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Placement Completion Sheet - Kath Mason (Sir Tom Finney Soccer Centre)
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Placement Completion Sheet - Keith McGregor (KJM Performance Coaching)
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Hello, I am Jake Toole
Welcome to my reflective coaching blog, here I will be taking you on a journey through my practical coaching experiences and developments over the next 9 months.
This blog is for a module from my final year bachelors, BSc Strength and Conditioning. Working within sport, has not always been a dream of mine, I did not study it at school I had my heart set on a construction career. Until, a few years ago I got involved with coaching football to grassroots children which changed my life approach, I enjoyed every aspect of coaching, from session planning to social interactions I found it both fun and interesting. I never heard of strength and conditioning until I then mentioned to my lecturer in a 1-2-1 career meeting how I like coaching, and he just floated the idea that I liked training and coaching, therefore there was a career where you could do both. ever since that conversation, my dreams have been focused to achieving a strength and conditioning role where I can influence as many people as I can.
Accepted Placement Positions:
Volunteering 1 - Working alongside Keith McGregor, UKSCA accredited coach. Delivering physical training sessions adolescent BMX British cycling athletes, ensuring they are able to perform at their physical peak while developing necessary co-ordination strengths and personality traits to become an all round athlete. One day a week.
Volunteering 2 - for the Sir Tom Finney Soccer Centre Foundation. Within the club I hold various different roles, presenting strength and conditioning sessions to adults ladies football, to providing warm up routines to different age groups, as well as coaching grassroots football. All on a weekly basis.
The system I have chosen is “Johns Nursing Reflective Model” as much as nursing is categorically dissimilar to coaching in terms of roles and day to day activities. Nurses and coaches are interlinked through communication protocols and reflective practice. This ensures both the patient or athlete are in the best care
I have picked Christopher John’s 2006 Model, due to the depth of information I can write about.
My grandad is a big influence within my life and I vividly remember one conversation we were having about the mechanics of a car and the best approach for learning and he once said “asking in depth questions, reveals in depth answers” ever since I have utilised this approach and find it heavily useful for reflections.
(Johns 2016)
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/nmp/sonet/rlos/placs/critical_reflection/models/johns_model.html
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October 2018 - Coaching Experience: Sir Tom Finney Ladies FC
This was my first experience coaching ladies, never mind a group of 25, i was nervous, excited and raring to get started. When i am in the midst of a situation i always find my feet however, the nerve’s of starting something new, is terrifying.
On the first approach, i met the head Coach Keira, shook her hand and got to work, right there. Took a breath of fresh air inhaled right into my lungs and shouted “Alright girls, in we come….. My names JJJ..” and we began.
Describe the experience:
The experience was phenomenal, much to my despair they were easier to coach then men, the egos were non-existent they were here to play football and to have fun. “Excellent!” Using my forever growing enthusiasm i bundled a few team tasks their way, build some comradeship, let them know “he’s fun” and then spring a few technical running points their way, and before i knew it, my first session was over.
The significant factors i learnt:
Women react differently than men to communicate, easier to laugh with, nothing is too serious.
Female football is laid back, to say the least, so much so when the ball was kicked out they did not run to pick it up. Strange?
I really enjoyed watching their team spirit and specifically the way they communicated with one another, each player knew their position, each player gives it 100% and was not afraid to try new things.
What was i trying to achieve? In the first session:
The aim was a meet and greet, a little bit of fun a little bit of general movement preparation for the session ahead, this allowed me to understand what was needed, what was lacking and what were their team strengths.
Highlights - Team fitness, overall body strength, Running co-ordination
Consequences - Some of the ladies found it difficult to understand my coaching techniques or my delivery, had to repeat certain things multiple times.
Influencing Factors:
By being raised predominately by females, i found speaking to ladies about their sporting preferences pretty easy.
Through my years of coaching i have been able to pick up positive and negative body language quite effectively, with this i was able to motivate and congratulate who were not doing so well and those who were enjoying the session.
My decision making was based off intuition at this stage i did not have a plan in place for the weeks ahead as i was merely understanding what needs to be improved and worked on.
Could i have dealt with it better?
