Coaching the Person in Front of You
Create a connection with the people you coach to ensure that they feel valued, wanted and more than a number."
UK Coaching
Coaching the person in front of you can help create environments where diversity can thrive.
Applying the three considerations for each participant when you coach ensures that you meet them where they are at during each and every coaching session.
- Know who they are as a person before who they are as a participant or performer.
- Understand stages of development and how this influences an individual.
- Coach the person, not the sport.
Know who they are
Functional ability: Looking at what a person can do. How do they move? What ability level are they? Do they have an impairment? When does a participant’s menstrual cycle have an impact on training? How does a participant prefer to communicate, and do you need to adapt your own styles? What is their experience of the physical activity/sport? Are they a confident participant? What is their training age?
An individual who is returning to physical activity after time away will respond differently to an individual who has been training and practising with you for a number of years.
How are they feeling? What motivates a participant? What are their wants, why are they attending your sessions? How do they receive information and learn? How can you adapt your coaching style and approach for different participants? Do you deliver your sessions the same way to a group each time? How do you check in with the individuals within your group before a session? How confident are they and how do we improve that confidence? How have past experiences affected their view on sport? What makes a participant feel anxious? What goals and achievements does the participant want to achieve?
How people feel can be the same over time or influenced by their immediate circumstances and surroundings. A bad day at work or school can influence energy levels at practice. A person who has more responsibility at home may arrive distracted because of a situation.
Socially: How does a participant interact with others? What environments do they feel more comfortable in? Who do they prefer to take part in activities with? Does who is attending the session affect whether they attend? Do they only attend the session of their friends do? Are they religious and can religious holidays have an impact on their ability to participate? Are they a member of the LGBTQ+ community and do they feel safe attending sport clubs? Have they had poor experiences previously? Is social interaction the reason they attend? Do you create opportunities for participants to interact and connect with each other? Consider ‘social time’. Is a person the same gender as they were assigned at birth? Does the participant feel accepted within the environment you create as a coach? Does the participant feel like they are part of the team and that everyone accepts them for who they are?
It's important that when a participant ‘walks through the door’ to your sessions that you make the environment welcoming and safe so they can be themselves, feel valued and cared for without fear of being judged, creating a sense of belonging for your participants.
You should meet the individual where they are at, not be intrusive and push a person to find out more about them. It is entirely up to the participant how much information they choose to disclose. The safer they feel, the more they trust you, the more they will share. Remember, if a participant shares something personal, it is important to treat them with respect to maintain the relationship.
A coach working with a competitive women’s team noticed at the beginning of sessions that the players were slow to start and often chatted during the warm-up. Initially, this was a frustration for him as he thought that they were distracted and didn’t value his sessions, the effort he had put into planning, and the importance of a warm-up.
Speaking to a number of the players, he aired his concerns openly and in a relaxed way. The players explained they were busy with their home lives and commitments, and now only see each other at training. As such, catching up and connecting were important to them.
This wasn’t something the coach had considered. After speaking to a number of senior players in the group, a few changes occurred. The facilities were opened earlier, with a 30-minute personal preparation time before each session and the coach introduced warm-ups with more communication and opportunities to connect into the sessions.
Creating time and space to connect is key!
Understanding the stages of development
It’s important to remember that the stages of development are not sequential and are not limited to young people (growth and maturation). We all progress at different stages and these are unique to individuals and their context.
A really simple way to consider the non-linear nature of development is to consider a participant returning to training after a break. This may be after a season break as they enter pre-season, returning after an injury or post-childbirth. The level that they last performed at will not be maintained.
Factors to consider which can influence an individual’s development journey:
- Physical (injury, acquired impairment, long-term health conditions, exposure to physical preparation).
- Biological (growth and maturation, stature, weight).
- Socio-cultural (parental/carer support, peers, school experiences, gender bias, social media, religion, clothing attire).
- Environmental (training volume, training age).
- Situational (access to a coach, access to training facilities, opportunities to compete).
- Psychological (confidence, motivation, goals).
Two significant aspects to consider across the participant’s lifecycle are life events and the teenage years.
Life events
Life is busy! Things change, people change and circumstances change, and these all impact our development in a chosen activity or sport.
