Reflection is often overlooked by the technical and tactical side of the game. However, taking precedence and effective reflection will enable coaches to look at what they have done in the past, so that they can do it better in the future. Reflection plays an important part in your personal development routine which ultimately improves your players on court potential.
A coach needs to go about using reflections in the right way. Unfortunately, some coaches working with female players tend to talk down to the player and use reflections poorly. They come across in a very condescending manner. Coaches should be flexible in their teaching methods and use nonverbal cues as a hint as to how much the player enjoys that way of learning. It is crucial coaches reflect in times of good and bad.
STATEMENTS A COACH SHOULD AVOID:
- “I don’t care if you don’t like to repeat it back to me- this is my style of coaching.” Certain players might not be comfortable when a coach asks them to repeat an instruction with the intention of making sure the player has understood.
- “You can’t leave this lesson without telling me one thing you learnt today.” Putting your players on the spot can make a lot of them feel uncomfortable and embarrassed. Make sure you know your players well before you shine extra light on them.
Reflection has been described as a process that helps turn experience into knowledge. It is a form of problem solving that is used to resolve coaching issues and a process that helps a coach link their professional knowledge to their players squash ability to maximize squash success. As mentioned in Series 1, success is personal to everyone. Coaches must recognize the goals their players are striving to reach and plan, change, and deliver programs and lessons to support this. Personal reflection as a coach is the foundation for any player’s success. Knowing where your values and goals lie will make communicating with your players a whole lot easier.
Most girls don’t like to be yelled at and are more inclined to feel like they failed their team and let you down as a coach when the goals they set are not going the way they hoped. Many women and girls lack that confidence to speak up to the coach and ask for that additional support. Instead, try to speak clearly and directly, offering them the advice and connection they crave. While showing passion is important, try to communicate in a way that builds confidence in your players, even when offering constructive criticism.
TIMES OF REFLECTION:
REFLECTION-IN-ACTION: Occurs during practice when a coach faces an unknown situation. Here they will bring aspects of their work to a conscious level, to reflect on the issue as it happens, and will try things out on the spot. Reflection-in-action occurs when the coach can still affect the situation.
REFLECTION-ON-ACTION: Occurs after the event, where the coach will reflect on skills or a situation, with a view to future improvement. Coaches will tend to start to reflect at the technical level, and some will gradually progress on to reflect at the practical and then the critical level.
4 STAGE MODEL – APPROACHING AN ISSUE REFLECTIVELY:
- Identification of the problem/issue to be resolved
- Determine strategies and similarities to other situations.
- Experiment with the possible solutions – talking it over with a player and apply the strategy to them.
- Evaluate the strategy – either individually or in consultation with others.
This page was written in courtesy of Coach Growth
Mitchell, J. (2013, November 29). Reflection as a coach development tool. Coach Growth. https://coachgrowth.wordpress.com/2013/07/27/reflection-as-a-coach-development-tool/
