o
x
action. Mobile assessors can see
a coach in action, note the
improvements made and that
coach can be given the
appropriate credit for that.” it allows the coach to capture
their learning and reflections
straight after the session, rather
than days or weeks later. The
immediacy is very powerful!
Finding and supporting such
assessors is one thing, giving
them the tools to turn a visual
judgement into a qualification is
another. Armstrong is clear that
new developments will need to
be made before this future can
become a workable reality. “We’re aiming for the different
sporting bodies to collectively
develop new infrastructure, which
can provide a shared service. This
would be better economically and
should provide a better service.”
“Technology is one of the pillars
of the Coaching Plan, so
increasing investment here is a
must. Ongoing assessment
doesn’t currently happen much
because the scale of trying to do
that in the community is an issue.
But technology can help to
overcome that.
“We’ve been running a project
for the past two and a half years
that’s used technology to mentor
coaches. Doing things this way
has meant that one coach
developer could work with 50
coaches by using video, Skype
and a range of other platforms to
remotely help the coaches. The
project found that technology is
not a good second option – it is
actually the best option because
According to the Coaching Plan,
such a digital service should be
active by 2019, as should the
creation of at least a core group
of coaching mentors. The
problem remaining unsolved in
this future of ours is how this
new online grid of coaches and
assessors would assist in the act
of finding people to coach.
“We need to create opportunities
to link this new technology to
our wider roles,” acknowledges
Armstrong. “We currently don’t
have a clear picture of what
the supply and demand is for
coaching.
“My rough analysis is that if you
take the latest figure from UK
Coaching’s Coaching Insight
report, there are 1.9 million people
coaching in England. They each
x
o
do an average of two to four
hours of coaching a week. If we
take this as four hours a week
that adds up to about 7.6 million
hours, or coached sessions,
available for people to attend.
That’s the capacity. You then
need to monitor the number of
participants and you’ve got the
demand. So we need to be able
to match that.
“Generally speaking, most people
in coach development roles see
recruitment as the solution to
gaps in provision, but sometimes
the solution might be within the
existing coaches.
“Rather than just bringing in
more coaches, sometimes we
might be as well to make it easier
or more compelling for high
quality, existing coaches to make
more of a contribution. Ultimately
it is the quality of the experience
we are keen to enhance, so rather
than filling gaps with new people
who may be less skilled, let’s also
see how many people are out
there that have the ability to
make a great contribution.’
Stuart Armstrong will feature
at the National Conference
later this year.
This article was written by Ian Slattery and originally appeared in Coaching Edge. It has been edited for Hitting the Seam by Martyn Kiel.
Inside the Plan
7