Sports Coaching Experience in Tokyngton Football Club - Coursework Example

ESSAY, OTHER SPORTS COACHING - THESIS WORK EXPERIENCE Critical evaluation of work experience Interweaving theory and practice It is important to highlight that this paper delves on my sports coaching experience in Tokyngton Football Club. It is also important to reiterate the fact that I am one of the young coaches who were nurtured to become well experienced. In this section, my work experience has therefore clearly been discussed (Dick, Fisher, West and Dawson, 2006). When it comes to the interweaving the theory and the practice, it is important to highlight that I emphasized much on the use of various theories. Some of the theories that I used in the training session was the theory of multiple intelligence. Under this, it is important to highlight that the continuous practices by various players is very vital and healthy to the players as well as the coach. This is in the sense that it creates more knowledge and skills to the players. This is also in the case that the interpersonal as well as intrapersonal levels of interaction is clearly enhanced and improved. I ensured this and this helped in the boosting of the team coordination amongst the members (Dick, Fisher, West and Dawson, 2006). In the training of my team, I tried to improve how they interacted and integrated the players. I emulated and emphasized certain theory that was propagated by Rojek in 2009. The theory was on Emotional Intelligence. Under this, I tried to make it very clear to the players that for them to be as competent as anticipated, well behavior must be put forward in all circumstances. I think the training went well in that I achieved much. I was able to gauge my competence in sports coaching. Since during my training I was involved with immature people, I happened to experience some difficulties (Mobley, 1977). This was because most of the players consisted of youths from the streets and poor families. You can imagine how hard I felt in handling the people who were of almost the same age as me. Imagine a 10 years difference! That range was very small hence such players would have little or no trisect to me. Handling young people especially the children requires a bit of delicate handling (Hemmestad, Jones and Standal, 2010). Children are sometimes annoying and they may lower ones esteem in that they are slow in running and hard in following instructions. As a response I had to be a bit serious and always in a stern face as a way of creating some authoritative environment. In spite of not being used to such facial expressions, I had to shift into it for the first few weeks before things cooled down. As if that the issue was not a problem, some of the older boys were involving themselves in harmful activities such as alcohol and smoking that made them poor in performance during training. The smoking players panted a lot besides coughing so much hence lowering the full efficiency of training (Taber, Plumb, & Jolemore, 2008). The drunkards gave me hard times especially if they had taken alcohol in the previous night. They could perform little in that they were exhausted and not fully to their senses. Such awkward behaviors adversely affected the training session so much. In addition, due to different age groups, there was problem in balancing the teams in that some of the boys were older and stronger than the others. Balancing such a team was tricky in that if all the strong boys were grouped in one team, the other team would be weakened (Mobley, 1977). Still during the training, I found my ethics a bit as well as code of conduct to be still poor in the essence that I was used to nurturing and handling mature people only. Now that I was involved in the young generation, I had to adopt a multiple system of running things. This was because the different age groups required to be handled in a special manner. Since I was developing a young team of great importance in the future, I had to apply all measures that would not lower my teams self esteem and future dreams (Hemmestad, Jones and Standal, 2010). The boys were poor in training but that did not limit their dreams of being famous footballers in the world. I used to give them theories like the common slogan that I always passed on to them that their dreams are valid. They would be whatever they wish to be as long as they work harder towards the ambition. Therefore, I was to keep increasing their morale and telling them that they can as a way of giving them hopes. Self concept changes over time as one age, and it develops as a result of experience. This shows that the more one is experienced, the more challenges he has come along hence, the more competent he is (Department of Employment Services, 2008). Lack of sufficient facilities was another issue that affected me during my coaching experience. Training tools like balls were not enough for the team. This showed that our potential was not fully achieved. The pitch was not all that appealing in that it had several potholes that led to regular injuries on my team. This led to some of the players missing much training leading to their incompetency. All in all I had to cope with the little we had since training was a must (Oelofsen, 2012). Most of the time in sports is spent during training session and not in actual performance or tournament if I may say so. It is important for a wise coach to provide his players with more training especially away from their normal training ground. This is a way of reducing the monotony and unidirectional nature in the training in one field and adapting the players to various playing grounds