Coach Developer Profile

Megan Moss

Megan Moss aims to be a revolutionist.

As the owner of a gymnastics club in Canberra, Australia, that employs over 60 coaches, Megan is determined to revolutionise coaching in the sport of gymnastics to provide an environment that is participant centric and where the values of the club are at the forefront of everything the coaches do.

Starting her coaching career at the age of 12 in the sport of hockey, Megan found a passion for sharing the joy of sports participation early and has coached in hockey, dance and gymnastics for over 30 years.

Having experienced a variety of coaching methods and approaches in her own sporting career,
Megan quickly established the impact a coach can have on a participant’s motivation and long-term participation in sport. Her experiences shaped the coach she is today that is focused on inclusion, fun and engagement.

She is a master in group management and loves using analogies in coaching to enhance understanding, learning and engagement of her participants.
She leads a team of over 60 coaches in her club where she aims to impart her positive, inclusive approach to coaching and leads the training and development of the coaching team at Gungahlin Gymnastics.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE CD ROLE?
"It starts with a love story!

It starts with a love story! I met my husband Joel, a former Australian representative gymnast, in year 11 at school and we joked that one day we would open our own gymnastics club.

With life’s journey, that joke became a reality in early 2015 when we made the leap and decided to open Gungahlin Gymnastics.

From day one, we knew that we wanted to deliver the sport of gymnastics differently. We set our values early and aimed to deliver gymnastics, in all its forms, in a FUN and positive environment. Initially we started with just Joel and I coaching and 16 classes on our timetable.

The club took off quickly and we employed our first coach to work with us within 12 weeks of opening due to the strong demand. It has been a roller coaster since then and we now have just over 1500 gymnasts in the club and over 60 coaches.

I lead the coach development and training aspects of the business and this is an area I love, creating the next generation of coaches delivering gymnastics “the Gungahlin way”.

BEST PARTS ABOUT THE ROLE

Without a doubt seeing my coaching team engaged and enjoying their role is the best part.

Coaching kids is not an easy gig, we get kids at their best and their worst and seeing my team adapt their coaching and work so hard to engage their participants and keep it fun is so rewarding.

My coaches for the most part are young students, most of whom might not become career coaches however when departing their role with us, leave with skills that will serve them in so many ways. I get to see them grow as individuals while sharing the joy they have for the sport of gymnastics with the next generation.

SUPPORT FOR COACHES

We operate in a sport that is very structured and focused on pathways and compliance in terms of what you can coach and competitive gymnastics.

I respect that part of the sport however my support for my coaches extends well beyond a formal coaching accreditation and is focused more on our values, living those values as a coach and coaching to create an environment that is always fun and positive.

We do a lot of work with our coaching team on the soft skills of coaching, how you interact with your participants, what engaged coaching looks like in practice and how you create the right environment to enable the fun while balancing the needs of diverse groups.

Given we operate across two facilities, and I can’t be in two places at once, I have a team of Floor Managers who monitor things on the floor and report each day on how coaches are going and if they need more training or support in certain aspects of their coaching.

These insights provide me with the topics that form part of our twice yearly all staff workshops where we bring the whole team together to work on challenges and scenarios to further develop the soft skills of the team.

I also use this feedback to engage directly with individual coaches to provide more targeted support as required to help them be the best coach they can be.

IF YOU HAD MORE RESOURCES

Time is my most challenging resource – running a small business is very challenging and I wish I had more time to dedicate to coach development. If I had all the time in the world, my focus would be on more explicit coaching practices to ensure development and progression of participants and specialised training for my staff in handling participants with additional needs.

DO YOU WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH OTHER CDs?

I have working alongside me two full time staff who are also qualified Club Coach Educators who help me deliver training and workshops. Their expertise is in differing areas to my expertise so we complement each other well.

I also collaborate with lots of people outside of our sport to hear what others are doing, to discuss challenges and to network and hear best practice operations to learn more. The learning for me never stops!

DO YOU HAVE A MENTOR?

I don’t have a formal mentor for the coach development side of my role however I engage with some outstanding people in the field like Gene Schembri to further my learning and seek support.

I have a general life mentor in my big sister who is my biggest cheerleader and who is the one that gives me pep talks when I am experiencing imposter syndrome.

MY TOP 5 COACH DEV TIPS
  1. Tell the story, the story of the impact positive coaching can have on a participant and the coaches’ role in this.
  2. Encourage coaches to reflect on coaches or teachers they have had that brought out their best and how those coaches delivered lessons and training to do that and how they can do the same.
  3. Don’t take it too seriously – at the end of the day, we are dealing with kids sport. Sport is meant to be fun and the goal should always be engagement and retention. Don’t lose sight of the fact this is kids sport.
  4. Learn the soft skills more than the technical skills and always stay connected to the grassroots. It is very easy to coach high level athletes who know what to do, you truly earn and maintain your coaching stripes coaching in the grassroots.
  5. Never stop learning. Always seek out new information, especially from outside your sport and continue to learn and develop as a coach developer and in your own coaching.

Coach Developer Profile

Toby Doyle

Toby Doyle, Community Cricket National Coach Development Manager, has played a key role in changing the way community coaches in New Zealand are prepared for their role. This includes receiving frequent personalised guidance from coach developers in real-world settings.

In this approach mastery is favoured over covering the curriculum. Observation, guidance, and support replace critique and ticking off a skills list. The learning coach’s context and their individual needs shape the support offered.

The NZ Cricket model of learning and development has been well received by coaches, the majority of whom have little interest in accreditation or being assessed. Quality is assured by the high level of personalised support that is afforded each coach.

Toby Doyle’s current role is the Community Cricket National Coach Development Manager at New Zealand Cricket. His path has included playing, coaching, developing coaches, and even training other coach developers.

Toby is deeply passionate about enabling quality coaching in community sports. His learning journey reflects a non-linear path, driven by a commitment and reflection to continuous improvement. Beyond his professional life, Toby is a father of three young children, and his fiancée, Hannah, shares his passion for coaching and sport. With his cricket playing days behind him, Toby now finds joy in playing the odd game of golf.

Toby has been fortunate to participate in the International Cricket Council’s Master Educator Program and has served as a trainer in the latest iteration of Sport New Zealand’s Coaching For Impact program.

How did you get into the Coach Development role?