I could have been a little more assertive, i was a little bit shy at times when addressing the whole group but through experience, i have found that as i start to feel more comfortable around the new people i coach, assertiveness and effectiveness comes with it. easing into environments rather than making anything to much too early on for the participants.
Learning:
From this experience i have definitely learnt to be confident within myself, i have the knowledge it just takes a little while to get the information out and over to the participants in the correct way.
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STF Ladies - Home Workout Pack Contains -
Competition or pre-match preparation
Nutritional Guide
Recovery Guide - Including sleep and hydration levels
How to prevent injuries - (football is commonality associated with ankle and knee injuries, this program was put together to strengthen lower limbs and avoid preventable injuries such as sprains and strains)
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Topic: November 2018 - Strength & Conditioning Coach for Sir Tom Finney Ladies FC and STF under 14′s FC
My 2nd Week coaching at STF Ladies - Here is the program i built, research is minimal, resource “essentials of strength & conditioning, Advanced strength and conditioning, Mike Boyle strength and conditioning, Dan Phaff, Eric Cressey” The format is my own, why? Does every coaching situation deserve its own format? it is only fair right? .. no. You just have to understand the tools which are at your disposal.
Describe the experience:
Coaching the women is minimalistic, there is no equipment, everything is on field, time restrictions of 30 minutes a week to get everything I can do and make them exceptional athletes? Why? I believe everyone has the potential to be great.
The weather was awful, high winds, heavy rain.. it should have really been cancelled but we ploughed through. What i learnt was vital, nobody can hear you in wind, I had to bring everyone closer yet still screaming, we performed the first week of the programme and it went exceptional, combined with the fear of getting cold and my high pitched screaming to avoid winds, i think they were motivated enough to run the country.
With the winds came to another great learning point, what you place on the floor moves considerably in wind, put the cones away i used the markers of the hockey pitches to direct the sprints that were programmed and we all literally “ran with the wind”
This group of girls are fantastic, the odd whinge about the weather but nothing serious. just got on with it and played football.
Transferring from the ladies pitch to the u14s pitch was an odd one.
Roped in to do a little bit of coaching for the young lads straight after the ladies was odd for two reasons.
1: I came from coaching women twice their age who were able to follow my instructions without any need to punch each other
and 2: The boys had never had a strength and conditioning coach, nor did they know what i had to offer.
What was i trying to achieve?
The aim of this session was landing mechanics and changing direction, i was high on my technical curing, “Land soft, cut and sprint, step and go” and they loved it, never had the ladies experienced this diverse range of coaching.
The aim of boys session: Introduce them to strength and conditioning and have some fun, however it did not pan out the way i expected. The children were badly behaved and spent most of the session ignoring my instructions. (at first, i thought it was my fault, i didn't introduce myself properly) however as the session progressed i noticed the two naughty twins that disturbed the rest of the group, “this is going to be interesting lead up to Christmas trying to deal with this pair”
Highlights - Having a great laugh with the ladies, trying to fight the weather and all around encouragement between each and every one of them and also the contrast between both groups, massive difference between each team.
Consequences - due to the weather in both sessions, my coaching points got lost in the wind at times and this lead to confusion and time delays.
Consequences - With the boys it was hard to distinguish myself as a coach on the first appearance, coming in next week i realised without a football at their feet they are simply not interested.
Influencing Factors:
Through my years as a coach, i have worked in many different situations, some good and some bad, the weather at this session did not make me panic, and i knew exactly what to do instinctively to get the best out of the session and keep a positive attitude/mentality throughout.
With the children, i simply asked the other coach to help me out to ensure a bit of parental control was within the session, this ensured i didn’t lose full control of the session and made sure there was a game placed into the end of the session for them to enjoy, developing both physical and practical skills needed for football.
The program helped a lot with the ladies, allowed buy into what we are trying to develop and they understood this which made it easier than having to keep explaining myself.
Could i have dealt with it better?
I don’t think i could have dealt with the women session any better as i was limited due to what was going on with the weather, but i tried my best and they told me they enjoyed it at the end of the session.
However with the boys, i took away that next time i need to incorporate more fun games and especially more football time as after all they did turn up for football, i need to also try to learn each of the player's names to help with buy-in with the group.