and environments. My team was used to the home ground; hence they were fully adapted and used to it. This can reduce performance if my team goes for external game with varying weather conditions different from a home weather. Therefore, the more the team is in contact with external environments, the more it is adapted and suited (Hemmestad, Jones and Standal, 2010). Most of the trainees failed to attend the training on discovery that it was kind of strenuous and tiresome in a way. To prevent such absenteeism, I had to bring the biological importance of practice in promotion of good health. Practicing good health through sorts is not a single process step in that many components such as spiritual, emotional and physical health are all inclusive (Oelofsen, 2012). However, such practices of good health vary among individuals. Practices that can boost good health include a balanced diet in addition to physical activity that proves good health. The psychological growth of a person is as well expanded and developed well through the effective training sessions (Lietz, 2013). According to United States department of health and human services, lack of practice increases one risk of diseases such as diabetes and stroke. Incorporation of practice in my life strengthens the body and makes me feel relaxed and composed (Lietz, 2013). Mentoring is one of the factors that have been considered very vital in developmental programs. Most coaches gain their coaching experience from their fellow advanced coaches who are more experienced (Smith and Sadler-Smith, 2006). Once these starting coaches became experts, they starter mentoring other players and athletes and the process continued (Mobley, 1977). That was the case that happened to me. In fact I had to spend most of the time with my senior coaches at least to learn even a single skill or technique that they applied making them experienced coaches. Mentoring occurs when there is a good relationship and interaction between the coach and the players (Mobley, 1977). A formalized and well structured mentoring program is the best that can be applied to the players in that they have to fully adhere to it even in times they are not willing (Rojek, 2009). Since there were many coaches who handled different age groups for training, I had to make choices of which training to attend. Sometimes it was hard to make such kind of decisions. Therefore, I had to attend most of them of which I had wished to attend all (Mobley, 1977). Structured coaching education programs in learning sources are better compared to manuals (Illeris, 2011; Dean, Sykes, Agostinho and Clements, 2012). This shows that both the coach and the players will always be in regular skills programs. As a coach I had to at least come with a skill that I was to share with my fellow colleagues. This was to create a strong work team that was willing to share whatever idea they had. The best way of developing and establishing young coaches is through associations by mentors (Hemmestad, Jones and Standal, 2010). According to the theory of deliberate practice, talent plays no part in the development of an expert. Deliberate practice is an effort applied by an interested person in improving his performance. It does not require one watching the skill being practiced but a matter of attention and extra training (Hagar and Hodkinson, 2009). Therefore, I had to apply all my efforts to reduce the absenteeism rate in that it would lead me to missing several important training sessions. Despite being a coach, I had to keep regular physical fitness practices to build strong muscles and a hard body. Such training and further reading should be approved by the coach (Hemmestad, Jones and Standal, 2010). In addition, the theory of sport commitment claims that the party being involved gets some enjoyment from the sporting activity in that if not committed, that person will have no interest. This shows that commitment in sports may be due to personal investment, enjoyment or opportunity such that one will have invested all his efforts and time. Commitment towards a sporting activity is increased by raising the number of time for training and putting more effort in improving the activities related to the performance (Hager, 2005). Conscientiousness is the best factor that can be used to determine the best training and job satisfaction among the workers. The value is demonstrated through self initiative, discipline, time management and orderliness. Ability to agree is a value that shows how an individual is polite, kind, cooperative and concern about others. Such people are able to maintain social relationships with all groups in that they know how to handle each. Young kids training for football should be handled as a child. Once he makes a mistake, one should encourage him, that it was a nice trial but not confronting or shouting at him (Dean, Sykes, Agostinho, & Clements, 2012). That was my rule during the training. The youth’s interest in sports was to be developed by all means but not to turn their dreams into turmoil. The way I presented myself was to mean much than I did. Therefore, respect and discipline were my keys to the house of success. Moreover, I had to be initiative in development of new ideas through critical thinking, curiosity and appreciation. This is an indication that one has potential to develop new skills for reasons that situations are changing every day. Tactics in football are the key tools in winning a game. A team that possesses new, unique, conspicuous and advanced tactics that are unfamiliar to their opponents is likely to win and progress so much. Therefore, it was my duty as