I transitioned into a Coach Development (CD) role from my previous position as a Development Manager at Canterbury Country Cricket Association (which I was in for 7 years). This role required me to deliver key coach development initiatives for New Zealand Cricket, which involved engaging with the community to facilitate learning and support for community coaches.

CD philosophy

Empower individuals to become the best versions of themselves through a holistic and strength-based approach.

Best parts about the role

As the Community Coach Development Manager with New Zealand Cricket, I have the opportunity to nurture the potential in others—both coaches and coach developers. I am constantly seeking ways to improve and refine our coach development system and processes within New Zealand cricket.

Support for coaches

My work focuses on three key domains: the NZC Coach Learning System, the NZC Coach Developer Network, and Women in Coaching within Cricket.

  • Coach Learning System: Over the past decade, the NZC Coach Learning System has evolved from a linear, assessment-driven model to a modular system focused on ‘just in time’ learning. This shift recognizes that most of our coaching population consists of volunteer parents who seek practical information rather than formal qualifications.
  • Coach Developer Network: We currently have 90 active coach developers supporting approximately 3,000 coaches. My role involves providing leadership, mentorship, and ongoing professional development for these coach developers. This includes facilitating communities of practice and guiding them through a rigorous plan-do-review process centred around their regional coach development plans.
  • Women in Coaching: With 13% of our registered coaches being female, increasing this percentage is a major focus for New Zealand Cricket. We are working to create inclusive and safe spaces for female coaches at the grassroots level. Additionally, we offer a centralized program called ‘Pathway to Performance’ to equip aspiring female coaches with the skills, tools, and knowledge needed to advance in their coaching careers.
If I had more resources

I would place a coach developer in every club and secondary school across New Zealand.

Additionally, I would develop an AI-driven coaching app to provide individualized support to coaches in real-time.

Do you work in partnership with other coach developers?

Yes, I collaborate extensively with coach development leaders from other sports both within New Zealand and internationally. Currently, we are partnering with New Zealand Hockey to deliver a trainer program aimed at developing coach developer trainers.

My role as a Master Educator with the International Cricket Council has also allowed me to build valuable networks with global coach development leaders.

Recently, I have been involved as a trainer/facilitator in the Sport New Zealand Coaching for Impact program, which is designed to develop youth and secondary school coaches. I have also assisted New Zealand Rugby in facilitating a World Rugby Educator course to develop new coach developers in a rugby context.

Highlights and challenges

The most rewarding aspect of my role is seeing others thrive and grow. I learn a great deal from observing other coaches, coach developers, and trainers in action. Being part of the recent adaptations to our learning system, aligning it with 21st-century andragogy principles, has been a significant achievement.

A continual challenge is effectively communicating the impact of coach development work to decision-makers, ensuring they recognize its importance.

“The most rewarding aspect of my role is seeing others thrive and grow.
Do you have a mentor?

Yes, I have a mentor who helps me continue to learn, reflect, and grow in my leadership role.

TOP 4 COACH DEVELOPER TIPS
  1. Discover the coach’s motivation or ‘why’ and link any learning and development back to this
  2. Be your authentic self — skilfully
  3. Focus on strengths rather than gaps
  4. Reflection is the secret sauce to learning

What does assessment look like in your sport?

This post accompanies a session on assessment at the Australian Sports Commission 2025 Coaching and Officiating Conference in Geelong that I had the pleasure in co-facilitating.

It was a team effort. A big thanks to Shaun McEachin from Squash, Sally Wiseman from Pony Club and Tom Finch from the ASC.

What follows are four questions for designers of learning and development programs to consider. Behind these questions is the assumption that assessment should be at the core of those design decisions and not an add on.

1. VOLUNTEERS

In Australia, as in a number of other countries, volunteers make up the majority of the coaching workforce. In Australia, entry level qualifications make up between 80 and 90% of the accreditations or other qualifications.

A smaller number of sports have a tradition of full-time and part-time paid coaches. This can influence the type of training offered to coaches. The risk profile of a sport can also influences the type of training required of coaches.

The ASC did some research (Community Coach Insights, 2015) that showed a cohort of volunteers (the ‘Happy Helpers’) do not believe they need general coaching principles, were not seeking accreditation and therefore were not in need of assessment.

Questions

1. What kind of assessment (if any) is appropriate for volunteers in your sport?

2. If your sport requires assessment of entry level coaches, what form should it take?

2. HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT TO ASSESS / TEACH?

When the course is crowded (with a lot to cover) everything is important, and nothing is important.

This is a classic case of never having enough time to consolidate the learning because we have to ‘cover the curriculum’.

So, what can we do?

Mastery vs Qualifications

One solution is to adopt a mastery approach as opposed to a ‘cover the curriculum approach’. In the former, covering fewer things in more depth takes precedence over covering everything superficially. A mastery approach is more concerned with giving the coach sufficient time and guidance to develop skills that last into the future.

A mastery approach is further enhanced when the learning is relevant to the coach and comes out of a practice context.

So, what content gets priority treatment?

What is covered can be prioritised in different ways. For example, what is NICE to know knowledge versus what is NEED to know knowledge? Nice to know information  may be explored informally by the coach in their own time. Do you think that is true for need to know knowledge?

A more precise approach to classification is shown below:

Access the SOLO taxonomy here.

Course safety valves – Don’t cover everything during the course!

Many introductory and intermediate courses are a compromise between comprehensiveness and pragmatism. The time coaches are willing to spend at a course and the resources to deliver a course are two factors that influence design choices.

Alternatives for reducing the amount of content to cover include:

  • Making information available through the web
  • Allowing clubs to specify their own requirements. For example, clothing requirements. If there is a safety issue regarding clothing / jewellery etc., then this could be covered in the course.
  • Continuing professional development / updating requirements
  • Pre- or co-requisite courses. For example, a requirement to complete the ASC’s Community Coaching – Essential Skills course.

Question

What are your criteria for deciding what content to cover and assess?

3. ASSESSMENT CHECKLISTS: USEFUL OR NOT?

Courses based on a competency-based training (CBT) design break up coaching into about 4-6 large chunks (units of competency). Each of these units is further sub-divided into smaller bits (elements of competency).

This approach often leads to assessment with tedious checklists that require each item on the list to be ticked off.

For example, checklists for coaching behaviours such as demonstrations, instruction, observation, or feedback might be used.

