Coach Challenge Cards
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Much of our work and resources is aimed at our players. But how often do we challenge ourselves as coaches? Below, we have some coach challenge cards for you to try. It will limit and condition you in ways that we do to our players. Some will be much easier than others, but all are designed with the idea of challenging us in some areas that perhaps we didn't even realise we need to work on. Do you talk to much? Do your explanations lack detail?
Much of the learning will take place before the session, in the planning phase. "I can only talk for twenty seconds, so what am I going to say, and how am I going to say it?" Time after the session will allow for much reflection, seeing what did and didn't work, and how you may incorporate what you have learned about yourself and your coaching going forward.
Not all of the coach challenges are useful. Some are meant to restrict in ways which are unhelpful, with the idea being that it holds up a mirror to have a look at yourself. If you have been constrained in this way, how do you act now? Perhaps there has been one area of coaching that you always lean on, and therefore, you have neglected others. Coaches need to be generalists, meaning we need a decent grasp of coaching in lots of different areas. That's why we say we wear many hats, or we talk about what we have in our coach's toolbox.
Shut Up - You can't say anything all session. How does that change how you great your players? You will likely need to rely on lots of diagrams, demonstrations, and the use of very simple games and exercises. Perhaps much of what you plan to do could be written down and beautifully illustrated on a board. What will you do when you need to make coaching interventions? The players won't be able to hear you. Will you establish some kind of signal? Or maybe gain the attention of one player who stops the group? Now that you need to coach, how will you convey information?
Three Strikes - One of the easiest and most effective tools in the toolbox is the STOP STAND STILL intervention method. Whether it be a blast on the whistle, or calling freeze, now you can only use three of them. Think that's too easy? Go for zero if you can.
The Chosen One - For this session, you cannot relay any coaching information yourself. You can describe or explain an exercise, but you cannot coach. When you want to make points to a player or a group, you have to use your chosen one to pass on your points to the others.
What's Happening? - How will you solve this one? What will you do if you can only ask questions all session? How will it impact your delivery method if you can't make a statement? How long do you think you can keep this up for?
20 Seconds - As coaches, we're all prone to waffle. Get a stopwatch. Hand it to a player or another coach if you like. When making a point or explaining a game, you have to get in and get out. You have twenty seconds to say what you want to say. Can you get to the point in time?
Demos - Maybe you're used to one or two. Now you need to demonstrate everything. Explaining an exercise? Demo it. Asking a player to do something? Demo it. Trying to make a point to a player or a group? Demo it.
One to One - You've suddenly become very shy, and now struggle with talking in public. For this session, you can only speak to one player at a time. If you want to make a point to the group, how will you convey that information? How will you get the message out there to everyone quickly and effectively?
Cones - Keep a stack of cones handy at the side of the pitch, or even a couple in your hands. Use the cones as players to paint pictures on the ground of the scenarios the players are facing. This interactive bird's eye view method is how you will make all your coaching points.
Show Me - Do your players really understand what you just said? Are they just nodding their heads because they want to get on with it? When you explain a game or make a coaching point, the players have to run through a quick demonstration to show that the information sunk in.
Names - You have forgotten all their names. How are you going to communicate with them?
In The Game - Lucky you. You get to roll back the years and relive your playing days. Design the session as normal, with exercises, progressions, games etc. But now, you're a player too. Maybe you'll give advice to your teammates, but you won't be coaching them.
Camels - You will run a continuous session with no breaks. If players get thirsty, they are allowed to run out of the session to get a drink, but you will not stop the session specifically for that, nor will you encourage them to drink. Can you design a session that runs smoothly with no breaks? How will the exercises work if players occasionally run out, changing the overload?
Not Much to Say - For the movie Terminator 2, Arnold Schwarzenegger only spoke seven hundred words during the entire movie. His salary meant he earned $21,429 per word, making it the most an actor has even been paid per word in a movie. He was a man of few words, but clearly those words were worth a lot. For this session, your few words will be worth a lot too. Limit what you need to say to ten words at a time, and spit it out quickly so the players can get playing.
Catch 'em All! - How often do we acknowledge every single player within a session? Sometimes it can be hard to give everyone a piece of feedback, especially if their role isn't the main focus of the topic. Make it a priority to get around to every player in attendance, giving them each a piece of unique feedback.
Why? Why? Why? - Every time you make a point, you have to ask the players why. Why? Because you want to check for understanding. Why? Because you need to see if the idea has sunk into their brains. Why? Because it gets them thinking. Do this three times for each point, perhaps picking on different players each time, not allowing players on the periphery to zone out of discussions.
Balls - Keep two footballs close by during the session, even keeping them on your person. This allows you to feed a ball back into the exercise immediately to keep momentum flowing. To save yourself from having to retrieve balls, make it so that the player who kicked it out must fetch it while the others continue to play, bringing the ball back to you.
Smile - Everything has to be positive. Genuinely positive. Not just praise in a sarcastic voice. If it is something negative, do not say it during this session. This should be very challenging for the coaches who see themselves as Deficit Detectives.
I'm Listening - Did you think you made a good point? What about your players? Perhaps they thought it was all waffle and nonsense. Do you think you're always helpful, kind, and informative? What's the reality of that? Record your monologue via a microphone, listen to it when you have the time, and give yourself genuine feedback. Not all of it has to be negative. If you think you did a good job, that's great. At least now you have proof.
Going Pro - Can you attach a camera to yourself, like a GoPro? Maybe to your head or your chest? It will allow you to relive the session after looking through your own eyes again. What did you see? What did you say? Was it useful? Did the point you made actually help the picture that preceded it?
Star of the Show - Now it is time for one of your players to wear a camera. This will allow you to experience the session through the eyes and ears of the players. Perhaps you don't make as much eye contact as you thought, or maybe your body language doesn't match the message you feel you are conveying.
Opposites - How will you cope if the players have to do the opposite of what you tell them? How will this impact your coaching points and instructions?
Coach is Dead! - The mark of a good session design is that the coach could die and the players would be able to continue without any coach input. Now we get to test that. Coach has died on the way to practice, but the players have still been given a session plan, with exercises and coaching points. They will commemorate Coach by following the plan and giving it their best shot. How will you plan the session knowing that the players will be reading it and administering it themselves?
Players in Charge - The dog ate your session plan, and now the players have taken over. What do they want to work on? What games and exercises do they want to play? Do they want to have fun and be silly, or will they make more serious and constructive choices?
Da Vinci - A budding artist like yourself can't help but draw every point you need to make. Perhaps you have a board at the side of the session, or maybe a notepad in your pocket. You can't just tell them what to do, you have to illustrate to them the ideas and techniques.
Maybe we rely on the same sessions too much. Maybe familiarity is a good thing as the exercises require less explanation to the players. The lower down the football pyramid we go, the less predictable our sessions become. Harry Kane's mum never texts Jose Mourinho at five minutes before training starts to tell him that Harry can't make it tonight due to having too much homework. We have to get good at thinking on our feet. Have you ever turned up to a session and had less equipment or space than you were expecting? Give the session design challenger a go and see what you can come up with. There are some easy, but also some very difficult combinations in there. It's a great resource for a coach education session.
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