Analysis and case studies for enhancing player learning and development

Playing for
the future

How to put an
athlete-centred
coaching approach
into practice

 

Dear Coach,

You may already know about "athlete-centred coaching". That it's about giving players autonomy for decision making.

 

Athlete-centred Coaching - Developing Decision Makers

Athlete-centred Coaching - Developing Decision Makers

About empowering them to make choices. Developing higher levels of motivation, individually and as a team. Learning how to develop solutions to enhance their performance and the performance of the team.

What it's not about is letting the players do what they want.

Nor is about being soft or weak-minded or allowing players to be undisciplined. Neither is it an easy alternative to traditonal coaching methods.

If anything, it is even more challenging than that.

  

Peter de Villiers, the South Africa coach, takes a long term view of the team. "If I'm ever so self-centred that I let a player play one game too many for the sake of winning the game, I hope I'm called to order."

One of the features of the athlete-centred coaching is to plan for longer term objectives – and even if this means accepting short term set backs.

Developed in Australia in the mid nineties specifically for coaching, Game Sense has made a significant impact upon coaching at a variety of levels in Australia and New Zealand. Wayne Smith, the All Blacks coach, is a known advocate of using games in training.
 

Athlete-centred coaching encompasses ideas such as Game Sense, Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU), and long term athlete development, as well as concepts like emotional intelligence and player empowerment.

But as Athlete-centred Coaching – Developing Decision Makers demonstrates, this coaching approach is not just for the best players and international teams.

 

By Lynn Kidman and Bennett J. Lombardo, leading authorities on the subject, Athlete-centred Coaching – Developing Decision Makers looks at ways you can increase your players' ability to retain the important skills and ideas.

With case studies throughout, it shows that coaches who use an athlete-centred approach inspire their players. They both enable a focus on decision making in competitive matches and build a strong team culture.

Developing the material for the book involved interviewing and observing a number of coaches, across a range of sports and backgrounds.

All the coaches believe in sharing power with their athletes, enabling them to be effective decision makers through focusing on their motivation to participate to the best of their ability.

Athlete-centred Coaching - Developing Decision Makers

  

Featured contributors

Rick Humm - Led USA Rugby's coach development programmes for 10 years.

Mike Ruddock - Former Director of Rugby for the Worcester Warriors and Six Nations Grand Slam winning coach of Wales.

Lyn Gunson - Former coach of England and New Zealand netball teams.

Matt Powell - Scrum half with over 100 appearances in the English Premier league.

Greg Chappell - Australian cricket legend and head coach at the Centre of Excellence, Australia.

Click here to read more about the authors and editors.

So, what's included in the book?

Across its 14 chapters, Athlete-centred Coaching – Developing Decision Makers, covers the spectrum of coaching experience on the subject.

Chapter One – Being Athlete-centred: the Humanistic Coach

This chapter defines proven, innovative and successful athlete-centred, humanistic approaches to coaching. Provides a brief synopsis of current coaching practices.
It discusses athlete development, the educational intent of sport and the influence of adult-structured sports on athletes. Compares athlete-centred approaches with coach-centred approaches and discusses why coaches should consider using the former. Questioning, Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) and team culture are  

Developing the game to meet learning outcomes is the key to planning and designing games.
introduced as aspects to enable athletes to own and take responsibility for their learning. Discusses how to develop athlete-centred philosophies. Case studies of coaches wanting to develop athletes, not just "jocks".

Chapter Two – A Critical Analysis of an Athlete-centred Approach

This chapter presents a critical analysis of the athlete-centred approach. Issues
and possible problems are examined with the aim of presenting an objective,

Athletes are often the most vocal critics of athlete-centred coaches. This can be a major obstacle.
  balanced view. The intention is to alert readers to the possible roadblocks and negativity that may arise in relation to
an athlete-centred approach, and to encourage them to persist in their efforts
to transform the sport experience.
In addition, the chapter provides
convincing arguments for the viability of this approach to sport leadership.

Chapter Three – Mike Ruddock, former international rugby coach

This chapter encapsulates Mike Ruddock's coaching wisdom drawn from his many
different experiences. Mike coached the Worcester Warriors rugby team for three years until 2010. In 1995, he coached the Welsh rugby team to its first Six Nations Grand Slam title for 27 years. The
athlete-centred approach is a notable
feature of Mike's coaching approach, in 		 

I like to promote a
thinking team, a positive team that gets involved in key decisions.
which he focuses on enhancing the decision-making abilities of his players.

Chapter Four – Lyn Gunson, former international netball coach

This chapter provides insight into many aspects of coaching as a complex, multi-

Over long campaigns, teams operate as communities, allowing them the freedom to develop and grow.
  dimensional role. It focuses on Lyn Gunson. As a former coach of both New Zealand and England national netball teams, Lyn has a wealth of experience and knowledge to share. She believes that a group within a sports team is a community and develops a team culture based on the notion of community.

Chapter Five – Matt Powell: Rugby Player, Turned Coach

This chapter provides some analysis from the players' perspective. Matt Powell
has over 100 appearances in the English Premier league. Now a coach, Mike shares his reflections of playing under a variety of coaches and training methods, his initial experiences as a coach with the Worcester Warriors, and of balancing player input
into the team with the practicalities of
rugby coaching.		  

You would walk on the training pitch and Phil Larder would make everyone spark straight away.