The checklist approach can easily result in not paying sufficient attention to the coaching context. Another problem, even if the observation of a coach is taken in context, is that a narrow focus may miss the ‘big picture’. For example, a ‘perfect’ demonstration might have been presented, but we could ask was a demonstration the best option at that time?

In another post we have discussed how a narrow assessment focus can give us a reliable result but one that doesn’t inform us about the ability of a coach to coach. That is, the problem of reliable but not valid assessment inferences.

Question

Do you assess holistically (looking at the whole coaching process), or do you assess isolated individual parts?

4. DIFFERENT MODELS OF LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT

What are the principles that underpin your approach to coach learning and development?

Your choice of principles provides the building blocks of your MENTAL MODEL. It guides the way you deliver coach education. The mental model that underpins a course may be unique with a non-traditional approach to coach learning.

For example, Andy Rogers from Sport NZ along with two authors from NSOs have written (see drop down #3) about an approach that replaces assessment and critique with observation, support, and guidance. The NZ model is a highly personalised coach-centred approach to learning and development.

In this alternative approach, a coach developer observes, listens, questions, and draws inferences which form the basis of a dialogue between coach and CD.

The CD chooses a response that suits the context: a suggestion, a collaborative approach to problem solving, further questions, or a simple acknowledgement of progress. The coach in this model may initiate the conversation.

This ‘partnership’ in learning is frequent and ongoing throughout the course. Lots of ‘mini assessments’ replace an end of course summative assessment.

This is ASSESSMENT WITHOUT ASSESSMENT!

Question

What are the principles that form the basis of your mental model for designing and delivering courses?

PRINCIPLES OF ASSESSMENT

Liam McCarthy et al who has been leading some international work on assessment has proposed 5 principles of assessment. Four of them are shown here. The fifth is transparency.

1. DEEP INTEGRATION

Teaching, learning and assessment should be deeply integrated. As opposed to a period of learning that is followed by assessment.

2. AUTHENTIC

Assessment activities should be ‘authentic’. That is, related to what coaches actually do. The assessment should be:

  • Practice based
  • Take place in context that is relevant to the coach

3. COLLABORATIVE

CD and coaches work together. Peers are seen as a resource for each other.

4. METACOGNITIVE

Assessment plays a role in coaches developing their skills of reflection and the ability to self-monitor their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.

Question

To what extent are these principles embedded into your course design?

REFERENCE

McCarthy, L., Vangrunderbeek, H., & Piggot, D. (2022). Principles of good assessment practice in coach education: An initial proposal. International Sports Coaching Journal, 9(2), 252-262.

My Brain is Full – How Memory Works

Learning takes place when information in our conscious thinking is transferred to long-term memory. Organising these memories, through a network of neural connections, builds our capacity to tackle novel and unpredictable situations.

These connections can be varied and may include visual, auditory, emotional, or kinaesthetic memories.

Understanding how our memories are formed helps us to understand the differences in performance between novices and experts. It also guides the coach and coach developer in designing instructional strategies. That is, how to be a more effective teacher.

 

My brain is full!

In a favourite Gary Larson cartoon, teacher Mr Osborne at the front of his class glances over his left shoulder. A student has his hand up. The student asks: “Mr Osborne, may I be excused? My brain is full.” You can see the cartoon by here.

Apart from being pretty funny, this cartoon is a good catalyst for a discussion about how CDs and coaches can effectively get the message across. It also invites us to challenge simplistic notions that teaching is just about transmitting information with the hope that is sticks. Telling is not teaching.

(BTW, telling is not the same as explicit instruction. But that is another article).

What are you thinking right now?

Back to the cartoon. The student’s long-term memory (LTM) has plenty of unused capacity. No problem there. The problem is most likely an overloaded working memory (WM).

Working memory is whatever is held in your consciousness at any given moment. Understanding working memory is the key to learning.

Working memory

This is your memory for the present moment. It is a limited and short-lived holding space in your prefrontal cortex for the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, emotions, and language of right now - working to keep whatever you just experienced and paid attention to only long enough to use it or not.

Lisa Genova, p38.

Pay attention!

When attention is narrowly focussed thinking is unlikely to be overwhelmed by extraneous things in the environment. (See the diagram below).

When too many distractions not relevant to the immediate learning are present, cognitive overload occurs. Too much mental effort is required to make sense of things. Working memory is ‘stretched’ beyond its limits – it becomes overloaded.

To learn something, we have to notice things. Noticing requires us to do something with all the sensory information the brain receives. This requires paying attention. That is, fine tuning our thinking to actively process specific information in the environment while ignoring other sensory input.

Apart from unimportant things in the environment, there is lots going on in our heads to ignore: self-talk, reliving conversations, to-do lists, random thoughts … the monkey mind.

The brain can receive and process sensory information, like watching an athlete perform a skill BUT unless there is a deliberate and focussed attention to what is being perceived “the activated neurons will not be linked, and memory will not be formed.” (1, p27).

“PAY ATTENTION!”. The command is a futile one unless the learner is receptive to whatever attention is being drawn to.

We are attentive to things that are meaningful and interesting. Something that is surprising, humorous or resonates with us emotionally will grab our attention and open the gate to learning.

Our brain’s default setting is not to be attentive. We have to work at it. This means the CD or coach needs to create an environment favourable to learning and to choose learning experiences that are interesting and meaningful to the learner.

Mr OSBORNE’S CLASS. So, even if Mr Osborne’s teaching practice is good, his student with a ‘full brain’ may have no interest in the topic and no interest in paying attention.

We have to know stuff to learn

“New knowledge can only be understood if it is linked to what the student already knows.”

Mike Bell

The more links the better. Using multiple senses (multi-sensory) and emotions makes the memories easier to recall and  less likely to be forgotten.

When prior knowledge is retrieved, more than a single piece of information is accessed.

Information in the brain is not stored in an isolated manner, like a piece of information on a computer hard drive. It is stored along with other information and emotions from all the senses. A memory is a network of connections.

Back to Mr Osborne's class

Back to our student in Mr Osborne’s class. Numerous things could be interfering with the student’s ability to process what he is seeing and hearing from Mr Osborne.

A run-in with a peer may have led to our student dwelling on an earlier incident. The student may be dealing with something from home. Perhaps he didn’t complete his pre-class work. Essential prior knowledge may be absent. Or Mr Osborne, may be overwhelming the class with too much information and at the wrong level. Or maybe the class just needs a short brain break and the student with his hand up is expressing what others are feeling.

