Positive coaching through bias umpiring

LJMU 1st Vs UCLan 1st

This video, if you skip through the 4 quarters show how bias a home team can be, even if they don’t want to be. This is clearly demonstrated throughout this game with Liverpool John Moores at home to UCLan 1st team. We can clearly see who has better skill (not being bias myself because it is our home team) but because you can see that skill. Whereas John Moores just throw the ball in to Eleanor Cardwell pretty much every time. Great skill? Maybe, just not great to watch as a supporter.

Anywho, back onto the subject matter of coaching through bias umpiring. Some would say athletes only believe that the home team are bias because of that home team advantage (fans and background). Most of the time, home teams do get their umpires, referees and/or officials themselves, either from being previous students or a love of the club or game. In university cases, once you have your officials, they automatically become bias because of contributing factors such as fans, or the love for the university. As a coach it is your job to keep your team stable and confident when going to away games and during those away games to enable your team to get the best potential out of these situations.

Never go to a game thinking that the home team advantage is going to occur, because not all university officials are bias, only the majority. This could play great for yourself if you go into a game believing in your own team and their abilities, again the coach would play a vital role with this by initially talking and encouraging your team to stick to their own game plan and go ahead and get a fanatic away win.

“The atmosphere created by the home team fans is thought to be the major contributing factor, but the extent of this influence is dependent on the referee” (Poolton, Siu & Masters. 2011)

This statement in itself could explain many situations of home team advantage or bias, some officials will be able to cope with home fans and not change their mind, but others unfortunately are greatly affected by this and do start to become maybe even a little bias, if not sometimes a lot.

The best way to deal with this as a coach? Play your own game, play through the bias. As they say “Smile and wave” use this as part of your game (even the coach can do this), if your players do seem to be getting pulled up a lot by an official, allow your players to let them know that they’re sorry and give them ideas as what they can try to do different next time. If you notice that a particular player is being pulled a lot for something they may or may not be doing, either get them to call time and take them off for a while or give them more ideas on how to change the game to how they want to play it.

LJMU 1st Vs Durham 1st

As you can see through this picture, the GK is clearly contacting the GS, right? Well in this case, obviously because of home team bias, the GS gets called up for a contact upon the GK. In my eyes, terrible decisions but what can you do? Easy, same as above, you carry on coaching like the professional coach you are and you ignore the home team bias advantages, encourage your team to play their own game and hopefully win!

Yes, I know! Easier said than done, but to keep your team calm and collected that’s what you have to do as a coach yourself. If your coach gets annoyed and starts shouting etc, what do you think your players are going to do? Exactly, follow their coach and shout and get annoyed too.

Value of, Issues, and Developments within Sports Coaching

“The roles of sports coaches, at all level of the vocational continuum, have expanded beyond the mere preparation of athletes for competition into managerial, administrative, and organisational duties that are all underpinned by a coach’s ability to develop and manage interpersonal relationships” (Sports Coach UK).

To be able to prepare coaches for this huge change in the role that coaches play within the sporting environment, coach education programmes have begun to develop and learn coaches both formal and informal approaches. This work has begun so that coaches are better equipped when it comes to sensitive situations, building their understanding on both practical and theoretical knowledge. This includes reflective practice which is now beginning to become more important throughout each coaching environment. Reflective practice is known to support coaching methods, which ever method that you use. “Indeed, Knowles, Gilbourne, Borrie, and Neville (2001) were one of the first theorists to suggest that through reflecting on how individual athletes develop and learn, coaches could identify the prime way to coach this particular athlete, however, Cushion and colleagues (2010) suggest that while these approaches are becoming more widely recognised, coaches have yet to learn everything about the formula and the correct way to implement this formula into practice so that athletes get the best out of this.

Have coaches started to use reflective practice because they know exactly what it is about? Or are they just using it because other coaches say that this is the way forward? I don’t think we know fully whether either question is true, not now and probably not ever.

Reflective practice means different things to different people, as there are 2 different types of reflective practice, reflecting in action and reflecting on action. Both reflective practices are very different as they both involve a different way of reflecting, reflecting in action involves reflecting whilst doing something, whereas reflecting on action, is reflective practice used after something as been done. Whilst the both seem similar that they both have to reflect, reflecting in action means that you have to reflect on the spot and you do not have time to think about what you have actually done and whether it worked or not. Reflecting on action is known to guide better reflective practice as you can use tools and resources to enahnce your reflection and you can also look back at what you have done and have time to think about how people reacted in a coaching scenario or what grade you got within a assignment. “Schön, D.A.1987).

Personally, I like the fact that people can reflect in action as it provides significant changes to what you are doing. Take a coaching situation as an example, if you are coaching and you are able to reflect on how your session is going whilst you are mid-flow, if it is going wrong, you can recognise this and make changes immediately, if you are not able to reflect in action, this makes your decision making different and most of the time if your session is going wrong and you don’t see it, this could lead to players leaving and them maybe telling other people not to go because of how that particular session went.

