We had our first session of the Level 1 Coaching Course last Saturday. It went pretty well really, I thought before the start of it that the other lads on the course would have a huge advantage because they were likely to have way more experience - but as it turned out, that really didn't matter much! It's nearly an disadvantage in some ways, I'm quite happy to accept that doing things by the book is better than the way I'm doing it. One or two of the others were more inclined to say things like "Well I've been doing it like this for years and ...". At the end of the day, everyone probably does have their own adaptations to suit the techniques to themselves - but when you're teaching a newbie - it's probably best to show them the universally "right" way, and let them start playing around with it themselves. Certainly better than teaching them the quirk that works for you, even when you don't really know why!
The impression I've got after the first day is that the "secret" to being a coach is not necessarily how much you know, but how you get the information across. And the greatest weapon you have for achieving this? Preparation! If you're showing a bunch of kids the pull shot, you'd better be damn sure you know in advance how every part of the session should work (with room for flexibility if needed). There's no point starting the session, and every few minutes interrupting yourself to add a point you forgot - or having to figure out how to demonstrate the skill on the fly. All you'd be doing is undermining yourself - and getting a group of kids to listen to you is hard enough anyway.
It's also good to know that there are lots of the basics that I haven't been doing right (or at all). I'd hate to think that I have been using good technique and still can't bat - that might suggest that I'm just rubbish ;)
Also - well done to the Irish team that managed to win the Intercontinental cup for the third time in a row! They recovered from a pretty poor first innings performance to win by 9 wickets in the 2nd innings, Cusack getting a deserved man of the match award for a gutsy 95* in the first innings to get the Irish close enough to make the result an option.
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Ed keep posting this stuff as you do it, it's interesting. It's also good that you're picking up on the nuances of teaching. As a teacher/trainer you have lesson plans in place and a "Scheme of work'. The scheme of work is basic order of what you'll do each week and an outline of what you'll do in the session. The lesson plan will then have a more detailed series of aims and obectives and the sequence of the lesson including things such as how much time you'll spend on each section and how you'll approach and deal with things such as differentiation.
But the fact is for all the lesson plans and SOW's in the world there's nothing like experience. You're not likely to get it right the first few times, so the thing to do is evaluate the lesson afterwards, review what you've done and learn by your mistakes.
Let us know how you get on and what you cover and I'll post on my blog what the blokes do here with my sons each week. It's definitely interesting stuff and something my Captain has suggested I do in the past.
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