The student’s WM is working overtime, and nothing is making sense. Extraneous thoughts, some possibly emotionally charged, compete for WM space. We have all been there!

Coaching young participants

The example of Mr Osborne’s class is not uncommon in our everyday coaching.

We have all experienced working with young participants where one or more of them come to training frazzled. It may take us 10 or more minutes into our ‘perfect’ session plan before we realise things are not going to plan. Our strategies for getting participants to focus on what matters may be good.
But something in the lead up to training has emotionally charged one or more participants.

What we might want participants to hold in WM clashes with what is already there. ‘Reading the play’ and adapting is a key coaching skill. In our example, the change to the plan may have to be significant.

CD & Coach Take-outs

Here are some strategies adapted from Mike Bell (2):

  • Develop session routines and habits. For CDs teaching or coaches working with athletes, routines should be taught and practised to avoid wasting time and clogging up WM.
  • Convey information in smaller chunks.
  • Connect new information to prior knowledge by linking instructions and new information to things that are already part of the learner’s existing knowledge or everyday experience.

COACHES

  • Coaches should keep cues simple and short (KISS – keep it simple and short)
  • Use similes and analogies to help participants connect more complex ideas with things that are familiar in everyday life. 
  • Arrange equipment and the playing / training area in ways that reduces the amount of cognitive processing that is required (constraints-based approach). This may reduce the need for verbal instruction or eliminate it altogether.

COACH DEVELOPERS

  • Use multi-sensory strategies (also relevant to coaching)
  • Focus attention with content that is interesting, meaningful, surprising, humorous or tugs at our emotional heart strings
  • Use active learning strategies (this will call on different sensory strategies such as talking with peers and physically moving – these have the potential to reduce cognitive load)
  • Link abstract ideas to concrete analogies.

FIG. HOW MEMORY WORKS

In this final figure more detail has been added. Procedural knowledge enables us to type, tie our shoe laces or execute a skill or activity in sport. Memory is not just about ‘book learning’ – it is also at the centre of doing things physically.

References

  1. Genova, Lisa, (2021). Remember. The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting. Simon Schuster.
  2. Bell, Mike. (2021). The Fundamentals of Teaching. Routledge.

A novice is not a little expert – Implications for coach developers

Sport Coaches Connect

Introduction

The way information is organised in the brains of novices and experts is different. Expert coaches read situations at a deeper level than do novice coaches. Experts see the underlying structures. Novices see the superficial detail.

This has important implications for the way coach developers support the development of coaches in their early stages of learning.

The coach developer’s dilemma

Don’t expect novice coaches to learn by doing what expert coaches do. 

It is popular to say coaching is complex, non-linear, and unpredictable. This requires coaches to exercise professional judgement and decision-making skills. Coaching requires the management of a range of emotional and physical states, participant skill levels, participant anxiety and team dynamics that may be less than ideal. All without simple stock remedies.

For the coach developer working with novice and intermediate coaches, this snapshot of coaching presents significant challenges. A more experienced coach when asked will this or that work, may well say, “it depends”, highlighting the unpredictable nature of coaching. Implying that no single piece of advice can be universally applied.
This creates a dilemma for the CD. Throwing coaches into complex decision making too early in their development may be counterproductive. We have to take a short detour to see why.

Novices are not little experts

The cognitive (thinking) processes that experts use are different from those used by novices. In short, experts think differently from novices. This means that developing skills and knowledge early in a coach’s development is fundamentally different from learning at a later stage of the coach’s development.

“It’s not just that students know less than experts, it’s also that what they know is organised differently in their memory.” (1, p128)

This fundamental difference between novice and expert coaches means that as CDs we have to be aware of the curse of knowledge – the idea that experts forget how difficult learning may be in the early stages, and what is required to effectively learn.

According to the cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham there are important novice / expert differences (1). Some of his points are reproduced here:

• Experts show better transfer to similar domains than novices do.
• Even if novices have the same knowledge as experts, experts can access the right information with greater speed and accuracy.
• Experts are better able to single out important details, produce sensible solutions, and transfer their knowledge to similar domains.
• The extensive experience (and knowledge) of experts means that they will be able to transfer information more efficiently from working memory to long-term memory. This includes deriving benefits from practice more efficiently than novices.
• The information in the memory of experts is organised differently from the information in a novice’s long-term memory.
• Novices think in terms of surface features, whereas experts think in terms of functions, or deep structure.

Strategies for novice / intermediate coaches

Armed with these insights from cognitive science, we can plan for the learning experiences that are likely to be more successful for coaches at the beginning of their learning journey. We have touched on some of these strategies above.
Here is a summary of strategies for novice and intermediate coach learning consistent with the insights above (2):

• Be clear about where coaches are starting from (prior knowledge and skills). Build from there.
• Use learning experiences that are consistent with the working memory capacities of the coaches.
• Use graphics or other visual techniques to show coaches the big picture – where they are going and how things connect to each other.
• Use multi-sensory teaching strategies (visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, tactile).
• Provide modelling / demonstrations and worked examples.
• Build on surface knowledge by challenging coaches with thinking tasks (problem solving, application etc).
• Provide opportunities for collaboration.
• Provide feedback / feed forward, ask questions, collaborate on next steps.
• Provide ample opportunities for spaced practice (practice in small doses spread out over time).

Scaffold support & fade guidance 

A learner-centred approach is one where coaches are provided opportunities to take responsibility for their own learning.

Helping learners take more responsibility for their own learning can be developed over time. This approach is summarised in the graphic below (3,4)

The model in a nutshell:
I DO > WE DO > YOU DO

A closer look at the model

• The purpose of the model is to help CDs choose learning experiences that consider where coaches are on the novice – expert spectrum.
• Novices have less knowledge, skills & experience, so more guidance is required.
• Guidance is reduced as coaches develop more expertise (called the guidance fading effect).
• Too much information too early will confuse coaches (working memory overload), just as too little guidance will have the same effect.
• The model is not a recipe for CDs or coaches. That is, be prepared to go back a step or two to progress at a later date. Sometimes another tack altogether will be needed.
• Even experts are ‘novices’ for some of the time (e.g., learning a new technology). The difference compared with novices is the greater experience & knowledge of experts, means it will be easier for them to relate to information in long-term memory & to see how new knowledge can be applied.
• A community coach in their context can be just as ‘expert’ as a performance coach. Just different types of expertise.
• The model assumes there is a favourable climate for learning and the learners are sufficiently interested, motivated & have the required prior knowledge.

