Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence

Jeff Mitchell – Community Coach Advisor – Sport Auckland / GACU

Coaching is a relationship between the coach and their players; the degree to which a coach influences their players is dependent upon the strength of that relationship. Building relationships requires the ability to relate with people, and this ability is drawn from a coach’s emotional intelligence.

In this article we will explore emotional intelligence and how it is related to effective coaching. We look at the purpose of coaching and how you can develop your emotional intelligence in order to effectively meet this purpose.

Taking charge of your coach development – Part 12

Part 12 – Evaluation

Jeff Mitchell – Community Coach Advisor – Sport Auckland / GACU

This is the twelfth article in a series of 13 on developing your coaching skills. For the full list of articles in the series see the articles page.

Evaluation is a key step in your overall development and one that is often neglected. Coach development is an on-going process; to continue your development you need to regularly revise and update your plan. Once you have completed the goals set out in the plan – or reached the specified end date for which the plan has been written – you should then evaluate the plan. Before you update your plan, it is important that you evaluate it and use this evaluation to improve on it. In this article we will examine how evaluation fits into the coach development process, why you need to evaluate your plan, and how you can do it effectively.

Motivation – It’s all in your mindset

Motivation – It’s all in your mindset

Jeff Mitchell – Community Coach Advisor – Sport Auckland / GACU

Think about a time when you felt really motivated. When you were energised and couldn’t wait to tackle a project, or to get underway with something you wanted to achieve. Maybe you were coaching a new team, or wanting to put into action something you had learnt on a course or read in an article. How did you feel? What was the impact on how you acted? How did it help you to achieve?

Motivation is a critical component for player development. To build your understanding of motivation we will look at the direction of motivation, the sources of motivation, and the two mindsets that players can have regarding their ability. Following on from this we will look at your role as coach in fostering an appropriate motivational environment.

Taking charge of your coach development – Part 11

Part 11 – Communities of Practice

Jeff Mitchell – Community Coach Advisor – Sport Auckland / GACU

This is the eleventh article in a series of 13 on developing your coaching skills. For the full list of articles in the series see the articles page.

There are a number of ways that you can develop your coaching skills by interacting with other coaches. Our previous article looked at how you can use feedback to increase your understanding of how you coach. You can also improve your coaching by having discussions with coaches and sharing the problems that you face. In this article we will look at how social learning can be used as a coach development tool, by examining the use of Communities of Practice.

Taking charge of your coach development – Part 10

Part 10 – Using feedback

Jeff Mitchell – Community Coach Advisor – Sport Auckland / GACU

This is the tenth article in a series of 13 on developing your coaching skills. For the full list of articles in the series see the articles page.

In the last issue of Taking charge of your coach development we looked at how observing other coaches can improve your own coaching. You can also learn a lot by reversing roles and having another coach provide feedback on your coaching. In this article we will look at who can provide you with feedback, how to get this feedback, and what to do with it.

Reflection as a Coach Development Tool

The following is a paper I wrote a few years ago on the use of reflection for student coaches.

Introduction

This report will outline the use of reflection as a tool for coach development, and some of the methods by which it can be used to aid a coach in their professional development. Issues regarding the use of reflection, along with benefits will be discussed, and suggestions for how reflection can be used individually and within a mentoring program will be made.

Reflection has been described as a process that helps turn experience into knowledge (Gilbert & Trudel, 2001) and involves thought and exploration of a concept or event (Gray, 2007).

Match day coaching

Match day coaching: Using an athlete-centred approach

Jeff Mitchell – Community Coach Advisor – Sport Auckland / GACU

The following is a pre-course reading for a workshop I deliver on Match Day Coaching.

Match day is all about winning, right? Not necessarily. Competition provides players with the opportunity to learn and develop, and should be an extension of their training. A truly effective coach – an athlete-centred coach – provides an environment that ensures players grow continuously, with every training session and every match. In this article we will look at what an athlete-centred coaching approach is and how you can continue to use it on match day.

Taking charge of your coach development – Part 9

Part 9 – Observing other coaches

Jeff Mitchell – Community Coach Advisor – Sport Auckland / GACU

This is the ninth article in a series of 13 on developing your coaching skills. For the full list of articles in the series see the articles page.

Watch and learn. One of the best ways of learning to coach is by seeing it in action. Our previous issue looked at how you can use video observations of your coaching to identify areas to work on. Another way to learn is through observing other coaches delivering. In this article we will look at how you can learn through both formal and informal coach observations.

Taking charge of your coach development – Part 8

Part 8 – Video observation

Jeff Mitchell – Community Coach Advisor – Sport Auckland / GACU

This is the eighth article in a series of 13 on developing your coaching skills. For the full list of articles in the series see the articles page.

In Issue 7 I discussed how mentoring provides an outside view of your coaching. Another way of gaining an alternative view of how you coach is through having your delivery videoed. Coaches often think of video observation in terms of match analysis; it can be just as effective in analysing your coaching effectiveness.

This article will look at how you can video your own delivery in order to improve your effectiveness. I will discuss why you should use video observations, how they can be used, what to do with the information you collect, and how to use it to increase your coaching effectiveness.

10 mistakes of a beginner coach – Part 2

Part 2 of 2

Jeff Mitchell – Community Coach Advisor – Sport Auckland / GACU

In Part 1 of this article I discussed five mistakes that I made in the early years of my coaching. In this second part I will discuss another five, and look at what we can learn from these about effective coaching. Mistakes are only bad if we don’t learn from them; learn from mine and be open to learning from your own.