Athlete-centred Coaching - Developing Decision Makers

Chapter Six – Team Culture

By Gareth Jones, Principal Lecturer in the Institute of Sport and Exercise

For a quality team culture
it is vital that the players feel ownership of the team.
 

Science, University of Worcester. This chapter offers an understanding of the importance of team culture and how it can ensure athletes work together towards a common goal. Gareth's seven steps to success introduce some key factors in the process of establishing a quality team culture.

Chapter Seven – Play and Children

By Paul Cooper, grassroots football coach and cofounder of the children's
football initiative Give Us Back Our Game. Paul's analysis directs the reader to
the game approach, which can encourage exploration, decision-making and self-discovery. He makes a case for an athlete-centred approach as an extension of the exploratory play paradigm and concludes
that the games approach can nurture a
more holistic and well-rounded approach
to children's sport.		  

We need to stop imposing our will on children and instead give them the opportunity to just play and have fun.

Chapter Eight – A Constraints-led Approach to Talent Development

By Ian Renshaw, Senior Lecturer in the School of Human Movement Studies at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, and a skill acquisition consultant

As [legendary cricketer Don] Bradman said, tell them what you want them to do, not how to do it and let them work it out for themselves. I believe very strongly that that’s the most efficient way to do it.
  at Cricket Australia, and Greg Chappell, Australia cricket legend and head coach at the Centre of Excellence, Australia. This chapter features an innovative approach to skill acquisition. The constraints-led approach highlights the complex interplay of skill learning. To develop skilful athletes require self-organisaiton using constraints as an aid. The approach also underpins TGfU, which facilitates an athlete's learning process by providing realistic sport situations in which to develop decision makers.

Chapter Nine – The Challenges of Change

By Christian Edwards, Lecturer in Sports Coaching Science, University of Worcester. Christian follows young basketball coach Guy Evans for a season
while he learned more about leadership and athlete-centred coaching. Together Christian and Guy highlight many of the challenges that face coaches who try to adopt an athlete-centred approach with a group that has been socially constructed by the traditional, autocratic sporting environment. Christian's action research project provides some critique and insight while reflecting on Guy's coaching and efforts to change.  

My philosophy is to achieve our goals by any means possible. I have to do everything in my power to get the team to where they need to go.

Athlete-centred Coaching - Developing Decision Makers

Chapter Ten – Mark Norton, high school volleyball coach

This chapter presents an action research project involving a case study of
the Riccarton High School Senior Boys' Volleyball team, as coached by

I want to create a positive, enjoyable and meaningful experience for the kids to be involved in.
  Mark Norton. Mark focused on creating
a quality team culture for the season in
2003–04, accompanied by co-editor Lynn
acting as a player manager. The chapter
recalls the story of the season and how
focusing on team culture helped the team
to meet its goals.

Chapter Eleven – Don Tricker, former international softball coach

Don Tricker discusses coaching with the Black Sox, the New Zealand national men's softball team. Don is a legend for aiding the Black Sox to become
three-peat world champions in men's
softball. As an in-depth analyser of people and sport, he offers great insight for coaches to gain an understanding of how to be
athlete-centred. The chapter demonstrates how coaches need to be open to change
and how the individuals in the team make
the team work. Drawing from his business 		 

The athletes were the principal architects of our defensive patterns. The Black Sox culture encourages creativity.
background, Don uses many analogies to demonstrate how people influence an organisation or team.

Chapter Twelve – How's Your Coaching?

By Rick Humm, who led USA Rugby's coach development programmes for
10 years. Rick analyses many aspects of coaching not usually emphasized in

A system of clear standards of performance that players have participated in establishing is liberating for players and for coaches.
 

coach education programmes. Namely, emotional intelligence, self-awareness,
self-management and self-reflection for coaches. Coming from a strong,
traditional, directive coaching society like
the USA, he encourages coaches to think about how they might change to suit the needs of the athletes. Using the athlete-centred, humanistic coaching approach,
he challenges coaches to consider the more humanistic side to the development
of both the athletes and themselves as coaches.

Chapter Thirteen – Asking Meaningful Questions

One of the key components of an athlete-centred approach, including the
strategy of Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU), is that coaches ask questions that encourage athletes to be
self-aware and learn about tactics and skills. This chapter gives practical guidelines for planning and asking meaningful questions. 		 

It takes plenty of practice to use meaningful questions in a purposeful way.

Chapter Fourteen – The Future (Quo Vadis): Where Do We Go from Here?

This chapter summarises the key ideas discussed in the book for coaches who are interested in putting an athlete-centred approach into practice. Team culture is

Those who endeavour to be a thinking, proactive coach, and who take advantages of opportunities to improve their athletes’ performance, enjoyment and lifestyle, will be the most successful.
  further discussed in relation to how coaches can explicitly work on establishing a great team environment. Part of implementation
is self-reflective analysis, a tool that coaches can use to monitor their ongoing coaching. The purpose of the chapter, building on
the momentum of the chapters before it,
is to encourage coaches to start to use an athlete-centred approach, reflect on how
they use it and continue to improve. At the
end of this chapter, considerations for the future of athletes and coaching are posed for further reflection.

Athlete-centred Coaching - Developing Decision Makers

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I don't often recommend other people's books, but I sincerely believe that reading Athlete-centred Coaching – Developing Decision Makers will improve you as a coach, and enhance your players in the long run.

I urge you to buy a copy today.

Yours in rugby,

Dan Cottrell, Editor of Better Rugby Coaching

Dan Cottrell,
Editor, Better Rugby Coaching

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