Take outs

• Coaching is often described as complex, non-linear, and unpredictable.
• This calls for coaches to have the skills to make decisions and exercise judgement in the face of uncertainty. These are higher-order thinking skills.
• These higher order skills need to be taught in a coaching context and not in isolation.
• So called twenty first century skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, creativity and communication skills are domain specific. That is, to solve a problem in coaching, the coach needs to build up mental models (schemata) through actual coaching experience.
• Until coaches have enough relevant foundational knowledge and skills it would be counter-productive to throw a coach in their early stages of learning into situations where difficult decision making is required.
• Experts think differently from novices. Experts are better able to single out important details, produce sensible solutions, and transfer their knowledge to similar domains.
• Some higher-level coaching exposure beyond the current capabilities of a coach may have some motivational value for coaches even if actual learning is minimal.
• Understanding novice / expert differences, and how they relate to the choice of learning experiences and instructional strategies is important for CDs to know.
• Giving coaches too much independence from the start is not a good way to develop independent coaches!

Editors: Lawrie Woodman, Andrea Woodburn, Melanie Schembri-Waite

References & notes

1. Willingham, Daniel T. (2009). Why Don’t Students Like School? (A cognitive scientist answers questions about how the mind works and what it means for the classroom), Jossey-Bass.
The quote at the top of the post is adapted from a heading on p143.
 
2. Bell, Mike. (2021). The Fundamentals of Teaching. (A five-step model to put the research evidence into practice). London and New York: Routledge.
Mike Bell reviewed several lists of effective teaching methods including those that use the new understandings of the ‘brain and learning’. He developed his own list based on identifying the common elements of good teaching practices. I have adapted his final list.
 
3. Busch, Bradley, Watson, Edward, Bogatchek, Ludmila. (2023). Teaching and Learning Illuminated. London and New York: Routledge.
The graphic depicting guidance fading is based on what is technically known as the expertise reversal effect. That is giving an expert too much information when ideas and motor patterns are well developed is counterproductive. The ideas captured in the graphic are based on concepts from cognitive psychology.
A SCHEMA is a network of neurons in long-term memory. Schemata are available for understanding the environment and new ideas.
 
4. Fisher, Douglas, Frey, Nancy (2013). Engaging the Adolescent Learner, Gradual Release of Responsibility Instructional Framework. International Reading Association. See HERE.

Coach Developer Profile

Joan Yuliani

Joan Yuliani wears many hats—a netball player, an international official, a coach, and a coach developer. These roles reflect her deep passion and love for netball.

With over 20 years of coaching experience, she works with Singapore’s sports governing body, Sport Singapore, focusing on coaching development within CoachSG. In her free time, she volunteers with Netball Singapore as a coach developer. She feels blessed to be able to do what she loves.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE CD ROLE?

I got into the CD role by accident! I came across a course for coaching course presenters and decided to give it a try. I gained as much experience as I could, and eventually, my association, Netball Singapore, nominated me for an ICCE course. It’s been an incredible experience so far!

CD PHILOSOPHY

My philosophy is to always be open to challenges and to being challenged.

I love creating and being part of the process, as it fosters growth opportunities. I’m constantly asking, ‘Is there a way to do this better?’ and responding with, ‘Yeah, let’s talk about it!’ or ‘I bet we can learn more if we try it this way.’ I really enjoy this kind of engagement, where we push ourselves to improve.

BEST PARTS ABOUT THE ROLE

I love meeting people and hearing their stories about why they’re passionate about sport. Everyone’s personal experiences offer so much to learn from, and it really fuels my own passion for what I do.

SUPPORT FOR COACHES

My support for coaches operates on a couple of layers.

First, I work with my national sports association to organize workshops aimed at further developing coaches’ skills.

On another layer, I support a group of coaches who are learning to become Coach Developers (CDs). I help them develop their skills in facilitation and coaching conversations. I’m currently supporting their overseas learning journey – mainly for them to hear other perspectives, to explore and to come back refreshed and inspired. I often use the word ‘stretch’ to describe my approach, where I nudge them to engage in cross-sport sharing and workshops to further develop their presentation skills and being comfortable engaging with different people.

My goal is to help them provide an all-round experience that helps being a Coach Developer and provide platforms for them to share their experiences. These coaches have so much to offer, but often not enough opportunities to do so.

IF YOU HAD MORE RESOURCES

If I had more resources, I’d probably take a step back to assess the broader needs of coaches and coach developers. I’d spend more time on the ground, really understanding their development needs, and then create something specifically tailored for them.

DO YOU WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH OTHER CDS?

I often do! Whether it’s within the same sport or across different ones, I think it’s valuable to have a sounding board with someone from another sport. Hearing about their experiences, challenges, and learnings is incredibly insightful.

Nothing beats getting advice from peers as well. I often reach out to them, and they do the same with me. Sometimes, I invite them to my workshops and courses to hear their feedback on what I can do better, and I make time to do the same for them.

Over time, we’ve built a supportive network of like-minded individuals who are deeply passionate about sports, and I find that to be a huge relief.

HIGHLIGHTS AND CHALLENGES

I’m always on the lookout for people who are eager to be stretched and get involved in facilitating and learning. When I see the coaches I support speaking the same language— with the same vigor and passion—as they pass it on to other coaches, I’m incredibly proud of them. They start talking about how rewarding it is to be part of a beginner coach’s journey, mentoring others, and seeing those coaches get excited and eager to learn more.

That’s where the value truly multiplies. Coach Developers (CDs) are multipliers. What we advocate, our values, and the hours we put in all multiply across so many others.

DO YOU HAVE A MENTOR?

I don’t have a mentor, though I wish I did. However, we do have a strong support network. We help each other by offering advice, providing a listening ear, sharing new perspectives, and being there as friends to grab drinks with or bounce ideas off of. .

TOP 4 COACH DEV TIPS
  1. Listen to understand.
  2. Always be people-centric
  3. Be keen to learn (even from the person you’re mentoring)
  4. Have fun and be yourself
  5. Get to know the person not the profession.

An inconvenient proposition about learning: IT’S OK to TELL PEOPLE STUFF

Courtesy Sport Coaches Connect
The push – pull continuum

A pillar of many coach developer courses is the PUSH – PULL continuum – a way of characterising a range of different teaching approaches1. A similar idea is the TELL – ASK continuum. An Australian Sports Commission video 2 about the TELL – ASK continuum can be accessed HERE.

