Erin Brothwell

Week Five – Management

April 10, 2013 by Erin Brothwell

On reflection of this weeks session I have learnt that time management is key when you are teaching circuit training. Estimating how long each station will take to complete can be difficult when you don’t know the group you are coaching very well. After the session, I recognized that if you don’t judge the sessions efficiently enough when you plan the work it can be easy for the lesson to finish with half an hour to spare. This situation forced me to reflect in action as I had to think of what could be done to fill the time. This scenario taught me that if there is any time left after the session you planned is over, it is effective to progress the lesson further and challenge the participants more. Additionally, it is valuable to have more time to recap the learning outcomes to evaluate what has been learnt and achieved so far. This is something I learnt in action to apply more to my lessons half way through instead of at the end. This gives more time to achieve the outcomes set. I also learnt what and how I can improve in future coaching sessions in relation to time keeping.

An example of how I would like to improve for future sessions would be to firstly, set out realistic times for each task in the lesson plan. Secondly, sticking to these time scales would prevent any reason for having time to spare at the end of running out of time. Overall, better time management would have avoided the situation in this weeks session which is what I will focus on during the following sessions.

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Week Four – Differentiation

April 9, 2013 by Erin Brothwell

The fourth week of coaching athletics proved to be quite challenging, as the children were in an out of school environment and as I had very limited knowledge in coaching sprint it was hard to formulate ideas for the session plans. However, after reflecting and studying different ideas and techniques I was able to incorporate ideas from previous coaching experiences which were still beneficial to the children.

In reflection I noticed that three of the boys in the group were more advanced in comparison to the rest of the group and there were also a small number of students that struggled to complete the task set. This could be due to the age range as the lower ability students were younger, this meant that during the session I decided to set different tasks to suit every participant’s needs. On reflection, Catering for everybody’s needs was challenging, especially when I had to adapt the session, thinking fast on my feet. Once I had done this and set different activities for different groups, the session proved to be more successful. I found this out by using questioning to evaluate the session.

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Reflection Week Three – Communication

April 9, 2013 by Erin Brothwell

By the third week I could see from reflecting on my actions that I needed to focus on how I communicate with the students as some of them are close in age to me and I can be slightly under confident at times. For example, there are times when I struggle to manage negative behavior or how to handle situations with a participant who has an eating disorder. Therefore, I studied positive behavior management strategies using literature and lectures and seminars to incorporate into this weeks session.

Reflecting in action this week forced me to improve my communication skills when coaching, as at the beginning of the session the children didn’t listen to the instructions properly and spoke over me frequently when I was delivering the instructions and demonstrations. Consequently, I decided to employ a rule using an antecedent approach to try and prevent this behavior from occurring each session I taught. So, in the event of anyone not paying proper attention they would undertake a series of intensive drills, independently with the other coach, for the remainder of the lesson. The reason I decided to apply this rule was because reflecting on action has taught myself that the participants dislike training on their own as opposed to in pairs. Additionally, the research I did in lectures informed me that unpleasant consequences develop, maintain and increase positive behavior and to make this technique effective the consequences must be consistent.

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Reflection Week Two – Organisation

April 4, 2013 by Erin Brothwell

How fast reaction timing can make a difference
In reflection it was apparent that the more fun the children were having, the more they learned and engaged in what I was teaching. Therefore, during the session I adapted it to include fun elements, where the children forgot they were learning and actually took more from the session. This week I focused on skills and technique asking the children to concentrate on their posture, correct arm and leg technique and light feet. This was decided on reflection of the previous weeks training session where the coach advised that the children often forget the correct technique when they compete also, when they do competitive practice.

The drill for this session involved the athletes starting in a range of unfamiliar positions such as being laid down on the ground or sat crossed legged on the start line facing the wrong way. They would then react as quickly as they could to the whistle, adjusting their posture and using the correct arm and leg technique along with using quick light feet while sprinting the 100m using 60% of their maximum capacity. If the children failed to use any of this technique they would revert back to the start line and try again. This tested and displayed how good the children’s reaction time was, this helped to advise me about what we would do in the following session. My thoughts were if they react quickly and adjust themselves from an unusual position using the correct technique during the 100m sprint they will use the correct technique quicker in a competitive situation which could reduce their personal best (PB).

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Week One – Management

November 25, 2012 by Erin Brothwell

For my first session I wanted to test the children and push them to their limits so I could then design the following weeks sessions with their individual needs in mind linked with their ability. To get the participants warmed up as they train outdoors I asked them to do two laps of the track at a jogging pace, using the outside lanes for safety purposes. On completion of this task, the children were divided into groups of four and they performed drills specific to enhancing technique. For example, for thirty meters, legs at a ninety degree angle running with high knees and quick feet which helps them to run on the balls of their feet lightly.

correct technique – 90 degree arms and legs

For the main activity I focused on endurance as this would test their ability and because endurance training can develop the mechanics for sprinting. Most would agree that to train hard and progress you need to be physically fit. The children completed the four times four hundred meters and I quickly identified who had high quality fitness, who needed more training to get to the same standard and the participants that are not physically fit. This instantly provided me with substance to make the following sessions diverse and specific to the athletes fitness capabilities.

Following this I did a cool down session as the exercise they had done was at high intensity. I asked the group to stand in a circular shape so that I could clearly see the children, with it being close to the end of the session that is when they are most likely to loose motivation. I demonstrated a range of stretches starting from the ankles and working upwards to stretch all the muscles they had used thoroughly.

Reflecting in action for this week, I felt that the session needed to have an element of fun to get the children more motivated. I also thought this would help to build a relationship with myself and the participants. Employing elements of fun and using games to coach can be quite challenging when training athletes to sprint, however, I decided for the following weeks it is what the children need to be able to learn the correct technique.

When reflecting on action I feel that the children respond well to positive feedback and encouragement which is what shall be employed within the following sessions. I also believe that using equipment that the children haven’t experienced using would help to motivate the athletes and well as helping them pick up the technique. For example, using mini hurdles to help show a ninety degree angle using their arms and legs will help them when they actually run. To help the children concentrate more when they are training I also would like to divide the group into ability set activities so that each individual is pushed and/or not challenged enough.

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Week Five – Management

Week Four – Differentiation

Reflection Week Three – Communication

Reflection Week Two – Organisation

Week One – Management