A smiling rugby player, ball tucked under her right arm, engages in conversation with her coach as they walk across the rugby pitch, with the coach explaining something to her and the goal posts standing tall in the background.

Understanding the Individual

Explore your participant's motivations, personality and character

DIVE IN

Learn what drives your participants and how to create an environment that boosts their motivation

Explore this theme of the Coach Learning Framework to learn about key strategies that can help you to support the people you coach, with personalised coaching techniques that meet their needs. You'll also learn how to act on your knowledge of stages of development.

Why do I need to understand the individual?

Understanding who you're coaching as a person, participant and performer ensures that they're at the centre of your coaching, and that you can learn what drives and motivates them.

Taking the time to get to know each individual will enhance your relationships and help you to meet their needs. Participants take part in sport and physical activity for a wide variety of reasons, and each person's journey to arriving at your sessions will be unique to them and their experiences.

Creating time to recognise their preferences, personal wants and needs will enable you to establish an environment that boosts motivation and meets their long-term goals.

If your participants know that they are listened to, valued and cared for, they will have a greater connection with you and the activity. Then you can help them to also build a better awareness of themselves, their motivations and their desires.

Developing the whole person in a holistic way helps with 'stickability,' commitment and creating an engaging environment.

Below, discover the pillars of this theme to aid your understanding of the individual. You'll also find UK Coaching Club membership details with which you can unlock access to the resources of the Coach Learning Framework.

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Know Your Participants

Learn how to prioritise holistic development and support to improve personal, emotional, well-being and social skills, as well as physical capacity and competence

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Motivation

Understand what drives the people you coach and how to connect with their inner selves to maximise their experience

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Coaching the Person in Front of You

Discover how to create a connection with your participants that helps them to feel valued, wanted and more than a 'number'

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Stage of Development

Explore the impact of growth and maturation, with an awareness of the social, emotional, cognitive and physical dimensions of development

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Supportive and Challenging Environments

Consider how to create an environment that is supportive and appropriately challenging for the people you coach

UK Coaching Club

Become a member for free to start your coaching exploration

As a UK Coaching Club Member, you'll be able to dive into the essentials of each theme for free. This includes the insightful 9-theme 'Guides', engaging 'Coaching Conversations', and our 'Kickstarters' designed to get your coaching off to a flying start.

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Framework Guide

With this comprehensive guide you'll gain an understanding of your participant's motivations, character and personality and how best to engage them in your sessions

READ THE GUIDE

Coaching Conversations

Watch coaches share their lived experiences, offering real-life examples and strategies to help you immediately grasp the theme of ‘understanding the individual’ and enhance your ability to connect with and understand your participants

WATCH THE VIDEOS
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Kickstarter

Download activities that invite you to reflect, consider, and try out new approaches to understand what drives the people you coach to enable you to maximise their experience

DOWNLOAD THE ACTIVITIES

UK Coaching Club Premium Membership

Go Premium for just 92p a week to unlock exclusive resources within the five pillars of the Understanding the Individual theme of the Coach Learning Framework. Gain full access to the Learning Zone, featuring over 900 resources and tools across 44 topics. Plus, get 24/7 expert legal, tax, and counselling support, save big with our benefits hub, Coach Perks, and more.

Coach Learning Framework

Continue your journey through the framework to learn more about the other eight themes and the key attributes of high-quality coaching environments, and how you can demonstrate the skills, qualities and behaviours that will empower the people you coach to achieve their personal goals.

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