Australian Sports Commision
Fig. Redrawn from the original concept in the ICCE International Coach Developer Framework (2024)

Pushing or telling is characterised as a traditional information-driven approach where the teacher curates, translates and communicates information (3). The responsibility for learning resides with the learner (athlete or coach).

In a learner-centred approach, learner and teacher work together. The teacher engineers an environment to promote learning. The emphasis is squarely on learning. High-level questions help to make thinking visible and make sense of learning. They help the learner to connect to prior knowledge and cluster new knowledge into larger concepts. Student explanations provide a similar role.

An additional potential advantage to the push-pull approach is that it reminds the CD or coach that they will need to adapt their teaching to the context and the needs of the learners.

Push – Pull Limitations

The push-pull or tell-ask concepts are useful provided it is understood that there is no right or wrong teaching approach that can be explained by the idea of a push-pull continuum. It is also important to not see push-pull as binaries. They are simply teaching approaches to be used in a flexible way along with other teaching strategies.

• Pushing or telling are imprecise terms often confused with the idea of someone talking for 40 minutes or more while the audience remains passive – possibly asleep (didactic lecturing). A didactic approach is not the same as explicit or direct teaching.
• Explicit (or direct) teaching includes some telling but in the context of setting clear learning intentions, indicating what ‘good looks like’, modelling, checking for understanding, guiding the practice and so on.
• The push-pull continuum is a useful reminder that different learning situations require solutions that are relevant to the moment. However, push-pull is not a precise guide for telling you when to push or pull. For example, it is not useful to say that pushing should never be used with an expert learner or an exploratory learning strategy or questioning approach should never be used with a novice learner.
• Push-pull is also not a useful tool for categorising different teaching roles such as instructor, teacher, facilitator, mentor etc. What these titles mean is arbitrary and imprecise and assumes that the roles can be accurately placed on the push-pull continuum. They can’t.

Addressing the limitations

Push – Pull shows us that there are different ways a coach or CD can offer guidance to a learner. The type of guidance offered depends on the context and the learner. The push – pull continuum is limited in informing us of the choices available for guidance. It is difficult to match a point on the push – pull continuum with a learner’s needs and use that to prescribe how much pushing, pulling or something else should be done.

In an earlier post, we looked at the Gradual Release of Responsibility model (GRR) – (ref 4) summarised by the graphic below. The graphic conveys the multiple ways a teacher and learner can work together. Guidance fades from top to bottom. GRR is not meant to convey a linear process – the amount of guidance may fluctuate depending on the circumstance.

Gradual Release of Responsibility model

A complementary approach to managing instructional guidance is to base the guidance on the following three factors shown in the graphic and explained below. The three factors help in the choice of the optimal guidance for different contexts.

Guidance: Task, Goal, Expertise

• The TASK. Is the focus on surface knowledge such as knowing the three energy systems or knowing what emotional intelligence means? Or is it about the deep knowledge that is required to apply knowledge and skills and solve problems.

• The LEVEL of LEARNER EXPERTISE. What prior knowledge and skills does the learner possess?

• The INSTRUCTIONAL GOAL. This is an important factor in deciding whether there should be no guidance or minimal guidance versus a high level of guidance as in explicit instruction. Two instructional goals have been identified:

o Pre-instructional goals. Priming the learner for what is to come. Activating prior learning. Identifying knowledge gaps. Motivating the learner.
o Problem solving. For this goal, the aim is to enhance problem solving skills so the learner can apply knowledge and transfer it to new and unfamiliar situations. This requires the acquisition of more comprehensive mental models.

Slava Kalyuga (5) has developed the idea of these three factors as a basis for managing instructional guidance in an article in an open access book, In Their Own Words. The e-book is available here and is highly recommended. See page 122 for Slava’s informative article.

Whether instructor, teacher, or mentor, these three factors come into play. A word of caution though. Coaching is complex with many ‘moving parts’. Any prescriptive advice should be tempered with the coach’s (or CD’s) own judgement. This may mean doing something that doesn’t neatly fit a ‘textbook prescription’.

Take outs

• The Push – Pull continuum is shorthand for indicating there are different ways to offer guidance to learners.
• Implicit in the idea is that more pulling or asking is better because it is consistent with the idea of a more learner-centred approach to teaching.

• Use push – pull as a reminder to employ a variety of teaching/coaching approaches.

• Avoid black and white binary labelling. Pushing or telling can mean many things and can serve many useful purposes. At the wrong time or if overused, pushing can be counterproductive. Pulling or asking, likewise comes in many forms. There are pros and cons for this strategy too.

• Rather than putting teachers and learners into categories, understanding how to best manage guidance is a more productive approach.

• More and more emphasis in coaching and coach development is being placed on learner-centred approaches. More asking. More learner-voice. Opportunities for more learner choice when working with learners (coaches or athletes). These are aimed at producing greater learner independence and autonomy.

• There is no right way to teach or coach. What works in the researcher’s laboratory might not work in your ‘laboratory’ of the real world. This calls for understanding and empathy for different points of view and teaching/coaching styles. This idea is developed in an excellent podcast on The Sport Pysch Show (6).

• Avoid putting labels on teachers/coaches and learners or putting them on a continuum. A more useful approach starts with the learner’s needs and asking the following questions:

o What is the learning intention and what does ‘good’ look like?

o Is the learner a novice or an expert on the task at hand? What is their prior achievement?

o What is the nature of the task? (Task complexity – high or low or in between)

o What is the instructional goal – to prime and motivate prior to deeper learning or is it to develop problem solving skills?

Asking these questions is a reminder that CDs and coaches may play multiple roles ranging from providing explicit instruction, to being a mentor or supportive friend.

Context as always is important. Remember, it too can vary.

The coach or CD’s ‘override’ button is to be used when gut feeling indicates the learner may need something that fits the moment better than a more prescriptive approach.


Editors: Lawrie Woodman, Andrea Woodburn and Melanie Schembri-Waite.