a coach to bring and create new tactics in each and every training session and then for a good competition with the opponent teams (Hager, 2005). It was evident that mentoring and training are continuous processes in sports (Plumb, 2008). Mentors and coaches should develop trustworthy relationships with their fellow athletes and new beginner coaches. The Football Club should incorporate reflective activities within it to avoid future failures and mismanagement (Cox, 2005). All levels of the club starting from the players up to the coach’s level should uphold reflective practices. Moreover, opportunities for reflection should be created even in the outside environment of the club to ensure that the nearby society is aware of all the clubs up and downs since help may be sought (Etherington, 2004). The reflective practices should be facilitated in a formal and organized way by involving the groups for their feedbacks balance (Oelofse, 2012). I came to discover that the more I was exposed to training, the better I increased my coaching profession. Therefore, future coaches should have a culture of initiative in being involved in several clubs to gauge their levels as they better their skills. To improve the coaching experience of the future coaches, more resources should be availed to reduce the inconveniences and expenses I happened to incur. The pitch condition should be improved to reduce injuries (Dean, Sykes, Agostinho, & Clements, 2012). We were used to training in our home ground and seldom did we visit external fields. This was a little bit monotonous but since we had no other alternatives, we had to make the environment friendly and newer every time. Not only were the coaches bored but also, the players among other supportive staff. You can imagine how stressful and irritating it is to do a single thing today, tomorrow the whole week and continuous. To cope with such scenarios there must have been some guiding light since it was not a simple task. Affective Events Theory states that emotions and moods can affect job performance and its satisfaction (Dick, Fisher, West and Dawson, 2006). Employees’ internal factors such as emotions, cognitions and mental status have a relationship with the incidents that occur in the workplace. A stressed mind wills always perform clumsy ideas that will lead to problems in work and vice versa. According to the theory, cognitive behaviors are indicators of job satisfactory while moods and emotions affect the employee’s behaviors. In the workplace, the decision for either continuing with a job or quitting it is dependants on the employees’ moods and emotions. Challenging tasks that require new rewarding skills always have a positive effect in that the trainer will always pursue to know more than before. On the contrary, routinely and boring are always associated with low esteem, low self confidence and low initiatives hence negatively affecting (Dick et al., 2006). Unless one compares his skills with the seniors, at no time shall one know how competent he is (Bourdieu, 1998). Moreover, sharing of ideas enables both parties to learn new ideas from each other. In my scenario as a young coach, one may think that I am a competent one. The efforts and competence of a coach are reflected by his team’s performance provided that other factors are held constant. This happens because the players will apply what they have been trained by their coaches. Therefore, a one teams coach can gauge his advancement by comparing his team’s performance with another. During the game, the coach will be lucky to learn new theories and understand where he went wrong. Such initiatives enable both the team and their leader to improve (Dick et al., 2006). Area I need to improve in my role as a coach As the coach of the team, I need to make sure that the team members are punctual at all sessions of training. This would ensure that they train for the same number of hours and that each comes out of the training exercise with at least a skill or more skills. Another area that I should improve as a coach is exposing the players to different training grounds with different players. This would be of much benefit to the team as they will be able to learn new skills and gain experience when it comes to the game (Mobley, 1977). Why i used different theories It is important to reiterate the fact that the use of the theories was quite ideal as they were guiding principles and concepts that developed well a player who could be very attentive and listening. They got encouraged from the theories that I used and some actually achieved their dreams of becoming world known players (Mobley, 1977). This was with the view that the players could find the theories quite credible and put them into use. It is also important to note that the use of the theories in the team could also not cause much conflicts within the team because the theories were kind of polite and this enhanced a good level of understanding in the team thereby boosting the level of performance of the players and of the team (Dick, Fisher, West and Dawson, 2006). References Bourdieu, P. (1998). Practical reason: On the theory of action. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Brown, D, and Brooks, L (2002). ‘Career Choice and Development: Applying Contemporary Theories to Practice’, San Francisco: Josses-Bass. Colley, H., James, D., Tedder, M. & Diment, K. (2003). Learning as becoming in vocational education and training: Class, gender and the role of vocational habitus. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 55(4), 471-496. Cox, E. (2005). 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