKE, IAN SLATTERY FINDS ANSWERS
TO THE QUESTION OF BAD BEHAVIOUR.
W
e all like to think that when a coaching session
goes wrong, it’s out of our hands.
“She just turned up not willing to try.”
“Every time I had my back turned they’d be messing
around. They were impossible!”
The truth is, nobody can affect people’s behaviour on
any given day more than the coach. That’s you. You
can’t change the people and personalities that are
there, but with the right plan in place you can get the
best out of everyone, and make it fun while you’re at it.
Nicky Fuller is someone who is experienced in
behaviour management, working freelance for a
number of governing bodies of sport, and for her,
nothing can compensate for a well-planned, correctly
structured session.
“It’s down to the coach to create the correct
environment, not down to the participants to change
themselves. Maybe the session is boring, it’s too slow to
move forward, the coach is talking too much – these
are all things that can be improved by the coach
acknowledging them and altering the structure of the
session,” Nicky says.
“Even when a coach is saying ‘I sent them away with
tasks to work on, and they’re just not doing it’, that’ll be
because they’ve not got sufficient buy-in from the
participant. Why is that? Look at it, analyse it. Then ask
what you, as the coach, can do better. It can be the
language you use, the way you set sessions up – there
are lots of elements to it and it’s not easy, it’s not simple,
but it all comes back to good coaching, to having
sound ground rules in place.
“You will get better at it all as you become a more
experienced coach, but while you’re getting that
experience work on the strategy: how you will manage
behaviour and understand the things that create
unwanted behaviours.
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“There’s basics like turning up on time, being
well-prepared, well-rehearsed about what you need to
say in the transitions. Plan to the right level, make sure
the plan stretches the most able and can be modified
for those that aren’t progressing that quickly. If a coach
understood all that, understood those key things, then
the next step would be to have a mentor, someone who
can work with you on those strategies.
“I’m a firm believer that a fence at the top of the cliff is
better than an ambulance at the bottom. For coaches
starting out, you may not even want to look at how you
discipline a group, it’s more important that you get the
basics absolutely right: make sure that when you speak
the group have stopped what they’re doing and are
listening, and likewise when one of the group speaks
everyone stops and listens to them, so you’re building a
two-way respect.”
With coaches increasingly working in more informal
settings, with participants who are there on a casual
basis, the nature of the sessions change, as do the rules.
You wouldn’t want your top angler gossiping throughout
every session, but in a pensioner’s walking group that’d
be actively encouraged. “Even now, with coaches often
working with people outside of a formal sports setting,
just on a purely physical activity level, it all boils down
to understanding your participants,” Nicky explains.
“What are their motivations? Are they there for the
social? To unwind? Do they have goals? There are
many, many reasons and I think it’s critical for a coach
to understand that. It’s impossible to get your session
plan right unless you know the motives.”
And without the right plan in place, you’re set up for an
hour of stress, frustration and very little sport; from
which, no one is a winner.
Where next?
UK Coaching run an eLearning module on
inspiring positive behaviour, available at:
goo.gl/AvbPAK