Returning after time away from a sport, returning after a college break, re-joining a class with friends, starting a new job and having less time to practise and compete, having a baby, returning from an injury, time away for health reasons, reduction in training because of family commitments and re-starting an activity with your children that you haven't participated in since you were at school are all life events that may mean someone's development may have slowed, stopped, or gone backwards, and that they need to regain confidence, re-learn skills, get back in the practice groove, re-evaluate their goals and set new, more realistic and more time-relevant targets.
It's important to know that you can meet the needs and aspirations of your participants. Knowing about their experiences, life story and confidence levels can help you ensure that you can provide a positive experience, coach them in a way that they would like, and ensure that your programme and sessions meet their current needs.
Avoid making comparisons with other participants' current levels and referring back to a participant's previous performance. Recognise where they are not and focus on what they need to do to progress.
Always make your sessions challenging, ensuring that the support that you provide is optimum for the individual. What can be motivating and inspirational for one person may be overwhelming for another. Don't assume when they return that it will be the same for them as it was previously.
Speaking of motivation, always remember to celebrate the small wins. The 'little' steps show progress and movement and help remind people that they are progressing.
When setting goals, ensure that they are realistic and help your participants to accept their current level of performance. It can be difficult, at times, to accept that our standards have dropped from a previous performance. Remind them of their small wins, recognise these and celebrate their progress.
A well-known former England Netballer attended a ‘back to netball’ session with her friends from school. She really enjoyed the session and felt the freedom of playing the sport again after a long time out. She performed so well, but the coach didn’t recognise her!
After the session she came over and praised her effort and energy, adding that she had good skills and should consider joining the competitive team. Her friends burst out laughing. It was an awkward moment for the coach: what had they said wrong? They had connected, given praise, and been positive.
The player explained who she was. The coach was mortified and embarrassed initially, before the player said it was fine and they laughed off the situation. What if the coach had taken time to ask the new person to the session whether they had played before? Would this have made a difference?
A famous mountain bike rider decided to try her hand at road biking. At the first session, the coach recognised the former Olympian and assumed that they had lots of experience. The rider was very nervous and the attention she was getting was adding to this.
The coach expected her to have all the basic skills and asked her to demonstrate. During the session, the rider fell off, slipped her gears, and rode into the back of another cyclist.
At the end of the session, she explained that she had never ridden on roads before, and actually felt the pressure of the groups’ expectations. How would you have acted as the coach? Would you have made the same assumptions?
The teenage years
If you support young people, you must constantly consider that they are growing and maturing. Their body stature and body composition are changing as they become young adults. Whilst everyone transitions through the same stages, when these occur and how long they occur for is different for each individual.
It’s important to consider their psychological and emotional development, in addition to their physical development. You coach the whole person.
Growth is the increase in size of the body or its parts and includes height, body mass and leg length.
Maturation is the progress towards the mature adult state. Maturation can vary in its timing (when it happens) and tempo (how fast it occurs). This has physical, emotional, social, and psychological elements.
Development is the complex interaction between physical, cognitive, and psychological development and leads to an increase in the complexity of functional movement, decision-making, perceptions, and skill progression. It is the capacity and skill of a person to function. It isn’t age-dependent and is continuous throughout the life cycle.
The experience of puberty varies for the individual (you may already have heard the terms early or later maturer) and is the time of sexual maturity.
For girls, this occurs between 10-14 years of age, and for boys between the ages of 12-16 years. Significant changes occur in the body that may have an impact on development.
An individual can grow centimetres in days and the implications on their movement and coordination can considerable. Whilst the bones have grown, the muscles and tendons are playing catch up; individuals can become extremely tight and subject to injuries.
From a skill development perspective, their centre of gravity will have changed, as well as their body composition and limb length, which will all impact on their coordination and perception as they adjust.
These can affect their timing. They can be seen as clumsy and might struggle to use a racket or bat as they become used to their new limb length. Adolescent awkwardness is real. In addition, hormones are raging, and they are making sense of the world, challenging boundaries, exploring their sexuality, culture and beliefs, and are striving for independence. A challenging time for the individual, and with all these complexities in play it is no surprise that the journey isn’t linear!
Read the following two scenarios and consider how the factors may benefit or challenge their development.