Critical Discussion

This assessment was very long winded but gave me a great sense of what could come in the future. It helped to see that I need to choose people who will actually make an effort in my group to get a good grade, as you cold probably see by the video, it was not organised well and not all participants got involved like they should. All of the references used were mine and another persons which the other two members had to use because they had none on the day, although we told them many of times to get some if they weren’t going to meet with us. This stopped me and the other member exploring all the areas that we wanted to with definite references to back up our own experiences and thoughts. This assignment could have been a lot better with the right members but I will now know this if there is a next time. Personally for myself, I feel as though I have lost a lot of percentage through helping other members which I now know not to do in the future and let them fail themselves.

A lot of this assignment could have been done differently to ensure that we all made the right effort, and next time I will be able to say no to giving away my own ideas to others because I know the consequences effect me and not the other members of the group. I do feel disappointed and this is why my blogs will be a lot better and I am going to focus on these to give myself a better chance of a higher grade overall for this module.

Even though it seems I am blaming other members, I am not. The grade I received is through my own faults and not being more motivated and strong-willed to make sure that I did receive the grade that I wanted. Next time if I did get the chance to do another assignment like this, I would make certain that a better grade will occur and not to help other people like I did this time. I believe that I can do a lot better in not just this assignment but also in others and this would be the case if I did put my mind to it and greater my own self-belief.

Performance V Development

Focusing too much on the result of your sport can inhibit your development because focusing too much on results will directly prevent your athletes from learning maybe even the basics of the sport that you are playing. Even though they might be winning, when they begin to play other teams that have developed and maybe not won from a young age, they will be able to play a better game so they will more than likely be the winners. This is what I believe would happen fro my own experience of playing, coaching and umpiring netball, I have been able to see the difference between teams that are all about winning and teams that are about developing. For me, at a young age it does not matter whether you win or lose, it matters whether your child/children are enjoying themselves and the sport that they are taking part in. Although it cannot be specifically defined whether development is more important than results, Gibson (1993), gives us the opinion that during previous studies that have addressed the values of sport, they have not directly dealt with the ethics of valuing performance over triumph. Different theorist have given their opinion on this but have not gone into depth about facts and what is true and what isn’t. Thus, giving everybody their space to conduct their own theory and opinion on this subject given.

At grassroots level, I believe that focusing more on developing your athletes is more important than winning, as they are learning themselves their own movements and how to use their body in different ways which therefore provides them with developments. If, as a coach, you focus on winning at grassroots level, you are less likely to see that development in your athletes which could lead into athletes dropping out of that sports and/or all sports together because they will have the idea that all sports will only focus on winning and that might not be what they want out of sports, they want to play sports to make friends and have fun. So this could lead into other aspects of their lives being effected including their social life.

Don’t get me wrong with my opinion on results are not important, because sometimes they can be more important than development, this opinion for me varies from child to child as some children will have intrinsic motivation and some will have extrinsic motivations, results of a sport can enhance the child’s performance through motivation. This would be because they are winning games, which will make them want to carry on playing as well as winning, giving them the motivation to develop through that motivation. Athletes will start to understand that development comes along side with winning.

Performance V Development

Performance V Development? What is performance? What is development? Do we need both in our lives or can we have one without the other? Do they go hand in hand and what do we know about performance V development? These are the questions that will be answered throughout this blog.

Performing proper exercises and learning proper technique for running, jumping, changing direction, developing strength, and preventing injuries is one definition of sports performance (Cothern, 2010). Performance is an example of presenting a form of entertainment which could include plays, concerts, or sports games. Now lets compare this to what development is defined as, development is more “focused on management transcends through sport with its emphasis on social objectives” and is “growing in interest in academic, professional and policy circles worldwide” (Girginov, 2009).

Both sports performance and development have significant benefits from one another, this includes how they need to use each other for this sports development continuum, if one was not used to develop the sports development continuum, how can we see performance enhance through out the years. This also works the other way around, if we did not perform in sport, how can we expect to develop to the elite athlete that most of sports students or athletes want to become. How the two elements effect each other can combine a strong force or can make you being tedious, meaning some athletes may find the sport can be long-winded or boring. If an athlete is made to do a sport from a young age they are more likely to become uninterested quicker, which in return results in less performance athletes higher up the scale, which decreases the amount of elite athletes prepared to go for that sport role. Less athletes being prepared to go into a role of elite athlete would result in less choice of great performers, so this could consequently end with that particular sport not being as good as they could have been. Therefore, possibly ending with less money for the next year to develop other athletes, concluding less athletes again for that sport and it will begin a vicious circle that may not ever break. This then making sport less and less competitive for athletes who are trying to make it to be elite.

There are certain variables that can change through biological development which can impact on your performance from being a child into adolescence. These changes can be from genes and hormones to neurological and muscular adaptations which consequently will have a direct impact upon the development of specific components, Sports Coach UK (2010). If these changes impact you from a young age, you can be left out and not get the training that you need, which is less development for grass roots leading into less performance when they grow into adolescence. While other athletes are able to get the training or professional coaching that they probably don’t need, other participants are falling more behind because they are not ‘entitled’ to this coaching as they are not seen as ‘talented’ which puts them down so they think they they are not good enough for that coaching or training, again making them drop out of sports all together. Them participants dropping out of sports all together could be our future elite athletes if they had the same opportunities as other children they may develop more but because they do not have this chance to develop, they cannot show their full potential.