References
  1. Crisfield, P., Bales, J. (2024). International Coach Developer Framework, International Council for Coaching Excellence. Page 42.
  2. Australian Sports Commission. Supporting Others Video Series.
  3. Chew, S., (2023). The Culture of Teaching We Have Versus the Culture of Teaching We Need. In In Their Own Words (What Scholars and Teachers Want You to Know About Why and How to Apply the Science of Learning in Your Academic Setting. Division 2, American Psychological Association. Page 32.
  4. Fisher, D. Effective Use of the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model. 
  5. Kalyuga, Slava. (2023). Task Complexity, Learner Expertise, and Instructional Goals in Managing Instructional Guidance. In In Their Own Words. Page 122-131. (See reference #3 above for access).
  6. Cushion, C., Harvey, S. Cope, E. Sport Psych Show, Episode #227. (2023). A Flexible Approach to Coaching.  Highly recommended for its common sense to approach to how learning works and its relevance to coaching.

Coach Developer Profile

Lawrie Woodman

Lawrie has been at the forefront of coach development in Australia. He played a major role in the roll out of the internationally recognised National Coaching Accreditation Scheme (NCAS).

As director of the Australian Coaching Council, Lawrie saw the implementation of major programs to assist NSOs in their development. These included: coaching athletes with a disability, the national officiating program, a coach scholarship program for emerging performance coaches, and elite coach conferences.

In 1994, Lawrie drove a year of coach recognition and celebration with the Year of the Coach initiative.

A hallmark of Lawrie’s directorship was the provision of a high level of support to NSOs in all facets of the design and delivery of courses.

CURRENT ROLE

Freelance coach developer mentoring some individual community coaches. Chair of the Australian Coaching Council.

Experience relevant to coach development

50 years as a teacher, coach and coach educator, including 35 years developing and delivering national level coaching development programs. Formal positions included Director of the Australian Coaching Council, Performance Coordinator at the AIS, High Performance Manager at Athletics Australia and Coaching Manager at the Australian Football League.

Awarded an OAM in 2021 for services to sport coaching and development.

PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

I am a physical educator by profession and an experienced teacher. My philosophy can be summed up as working to inspire lifelong enjoyment of sport and physical activity. Coaches, and the way they deliver sport experiences, are the main influencers of that outcome.

Developing and delivering appropriate coach education and development is therefore crucial.

BELIEFS ABOUT COACHING

Coaching is a combination of connected endeavours, including:

  • Preparing athletes/participants for competition. Helping people get better. Creating a learning environment to assist people to improve and master the skills and tactics of their sport.
  • The quality of the participants’ experiences is directly dependent on the quality of coaching.
  • The coach is the shop front of a sport. Providing a positive experience is critical so participants will come back – next practice session, next week, next season.
  • Coaches are very influential in the quality of the club environment, determining whether it is a welcoming, enjoyable, learning environment – “A place where people want to be.”

“The coach is the shop front of a sport.

THE KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL COACHING
  • Forming relationships and teaching.
  • Understanding motivations:
  • Your own motivation – why are you coaching?
  • Knowing your athletes’ motivations for participating – why are they here?”. Then meeting their motivations (and your own). This will include fun and enjoyment, mastery of skills, social – being with others and a feeling of belonging, competition, and success.
  • Teaching – utilising a structured coaching process to deliver your craft – planning, goal setting, implementation, observation, analysis, feedback, and review.
  • Patience and resilience.
  • Curiosity – being a long-term active learner, evidence seeker, and getting better.
  • Values and beliefs – standing for something
TAKING COACH DEVELOPMENT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

The underlying theme is assisting people to become better coaches – ensuring they have up-to-date coaching skills.

There is a wide “matrix” of learning and development opportunities available at all levels today. Coach development can be much more individualised. Attending courses, either face to face or on-line, provided by sporting organisations and other educational agencies, and gaining formal qualifications will remain a major element. Seeking out on-going development opportunities is crucial to continued improvement.

The starting point for a coach development program is the coach knowing where they want to get to as a coach and understanding their starting point – “Where are you now?” What do they believe they need to bridge the gap? What is their next step? This where coach developers can play a crucial role in helping the coach with these questions and facilitating an environment which assists them along the way.

Continuous reflection on their coaching activities and progress with a view to ongoing improvement is a key to progress. Like athletic performance, this will not be a linear experience.

Ongoing coach support at club or association level will be a critical factor of future effectiveness. This can be delivered in different ways – mentors, coach developers, club development programs with components that include the coaches. Clubs may rely on their coaches to deliver expected major outcomes of these programs to their athletes.

TOP TIPS FOR COACH DEVELOPERS
  1. Coach Development has a lot in common with coaching – “coaching the coaches”. Many of methods and skills used by coach developers will be the same as those used in effective coaching.
  2. It starts with the qualities of being persistently curious and an active learner. The first step is to get involved – gaining experience; practicing coach development.
  3. Seek out formal and informal opportunities to deliver coach development activities, including presenting at courses within sporting organisations, clubs and leagues.
  4. Start building relationship with coaches you are working with and determine what they are expecting from the relationship. Initially offer what the coach is seeking and then broaden their mindset to explore other elements.
  5. Facilitate the implementation of a community of practice with other coach developers to share ideas, provide motivation and offer support. Do something similar with the coaches you are developing.

Assessment FAQs – Part 2

IS RELIABILITY THE SAME AS VALIDITY?

Assessment involves trade-offs no matter how you cut the cake. More reliability and less validity. More validity and less reliability.

ASSESSMENT: The big RELIABILITY – VALIDITY trade-off

It’s common to hear definitions of reliability and validity (see graphic above) when discussing assessment. Most times they leave me thinking, Well, so what! What are the implications of this?

Not familiar with the terms? Have a look at this.

So, let’s dig a little deeper. What does it mean for the coach developer and how we go about assessment?

All assessment involves trade-offs (1,2). Too much time on summative assessments (3) robs the coach of practice time. If we assess one area of a course, we forgo the opportunity to assess another area in more depth. Aim for a more rigorous assessment and there is a danger of making it all too complicated and time consuming and costly.

The nature of assessment forces the coach developer to accept a trade-off of some kind. No matter what assessment path they take. There are no solutions, only trade-offs. (1).

MENTAL MODELS TO THE RESCUE

Given this dilemma (only trade-offs available), it’s important that we revisit our mental models (MM) that underpin coach learning. These models are based on the observations, beliefs, and values we have about the kind of learning experiences and outcomes for our coaches.