Can you see how these could be influencing both boys?
Participant one, Steve, has been dancing for six years, since he was five years old. His mum competed and his older sisters were already attending the club. He has had a growth spurt over the summer, shooting up 5cm in two months. His knees hurt and his mum took him to the doctors who diagnosed Osgood Slatters.
The doctor knows the family and suggests that Steve trains as much as he feels able to and then rests. She realises that a long lay-off from dancing would be a challenge for Steve.
Participant two, Mitch, is Steve’s best friend since meeting at secondary school. They are in the same form, and Mitch plays football for a local community team. He wants to see Steve more often on an evening and asked if he could come along to the dance classes and join the group. Mitch is just 12 and this is the first time he has tried dance.
He enjoys the challenge, although is conscious that he is new to the group and Steve and him are the only boys.
Person-centred coaching
Coach the person, not the sport."
Steve Black ex Newcastle United, Newcastle Falcons and Wales Conditioning Coach
With a person-centred approach, the coach considers every aspect of the participants’ development and what makes them unique as an individual, taking the time to understand their preferences and individual wants and needs.
With that information, you will be able to create an environment that inspires them, boosts their motivation, and supports their long-term goals.
If the people you coach know that they are listened to, valued, and cared for, they will have a much greater connection with you, the coaching environment, and the activity. You can then support them to further develop and build a better awareness of themselves, their motivations, and beliefs. Coaching is a people business and relationships are at the centre.
No one cares what you know until they know that you care!"
Benjamin Franklin
Athlete outcomes of an effective coach
The C System has been developed from the initial ‘Positive Youth Development’ model and has 7 Cs that support a holistic and developmental approach to coaching people.
- Competence: Co-creation and the setting of developmentally appropriate challenges and sessions that develop mastery across movement skills, fundamentals, physical competency, sport-specific skill mastery, and cognitive development appropriate to the participants’ stage of development
- Confidence: Supporting participants to see what they are capable of, increasing their self-worth and belief through recognising and rewarding effort and commitment to staying on task following setbacks. Confidence is influenced by the other Cs, in particular competence from past achievements, accomplishments, and success.
- Connection: Create positive and healthy connections, encouraging participants to interact with each other and see the benefits of working with and supporting others.
- Character: Developing the individual to have three areas of respect: themselves, other people, and the environment. Respect for the rules, officials, equipment, and the opposition helps nurture an understanding of right and wrong and empathy with other people.
- Creativity: Developing problem-solvers, individuals who are able to think for themselves and make healthy choices and informed decisions, creating participants who are able to think and perform to solve the challenges set in practices and competitions.
- Caring and Compassion: Developing an understanding and tolerance of others. Participants understand their emotions and how others feel in situations and circumstances to develop compassion and feelings of caring for others. Talking about and explaining emotions enables individuals to ‘name’ them and how they are feeling. When we express our emotions, others are able to understand and support us more effectively.
We are going to focus on connection, character, caring and compassion for participant outcomes when coaching and how it affects diversity.
Connection
Diversity is the combination of people; inclusion is getting this mix to work together in harmony.
Jean Côté and Wade Gilbert stated: ‘Coaches have a crucial role in providing optimal learning environments in which athletes feel supported’.
As a coach, you can help create environments for participants where connections with others are promoted and it is your duty as a coach to ensure that every participant is treated with respect.
Through good coach-participant relationships, and participant-participant/coach-coach relationships, you can support participants to establish relationships and develop a bond and sense of togetherness within the group, as well as appreciating and respecting their differences.
To create a diverse environment, it is essential that the coach encourages participants to connect with each other. This means providing them with the skills and opportunities to interact, socialise, co-create, lead, and follow and learn more about and from each other.
Developing interpersonal skills and becoming aware of who you are and how you behave as a person are transferable skills.
The ability to communicate, engage and interact are all skills and qualities that can be transferred to teams, people, and relationships outside of sport.
How well do your participants know each other? Create opportunities for the people you coach to connect and become aware of the others within the session. Through informal interaction, allow them to explore the diversity of the group and share their individuality, whilst creating an appreciation for one another and a sense of belonging regardless of their differences.
Use storytelling to raise awareness of diversity. Someone begins a story with a statement and then another person carries it on. This continues until everyone has had a chance to speak.
