Through the Covid-19 lockdown I’ve been fortunate enough, as a
‘coaching enthusiast’, to have been in the host’s seat or supporting the
delivery of twenty three webinars and six online sense-making sessions, and as
a delegate participated in around twenty online sessions with partner or
external organisations. I’ve managed to
hear from some of my favourite authors, coaches and researchers across the
field of sports coaching, had access to some world leading people, and learned
of the work of some people I’d not previously known of – but loved. It’s been a genuine privilege to listen to
all of the various experts over the past four months, and in many ways – an even
greater privilege has been getting the opportunity to chat with coaches from
Camlough to Canada, Fermanagh to Falkirk, Newtownabbey to the Netherlands.
Local or international, I’ve met coaches through the various sessions I’ve been involved in who’ve been driven by positive intent, a thirst for knowledge and a desire to enhance the experience of their athletes/participants. Interactions with these coaches, particularly through the ‘chat box’ sense-making sessions, has given me much to consider, from the perspectives of my own coaching and my coaching development role at Sport Northern Ireland. I think/hope these discussions have also sparked ideas and reflections among the coaches involved, and provided an opportunity to hear the thoughts and perspectives of others in similar roles. If we’ve achieved a sense of reciprocal sharing, we are onto a winner!
My observation through lockdown was that the world of coaching got a little bit smaller and more connected. All of the tools that have allowed this to happen were there before Covid-19, and coaches were connecting with peers long before now, it just didn’t seem as widespread and regular as it has been over the past four months. Is it that we are now more familiar with the tools? Is it that we’ve had more time available to connect as face-to-face coaching hasn’t been possible? These questions lead me to another two…
While technology has provided us with some amazing tools for connecting with others, especially oversees, as restrictions ease can we make it back to face to face interactions with coaching peers? And, can we find the time as coaching ramps back up to build upon new and existing connections for coaching conversations?
I think if the connections are valued enough, time will be found
to continue to interact with peer coaches in some form or another, and it
doesn’t have to be when a sporting body decides it is happening. Any coach, anywhere could build their own
sharing group at any time, with any one, and in any way that suits them. It could be online, it could be face-to-face;
it could be with coaches from inside of your own club, it could be with coaches
from outside of your own country; it could be coaches from your own sport, it
could be with coaches from different sports, it could even be with people
beyond sport; it could be with one other person, it could be with a dozen other
coaches. All of these decisions are for
you and those you choose to connect with.
The principle of reciprocity in influence suggests that people are more likely to give back, to those who have given – and this could be important in how you establish your own connected community. Who would benefit from insights and perspectives you could bring? And, likewise who could you benefit from conversations with? You might think of this like ‘desert Island discs’ – who are your ‘desert island coaches’?
Don’t get me wrong, the opportunity to draw upon leading experts
is important – it really helps to lift thinking to new levels based on the
available research base, it helps answer some of the complex questions we have
or even provoke more questions for our practice, and we should definitely be
taking the opportunity to benefit from that in whatever form it comes when we
have the chance. But sitting alongside
that, and interacting with it, as coaches we can each take things into our own
hands by creating our own connections to make sense of available expertise, to
test ideas, challenge our thinking, and to feed our own curiosities.
So what now… How about having a think today…
Who do you know that you would like to talk coaching with? What
do you have to offer each other? How, and how often, would you want to connect?
…and take the first steps in creating a connection, or group, that brings mutual benefit to support the thinking and practice of you and your fellow coaches.
By Simon Toole, Coaching Consultant, Sport Northern Ireland
@CoachingTooleS
@SportNINet #SportNILearning