For example, our mental models might be underpinned by:

  • A desire for simplicity
  • An understanding of how volunteers would like to receive their training and their attitude towards being assessed.
  • A consideration of whether summative assessments add value for particular groups of coaches.
  • The time available and the suitability of the CD workforce.
  • The opportunity cost of one method over another. Where do we focus to get the biggest bang for the buck?
  • Beliefs about the importance of coaches learning in a practical context with an emphasis on ‘whole coaching’.

A theme running through these points is summed up by the saying: Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Be open to balancing competing forces regarding the choice of assessment.
The mental models you choose might be underpinned by different assumptions, beliefs, and values to those in the example above. Particularly as you take your context into consideration.

What would you include in your list of MM attributes?

THE TENSION BETWEEN RELIABILITY & VALIDITY

The graphic below draws together some of the ideas outlined above.

Multiple combinations of reliability and validity are possible. In the graphic all four arrows are within striking distance of the bull’s eye. That is, relatively high validity. But notice the spread is broad, leading to relatively low reliability.

“The key thing in assessment is being clear about why you are assessing, what conclusions you want to draw and how well the evidence supports the conclusions.”   Dylan Wiliam

TAKE OUTS
  • Reliability is a pre-requisite of validity.
  • There is always a tension between reliability and validity.
  • Trade-offs between the two are commonplace.
  • More reliability is not necessarily better!
  • There is no such thing as a valid assessment task. Validity is a property of inferences based on the assessment outcomes, just as a picture cannot tell the whole story of an event. (2)
  • A lot of what we do in coach development involves outcomes that are not specific, measurable, or easily observable.
  • Coaching is a people business, and this calls for CDs and coaches to exercise their professional judgement. This often means making judgements by stepping back to look at the big picture – as ‘fuzzy’ as it may be.
  • The context and prior achievements of the coaches will determine the type of assessment adopted.
  • In some instances (e.g., volunteers, advanced coaches), the assessment might be embedded (3) into the learning with no formal summative assessments.
References
  1. Christodoulou, Daisy. (2024) Designing the Perfect Assessment System, Part 3, The are no solutions, only trade-offs. The expression was originally used by the writer and critic Thomas Sowell. Daisy’s article is available here.
  2. Wiliam, Dylan. (2020) How to Think About Assessment, in Donarski, Sarah, and Bennett, Tom, Assessment: An Evidence-Informed Guide for Teachers, John Catt.
  3. Northern Illinois University, Formative and Summative Assessment. Available here.
  4. Bjerede, Marie (2015). Embedded Formative Assessment: Tests without Stress. Available here.

Acknowledgments: Thanks to reviewers Lawrie Woodman, Andrea Woodburn, Melanie Schembri Waite, and Dawn Ho.

Coach Developer Profile

Les Bee

Les Bee is a “semi-retired” coach and coach developer who enjoys supporting coaches at all levels. He has over 45 years coaching experience and 30 plus years as a coach developer, primarily involved in football (the round ball game).

He has been influential over several decades in promoting a games-based approach for athlete learning. Les has run numerous games-coaching workshops all over the country and internationally as well as developing a number of resources.

In recent years Les has been at the cutting edge of support-in-practice initiatives whereby more experienced coaches, after some training, volunteer their time to support newbie coaches on the job.

The role of parents in contributing to positive participant outcomes has been a mission of Les’s for some time.

Les has a great ability to take multiple ideas and cut through to the essentials.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE CD ROLE?

I was ‘volunteered’ to go on a coaching course by my coach and the club president. The experience was enjoyable, and it was the start of a long learning journey.

I was very fortunate to get a role that allowed me to observe, engage and be challenged by coaches from a wide range of sports.

I was predominantly involved with team sports, but also gained much from exposure to quality coaches from individual sports.

PHILOSOPHY

Be open minded and flexible, try anything that you feel may work with players/athletes.

Be prepared to modify or adjust according to their responses as I believe it is important that players appreciate their efforts, as some physical requirements may be stressful and challenging at the time.

Remember it is their game/activity and therefore they must be at the centre of their
development. Provide an environment that allows and encourages the player to learn through experience and reflection (either through self-reflection or in conjunction with their coach).

Coach development should provide a range of coaching approaches to support them in the delivery of appropriate sessions for the athlete’s development. A course is only the starting point of their journey and further support and opportunities for learning are required.

BEST PARTS ABOUT THE ROLE

I enjoy seeing players and coaches develop and it is rewarding to observe their progress when they move to different levels or continue to enjoy their involvement. It is also very gratifying that many have kept in touch over the years.

SUPPORT FOR COACHES & COACH DEVELOPERS

The connection with coaches through courses and supporting them whilst they explore their options and philosophies.

Supporting new coach developers in their journey and encouraging them to try different approaches to see what works for them and resonates with the coaches they are working with over time.

IF YOU HAD MORE RESOURCES

Establish a support mechanism that makes it easy for coaches to identify a sounding board to help in further development or overcome challenges.

Establish a local association/club contact for this purpose; State and National level support seems to be too distant to have an ongoing impact.

Whilst technology can assist, I believe coaching is an interpersonal activity and requires personal contact between coach developers/mentors and coaches, that reinforces the desired coaching behaviours.

This should also include engaging with parents to ensure all are on the same page in supporting the athlete’s participation.

HIGHLIGHTS AND CHALLENGES

Highlights
Working with people who are open and prepared to share their thoughts, have clear values and treat others with respect and dignity regardless of their background and level they coach.

Challenges
In the past, coaching courses have tended to focus on one approach to coaching that may not resonate with some participants, there is a need for coaches to be exposed to a range of coaching methods as they further develop, this is difficult given the time constraints of a course.

Just like your driver’s licence, a one-off assessment gets you a licence, however that’s when the real learning experience begins, and there’s no “P” plates for coaches.

DO YOU HAVE A MENTOR?

I have learnt from many people from a wide range of sports and like industries so believe I have many mentors. I stay in touch with people who are happy to share their experiences and thoughts.

I have benefitted from three close friendships/mentors from my own sport and three from other sports and one from an officiating background, all are prepared to share thoughts and be a critical friend.

MY TOP 5 COACH DEV TIPS
  1. Seek information and ideas from all areas, sport, education, business etc.
  2. Explore and experiment with the different approaches to coaching and coach development.
  3. Provide learning environments for coaches where they learn not to ‘over coach’.
  4. Be comfortable to make mistakes, reflected experience can be extremely valuable.
  5. Remember “It’s about the person, first and foremost”.

Above all, “Be yourself.”