Four main
area of preparation
A practice session
is organized so that players can learn new skills or practice other skills and
requirements. For a player to play sport well and effectively, he or she should
be trained in four main areas of preparation.
Physical preparation
or conditionings where aerobic and anaerobic workouts, strength, muscle
endurance and flexibility related to the specific sports are developed.
Technical
preparation on the learning and refining of skills.
Tactical preparation
the strategies or tactics of the sport.
- Psychological
preparation
Psychological
preparation involve psychological factors such as anxiety, motivation and
mental training, etc.
Each practice
session should focus on one or more of the 4 mentioned areas. At this level
much more emphasis would be given to the technical and physical preparation.
Besides this, each session should begin with a warm-up session and end with a
cooling down period.
Continuity in
coaching session
Each coaching
session should be organized as a result of the previous coaching session and
seen as part of a series of sessions or the whole training plan, i.e. a session
series of 6 weeks of coaching sessions should show a certain amount of
progression.
Assessment
During each session
stand back and try to assess what is going well, what is going badly and what
is needed for the next session.
Make planning
for the next session
Using what you
gather from the previous assessment, plan for your next session to ensure
continuation of learning and progress.
Spend time preparing
your session and focus your thoughts on 4 areas:
- What are the
possible areas of danger? (Safety)
- Why are groups
there? (Motivation)
- What, if anything,
will they want to learn? (Learning goals)
- How can the session
go smoothly? (Organization).
If your are coaching
a group just learning to play the sport then your first several practice
sessions will focus more on skill learning, rules of play, etc. Each session
ending in some playtime. As the session progresses practice session will lengthen. Make sure you have
appropriate equipment for the session. End a coaching session with some
playtime to utilize what the coaching session was about.
Safety
This must be
recognized first. Certain sports are so obviously dangerous that clearly defined
procedures are laid down in training and coaching. These determine how you
organize a class and plan a session. It is vital that you follow the
recommendations of the governing body for the sport. Additionally, Risk Management
and safety of the participants is a primary concern and responsibility of the
coach. Safety means being able to foresee
and remove physical dangers, hazards, obstructions, etc, and inappropriate
behaviors.
Motivation
Adjust your approach
to suit the conditions. Be flexible. If the groups are there to play a game, Then the game should be played, Stopping
the game to try to improve their skills repeatedly disrupts the flow of the game
that the players are enjoying. Your aim should be to keep participants enjoying
the game. This is accomplished by not being too controlling or militaristic as
a coach. Do drills that participants can enjoy while learning. Many skills are
transferable.
Your aim must be to
keep participants coming to the session and encourage others to come also.
Learning
Besides playing the
game, participants must learn a new skill at each session. These newly learnt
skills should be reinforced when playing the game. These goals should guide the
session. Since skill learning will form an important area of goals, the coach
should realize that teaching all skills would take a lot of time. Keep in mind the
age of the groups and their skill level. If a little imagination can be used then
structuring activity can help, for example you might shorten a soccer pitch to
encourage more players to play purposefully. You should recognize that a
considerable amount of learning goes on within game.
Organization
The spent in
planning for the session (written lesion plan) will make the problem of
controlling the group much easier. Try to keep the organization simple. Having
decided what needs to be done, thank of how to do it efficiently. On many
occasions a group will need to be broken down into sub-groups of three or four.
Think of simple games such groups could play where the skill is utilized. If
certain individuals need to be in particular ability groups, work out the
groups before the session. You can avoid a lot of trouble by thinking about the
position of the equipment while planning the session and arriving early to set
up the equipment.
Timing
One thing you can
always do is start on time. Encourage the group to arrive early and be changed
ready to start on time. Try to give equal time to all participants regardless
of ability. Finish on time and leave the facility as you found it. All
equipment must be returned or stored in its proper place.