Learning:
From this experience, i have learnt and understood that sometimes things do not go to plan, and have a back up (contingency) ready just in case. I have learned to be positive in any situation and that this reflects those you are coaching or teaching
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Topic: December 2019 - Coaching with Keith
From the start of the year, I have been involved with programming for the athletes, organising training sessions and delivering warm ups and cooldowns. Recently, I have been put forward to do some further individualisation programming for the adolescent's something I am very keen on pursuing.
What was I aiming to achieve?
The aim of the warm-up, RAMP method - Ian Jefferys “UKSCA, NSCA” Book Title - the Warm Up.
· R- Raise the Heart Rate: was to include all the children whilst me and the other coaches participated in an engaging activity. Started the session with knee taps, where participants faced one another, bent knees to get into a power position or universal athletic position, and from there the challenge was to tag the oppositions knee without getting own knee tagged to win a point. I progressed this onto more of lateral approach, children reciprocated a stance of a “fencing” athlete and again tried to tag their oppositions knee, while scurrying back and forth. For the final progression, i changed the rules to tagging the elbow and the knee whilst in a fencing position. This really challenged the co-ordination and the reactions of the children and we had a couple of complete victors and some tight score lines.
· Activate the muscles: Took the athletes through the less active muscles or the muscles which tend to be the key muscles that provide postural benefits when active; such as gastrocnemius, Soleus, Gluteus & hamstring group, rotator cuff complex and latissimus dorsi. Aiding the athletes with the exercises that will follow, by increasing the blood flow to the specific muscles by increasing the heat of the tissues. (Essentials of Strength & Conditioning Book Ed)
· M-Mobilise the Joints: focusing on increasing range of motion to joints allows the athletes to adequately warm up, allowing further depth to specific exercises such as the Squat, Dead-lift. Key joints which re mobilised are Ankles, Hips and thoracic spine, Glenohumeral. In multi-directions at different tempos.
· P-Potentiate: Increasing readiness, preparing tendons for forces, starting with light hopping and moving into reactive stimulus in multi-directions ensuring joints are adequately loaded, movable and ready for sessions.
Describe the experience:
Coaching with Keith is great, encourages me to think on my own and come up with exercise
I have to ensure progressions and regressions that will fit the individual, due to Keith philosophy’s a heavy percentage of training involve human movement incorporating fun and strength qualities at the same time oppose to other coaches ideas of stacking weight straight on the child's back etc.
The sessions have progressively lead to be taking warm ups and cool downs ensuring the athletes are ready for the session respectively. This allows me to use methods such as the RAMP protocol to ensure their bodies are ready for the spinal stress ready to impact them.
I have been reading journals regarding laughter and social inclusion and i thought i would present what i found such as laughter has a big impact on the pedagogy buy-in by putting the individual at ease and allowing them to open up. With this knowledge I have been progressively/systematically incorporating fun activities into the warm up to raise the heart rate before we get into the more serious activities, i thought due to the athletes coming from an array of different backgrounds, settings and ages it would be a good time to allow the children to connect.
I truly believe the utmost importance of any job, activity or session is to know when to have fun and when not to, If there is a heavy load presented on someones back it is not the right time to make a joke, yet in warm-ups to increase alertness and feedback fun is definitely the correct time as it gets them ready for the session.
Significant Factors:
Working with Keith for last few months has given me an increased knowledge of exercises possible to use in warming up the athletes, i also learnt which way Keith liked to do it, this made sure if he was not in the room i was able to present exactly what order and rhythm he was after, keeping the session flowing when he re-entered.
What could be improved:
I may have practised the routine a couple more times myself before presenting it to the athletes as i forgot some of the exercises and had to go back to the whiteboard. this would make me look more professional and to gain confidence from the athletes as the would understand i know what i am doing.
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Topic: January 2019 STF Womens Coaching Introduction:
This was a great experience, coaching 50 ladies through my strength and conditioning session. Ensuring I was organised, I made the drills systematic, progressive, creating fluidity from one drill to another. This session, I only had 20 Minutes, no major equipment, Cones, bibs, agility ladders.
Teams involved: PNE Academy, STF Ladies, STF Ladies Development, Lady Trials.
