BAD BEHAVIOUR: A COACH’ S RESPONSE
Dave Turner, UK Coaching Children and Schools Lead – and GB and Loughborough University javelin coach – responds to some tricky, real-life, coaching situations.
1. A regular participant to your under-20s club has been turning up to sessions late, disorganised and apparently hung-over, with his performance declining as a result.
“ Firstly I am sending him home for his own safety. I would then say:‘ This is not the first time now and you could be putting yourself and other people in danger. We want you to be involved, but I want to know if there is a reason you have been drinking more.’ Could there be a problem at home, could it be a move to university, could it be a new social group? I’ d not just want to say‘ don’ t come back hungover’ – I would want to explain why this was a bad idea and if there was a reason for the behaviour that meant that young person needed support.”
2. As a way of rewarding good form in your diving lessons, divers must end each session with a perfect entry from a dive of their choice. They must stay and continue to make the dive until they complete it to your satisfaction, at which point they may go home.
DT:“ The pursuit of perfection is an admirable trait, but realistically it can often be subjective and of course very difficult to attain. For that reason this‘ reward’ may, upon reflection, sound more like a punishment. My advice would be to focus on just one element they wish to perfect before they go home. This would increase both their chances of success and making it home in time for News at Ten!”
3. Increasingly annoyed at how boisterous your after-school angling group get, you find yourself spending large chunks of each session shouting and sending children to stand away from the river until they calm down. You’ re feeling more like a school teacher and less like a coach.
DT:“ At this point I would ask a group to come together for a discussion about how they feel recent behaviour has been affecting both practise and performance. Hopefully they will reflect that the effect has been a negative one. At that stage I would suggest that the group decides their own rules for the session and what they feel the ramifications for not following those would be. That way the kids own things and have buy-in. Remember though, that kids have vivid imaginations, so you may need to guide them towards a fair set of rules. This is also an opportunity for you to reflect on the session’ s structure. Is there something you’ re doing, or not doing, which could motivate better behaviour from those children?”
4. At the end of each indoor cricket session, the person who was clean bowled the most times has to collect all the loose balls and tidy away the nets, wickets and mat, while everyone else has a drink and a snack. It’ s a talking point among the players and seems to fire them up when they bat – it gives them a goal each time they go in.
DT:“ The challenge with this type of behaviour is to ensure it is not the same person who ends up with this duty every time and if it is I would stop the practice immediately. If there is a genuine variety to who ends up with the duties and no one feels singled out then it sounds like a harmless bit of fun. But beware, one day someone who is not used to having a bad day may end up with the duties and be warned that this may come as a shock to them. Avoid giving this person any additional ribbing because it is their first ever time and it may badly affect confidence in a person not used to it. My personal preferred method is that we all train as hard as we can together and we all work hard together to tidy up after a session. That, for me, is better teamwork.”
This article originally appeared in Coaching Edge, UK Coaching’ s membership magazine.
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