Teaching and Football

For those coaches who are school teachers, you will understand that there are many attributes of a successful teacher that are the same as those attributes required of a successful coach, and vice versa. After twenty years as a coach, I have recently had the opportunity to undertake a teaching degree. The teaching profession has a matrix of professional standards for a proficient teacher which provide an ideal checklist for coaches to reflect on their own coaching proficiency, broken into three domains:

• Coaching Knowledge – knowing your players and the content;
• Coaching Practice – knowing how to coach; and
• Coaching Development – developing yourself as a coach.

The below are extracts from the teaching standards, edited for a coaching context rather than a classroom.

Coaching Knowledge

Know your players

• Understand the different physical, social, intellectual and development characteristics and capabilities of your players and how their characteristics may affect their learning
• Develop strategies for differentiated coaching to meet the specific needs of players

Know the content

• Understand the concepts, substance and structure of the content and coaching strategies of the topic to develop engaging coaching strategies

Coaching Practice

Plan for effective sessions

• Establish appropriately challenging learning goals for all players
• Plan, structure and sequence coaching programs using your knowledge of player learning, content and effective coaching strategies
• Use a range of coaching strategies to develop techniques, skills and problem-solving
• Use effective verbal and non-verbal coaching communication to support player understanding, participation and achievement

Create and maintain supportive and safe positive learning environments

• Support student participation and engagement in activities
• Organise coaching activities and provide clear directions

Assess player learning and development

• Assess player learning and development
• Provide timely and appropriate feedback to players on their development

Coaching Development

Engage in professional learning

• The coach to identify their own professional development needs
• Engage in professional learning to improve your own coaching, update your coaching practice and improve your knowledge
• Engage with colleagues to improve your own coaching through applying others’ constructive feedback to improve your practice, the process of self-reflection and the evaluation of others’ session