What was I aiming to achieve?
The aim was to get all the athletes prepared for the up and coming trials, ensuring they were warm through all regions of the body to prevent injuries and also fight the cold weather of the night.
Highlights - All players engaging with the activities, and striking jokes at myself for my northeast accent, some drills were not completed to the best of my ability due to lack of confidence to the full group.
Consequences - Due to the sheer size of the squad in front of me, i found it difficult to provide the best attention to each individual to get them into the best positions, it was also hard to maintain concentration for the ladies as I could not see all of them at once, the younger ones decided to mess around a bit at the side.
Describe the experience:
Windy, Cold, Floor was damp and slightly slippery
I ensured laughter throughout, utilised a fun game i used with the young kids on a Saturday morning and a personal favourite “fox and hounds” the whole squad (foxes) wore bibs tucked into shorts like tails and 10% of squad number started on, the aim was to chase them and grab the tails, if they got the tail they became on (Hound), great high intensity game to get the girls talking and out of their comfort zones.
I noticed each team gathered towards one another, so i tried to mix it up but they were not having it and went back to their original positions.
The warm-up consisted of a simple RAMP, utilising hops in multi-directions through floor ladders to finish. The point of the hops was to provide both co-ordinations among the ladies, from their head to toe “can they move there body in a way, where they don’t land like an elephant and control the movement” therefore, providing stability at both the ankle and knee, prime areas of injury for female athletes in football. Movement asymmetries may be contributing factors to an increased risk for new ACL injury (Faltstrom, 2017).
Significant Factors:
In my previous year, i was put into a similar position with Wigan warriors, however, the athletes all knew each other there was 50 of them, they were used to doing strength and conditioning warm-ups, they were much more focused and attentive to the drills provided. Going into the session I had the confidence in doing a better job then what i did at Wigan, however, i do not think i did as good of a job.
I planned the session for the past few days ensuring each area was covered and the best warm-up was provided.
What did I learn: Learning factors
From this experience i have definitely learnt to be confident within myself, i have the knowledge it just takes a little while to get the information out and over to the participants in the correct way
What could be improved:
I could have been a little more assertive, i was a little bit shy at times when addressing the whole group but through experience, I have found that as i start to feel more comfortable around the new people i coach, assertiveness and effectiveness comes with it. easing into environments rather than talking too much, too early on for the participants.
Faltstrom, A. One ACL injury is enough! Focus on female football players. Br J Sports Med 2017;51:1235-1236.
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Topic: February 2019 - Coaching with Keith
Introduction:
On this day we had a few cancellations, the weather was excellent and the gym had a pungent smell so we decided to take the session outside onto the athletics track.
We introduced young Jo to exercises and techniques he was capable of doing anywhere if he had some space and the time to get stronger and faster. I lead the warm-up, running Jo through some mobility and activation drills prior to leading with some light plyometrics to finish off the RAMP protocol.
The session progressed onto advanced running mechanics, looking at his speed through 10-15m gates, continuous bounds and some explosive vertical jumps. The session leads onto some relative strength work utilising isometrics and eccentric loading mechanisms and the equipment we had available. Jo started with squats and lunge before we had him jumping the balance beam.
This was excellent to witness, and I was able to practice critical thinking, on the spot thinking to find and offer further exercises and loading modalities, utilising the human body in stress expression to ligaments, tendons and muscles.
I think this was such a great session for Jo experiencing different training environment than the gym, showing them that to be strong you do not need external load but one's body weight, they are able to replicate the exercises taught when they are on the road for competition or at home as a means to get strong
What was I aiming to achieve?
Bodyweight training is unique to an individual’s limb length, muscle/ tendon insertion, and body mass. Most body-weight exercises are closed-chain exercises, which use multiple joints as the resistance is moved away from or toward an anchored body part. Closed-chain activities often are more functional movements strengthening several muscle groups at once (Harrison, 2010)
Significant Factors:
My beliefs and knowledge of physical ability relate to mastering bodyweight movements prior to loading external weight, this normally comes in the form of brachiation, carrying, grappling, reactive strength from repeated concentric contractions (plyometrics)
Jo’s ability to listen and articulate instructions is incredible, from this session alone it is clear jo is a visual learner, Ensuring tasks were demonstrated effectively he picked up new exericise techniques swiftly, he asked questions about how they would benefit him this showed eagerness to become better at his sport.