Select topics that encourage a diverse conversation, such as places you’ve visited on holiday, favourite foods, and people’s different cultures.
Celebrate world and international theme days during your sessions. Many have a ‘theme’ such as wearing odd socks for Down Syndrome Day. Share people’s experiences to build understanding. Here are a few to get you started:
- International Women’s Day.
- World Social Justice Day.
- World Health Day.
- World Day for Cultural Diversity.
- World Refugee Day.
- World Mental Health Day.
- International LGBT Pride Day.
Check out the United Nation’s List of International Days and Weeks | United Nations.
Pair up your group and ask them to share. Participants have a conversation to find 1 to 4 things they all have in common and 1 to 4 things that are not common to them.
People bring in a sharing plate of food. This can be a food of their choice, linked to their heritage or simply bring certain countries to mind. Meal-centred activities are one of the most appealing ways to promote diversity and encourage conversation, and it is a great social activity. With adults, this social activity may become an evening out to continue the conversations over a meal.
Character
Research shows that coaches play a crucial role in enabling athletes to develop their character, become a constructive and caring member of a sporting team, and ultimately, a productive member of society.”
Jean Côté and Wade Gilbert
Coaches play a vital role in setting an example of how to behave within and outside of their physical activity/sport setting. You will be surprised how many of your participants see you as a role model. Participants should be encouraged to show respect to others during sessions and competitions as they would in a non-sporting environment.
Role modelling and the part you play in a participant’s life is really important, and a reason why diversity of people, thinking and approaches is so important. If a participant can relate to their coach, this provides them with confidence, connection, and a belief that they can progress.
Coaches should discuss and co-create with their participants what their environment should ‘look and feel’ like. This is what people will hear, see and feel if they are observing the session or competition and the behaviours and values that all participants and coaches agree to maintain within the physical activity/sporting setting.
It’s important to discuss and agree on the actions, language and behaviours that are acceptable, not assume that a ‘blanket statement’ covers everything, and that everyone knows how to behave and act.
This may include:
- supporting others
- taking responsibility
- listening and valuing other people’s opinions and views
- how to win and lose gracefully.
Explore with your participants what this looks like: we regularly see in the media elite athlete’s versions of ‘not losing gracefully’ from not wearing a runner-up medal and avoiding going up on stage to meet the dignitaries, to walking off after the game, and refusing to shake hands.
Your role as a coach is to develop people and support them in their development. There will be occasions when an individual doesn’t meet the standards that you and they have set themselves. This is a learning opportunity, to understand what happened, how they are feeling, and why they did what they did, giving them the chance to ‘restore’ a situation with another or move forward next time they are in the same situation.
If a club has a philosophy that focuses on a participant’s character, the development of the person and behaviours to encourage empathy, integrity, and taking responsibility, this approach develops a culture and messaging that will enhance the club’s ability to attract a more diverse range of participants as they will feel they are entering a safe and values-led setting that appreciates diversity.
Having a positive climate within your coaching sessions encourages cohesion amongst the participants, increased satisfaction from being a member of the group and increased overall enjoyment. Remember: if people are not happy and enjoying themselves, they will find somewhere that makes them happy!
By increasing the behaviours associated with character, participants become positive role models, which helps other people and communities relate to your organisation. Communities will see that everyone is welcome in your organisation, that values and treating individuals with respect is central to everything, and that participants are encouraged to do the right thing, and care for and understand others.
Participants will build trust with people outside of your session, this can be noticed by potential new members who will want to attend a session where they feel they can trust the participants within it.
By influencing the behaviour of participants, they will hold each other to account to maintain standards within the organisation and feel comfortable to challenge and be challenged. This open and transparent approach to how people are treated is an important aspect of encouraging individuals from diverse communities to join; this allows them to feel valued, respected and welcome in your ‘setting’.
Do you include the participant in decision-making when setting goals?
Do you focus on supporting participants to create connections with other participants?
How do you encourage empathy, respect, integrity, and responsibility among the participants you coach?
How can find out about a participant’s functional ability?
How can a participant’s race, religion, disability, gender, or sexuality affect their ability to take part?
As a coach, how do you encourage participants to connect with each other?
What values do you promote among your participants?