Critical Discussion

Needs of a performer

This poster was created during one of our sessions to try and evaluate the needs of a specific performer. As a group we decided to use an athlete and we tried to understand the needs and athlete needs to be a successful performer, here are our answers that we could think of at the time. Looking back we could have thought of a lot more because of the knowledge we had in the group with on of them being an athlete, but we did not take full advantage of that person being there.

Looking at all four features within this poster, as a coach, I believe that these four corners are crucial to be able to develop an athlete in a way which works for not only yourself as a coach but more for the athlete and their needs. Keeping track of your athletes development, through physical needs can be monitored through food diets, and fitness testing, to see how that athlete improves whilst under your coaching. I believe that your coaching method is pivotal to intensify your athlete, know matter what the sport may be.

Facilitator V Coach

After a lot of research on what other theorist believe that both roles require, it has come to my attention that facilitators and coaches are very similar in both what they want to achieve from participants and also how they go about doing so. This blog post is going to look in depth into establishing the relationship a facilitator and coach maintain. Facilitation as it’s normally understood, refers to managing and maintaining a group process whereas coaching focuses on helping individuals get into immediate action, while addressing barriers and support they may need to get moving quickly (Davis, 2014). As you can see by Davis definition of both subject matters appear to have similar characteristics although largely disparate.

Hawkins & Smith (2006) identify three important functions of coaching supervision, which are:

1. Qualitative: Ensuring quality and ethical practice are maintained.

2. Developmental: Providing a mentoring/educative aspect to the work together.

3. Resourcing: Taking an appreciative approach to celebrating and building on strengths, renewing energy

Taking Hawkins & Smith’s hypothesis into consideration, you can also link these 3 functions into account, the work that a facilitator does, manages to require these these important functions.

Cavill (2014) identifies how a facilitator can use these 3 functions for there own convenience by concluding that;

• Qualitative – the advanced facilitator acts as a guardian of the programme of learning and has a role in ensuring that the quality of experience for participants is maintained and enhanced through facilitation.
• Developmental – the advanced facilitator takes a mentoring role and helps promote the development of the less experienced facilitator, taking an educative approach to co-facilitation.
• Resourcing – the advanced facilitator is able to take an appreciative approach to the growing skills of the new or less experienced facilitator and help them build on their strengths in order to develop new skills and enhance performance.

Both theorist have informed us that not only are a facilitator and coach very similar in what skills they use but they are also similar in how they mentor participants, by using an educative approach to scenarios. This approach then allows the facilitator and coach to be able to grow their skills and resources by building on them and developing themselves to augment their own coaching style or facilitator role. Most people assume that a facilitator is exactly the same as a coach but they are heterogeneous. A coach is somebody who gives instructions and directions to either an individual or team, which could also lead them to be a teacher in some core aspects of what they do. These little characteristics make them a lot different to a facilitator as a facilitator does not need these attribute to do their job. A facilitators main traits are that they become a guide rather than a teacher, or a discussion leader rather than an active leader. Being a discussion leader rather than an active leader gives them the power to assign other workers or employees to do certain jobs. This is the main way in which a coach and facilitator differ although, still to this day many argue that both the role of a coach and the role of a facilitator are not different at all.

Reflective Coach Session Interview 2

This second interview was also made by another Sports Coaching student, they both gave similar views on what they found was good about our sessions and what we could improve on.

This Student was able to involve the aspect of working with children, that these games would work and be fun for them, which for me gave me great encouragement as I want to work with children when I graduate. Knowing that I was able to plan for children has given me a massive confidence boost in my own abilities. I feel as though I had improved in my self confidence, as I had been on a few coaching courses and been able to work in a few different schools as a volunteer, which has given me great self-belief. Deborah L. Feltz, Sandra E. Short, Philip Joseph Sulliva (2008) states that having the opportunity to go on courses and gaining knowledge. As I have been able to do a few different level 1 courses for a variety of sports, I have been given the opportunity to plan sessions for children and I had not known the that I had improved until this session, because this student did not know that we had planned this session for children and in this interview, he gave us compliments on how well this would work for chidlren.

Reflective Coach Session Interview 1

This first interview was made by another Sports Coaching student. He was able to give us information from a non-bias perspective to help us to better ourselves for another session, if we were to do one together.

Throughout this interview the student being interviewed gives his opinion on what he would do differently, giving us ideas on how we can all improve our thinking and planning. McQuade, S (2003) states that planning is important with the growth and goals set by the club/organisations, having successful planning can encourage detailed sessions, reassess goals, help with future planning of goals and monitor success or improvement. Effective planning gives a coach a greater sense of knowing exactly what they are doing, knowing exactly what you are doing in a coaching session is vital to enhance sports performers giving them the best opportunities possible for their chosen sport.