What did I learn:
I learned the ability to co-ordinate limbs is dependant on the athlete's ability to listen and the coaches ability to instruct. If there is a weak leak in either the activity task will breakdown.
You must be concise, nobody wants to be there for 20 minutes listening to someone talk about an exercise, you must be confident in your knowledge, understanding the importance of anatomy and make sure there is no risk being placed on the athlete during the task.
Learning factors
What could be improved:
I don’t think i was able to deal with the situation any better, with the tools i had and the time i had, i believe I give the athletes the best possible session. They left the session and they acknowledged the difference from being in the gym, yet they fully appreciated being outdoors for a change.
Harrison J.S. (2010). Bodyweight Training: A Return To Basics. Strength and Conditioning Journal 32(2) pp.52–55.
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Topic: March 2019 - STF Disability Tournament
Introduction:
Sir Tom Finney foundation had just won prize fund for their effort in the community and as a reward, they decided to organise a tournament amongst both groups. I helped with setting up the field, warming up the players, organising the pitches and the teams and worked in cohort with other coaches to strategically display 2 well-working tournaments.
Because I was just filling in for another coach, at first it was quite intimidating being my first time working with either demographic. However, after a couple of minutes of being inside the arena, I was relaxed and ready to go, one of the participants put me right at home by asking me lots of questions and having a laugh.
What was I aiming to achieve?
The aim was to have as much fun as possible while playing football
· Highlights – I got to interact with a diverse group, due to the different learning difficulties present, in comparison with the general grassroots team each player needed further time and explanation to understand the task or activity. We ensured there were enough coaches per grid to help with directing the tasks and made sure that all the coaches in the grid were not completely new like me, this allowed the players to feel calm and reduce the agitation of new people.
· Consequences – A couple of the players amongst the session, found it hard to talk to me and preferred the attention of the other coaches. Took a little longer to set up and organise games.
Significant Factors:
Communication and speaking clearly was a big learning curve identifying what I was asking of them at the start I had to repeat myself a few times, as we got further into the session I was able to be more concise as I starting to understand the players further.
Ensure everyone is taking part in the session, or involved in some way, especially with the disability group, many of the participants enjoyed kicking a football but it was not coming to them so they were getting annoyed, so i rolled a ball at their feet every so often so they could kick it into the net.
I really enjoyed the football tournament it was great to see all the players and coaches having fun, cheering each other on when they were getting defeated.
Could see a few players getting increasingly frustrated with themselves for not getting much of the ball or not scoring, I tried to engage with empathy and encouragement
What did I learn:
From this experience, i have definitely learnt whatever the demographic the participants just want to have fun, laughter seems to bring everyone together.
I learnt how to interact with those who have learning difficulties, ask them questions, ensure they have your attention and keep encouraging there efforts.
Learning factors
I worked alongside other coaches who have been there before, this made it easier to be introduced to sessions, one child has autism and at first it was difficult for me to communicate, so the familiar coach stood with me to allow the child and other players to keep playing, as the game started to play the child forgot about us both and was very much in tune with the game.
What could be improved:
I could have been a little more enthusiastic, I was a little hesitant and felt held back the session as I was not confident in what way to deliver the session, once the session began, I calmed down and started to enjoy the process again.
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Completing FA Futsal Level 2 (November 2018)
Excellent course, full of practical content I will be able to regurgitate to my female players, In terms of strength and conditioning knowledge, I am now armed with further drills and tactics which I can employ when to either increase or decrease tempo of session depending on the goal and aim of the session. In the future I will be looking to progress onto FA level 3 Futsal, but first FA level 2 Coaching badge is required.
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Futsal FA Level 1 in Futsal at the University of Central Lancashire (October 2018).
Great Experience. I attended this course to understand the game of futsal and how the drills can be applied to the game of football. This cross over will be great for training football athletes to increase their physiological needs for the sport, ability to get both skill and physical qualities is a no brainer. Signed up for my Level 2 ready for the next step. #Keeplearning #keepgrowing
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