Become a coach - at what peril?

[bowcoach]

I really find this thread to be very interesting. Being a national coach here in the USA, I can say I have experienced both positives and negatives, but in the whole I feel I belong.

To suggest that one must be or must have been an archer at such and such level before one can coach is simply not supported throughout the sporting world. There are many examples of great coaches who were not particularly standouts in their playing days. Further, there are many examples of great athletes who ended up being poor coaches.

Coaches of any sport walk a fine line… They have to balance knowledge of the sport, with knowledge of development principles, and they must also learn how to interact with particular athletes, whether or not to push an archer, or to give passive support. A coach has to know when constructive criticism should be used and when it shouldn’t; when to build up confidence, or shoot down one’s ego. In fact, for many coaches, as they themselves develop, they find that there is so much more to it than knowledge of sport specific principles. In my case I realized that to be successful as a coach required that I master concepts which were outside the sport specific arena. To me, the fact that a coach must have certain technical and sport specific knowledge became peripheral in importance; that aspect was understood, and is generally assumed by most coaches.

What makes a great coach is not just the ability to know how to tune a bow, or having vast technical know-how, but how to communicate concepts, how to interpret aspects of the sport. For me, the challenge has always been to improve my communication skills, to learn how to prioritize, and how to help archers build confidence in their abilities. Knowing how to tune a bow, make a string, and fletch arrows does not constitute being a coach. In some sports such a person would be simply called an “equipment manager!”

When, I first started out coaching at the youth development level, I would often shoot to demonstrate principles, and I soon became aware of a mild catch 22 which at some points seemed to exist at more advanced levels. That is, as a coach if you shoot and hit the gold, you may be called a show-off. If you miss, people may say you suck! This is consistent with what I mentioned about coaches walking a fine line. A coach may have all the technical abilities in the world, but if he cannot communicate concepts, archers will not buy into what he/she is trying to impart.

With regards to seemingly mundane courses and requirements; I would say that even in the easiest course, you will find something that you can use as a coach. I too went through courses that I could have slept through, but you see I may not have learned anything from the course material, but I learned a lot from watching other coaches. I was able to see how certain coaches interpreted and communicated ideas and concepts to archers, and I borrowed those practices which seemed to be successful and made a mental note of those which I thought were less useful. I think as a coach having an attitude that says, I could easily be a regional or county coach but I don’t want to go through this worthless course or that worthless course, or I don’t care for this person who is teaching and so on… That is the wrong approach. And chances are you are missing out on coaching opportunities because potential students pick up on this attitude.

I once coached an archer who I thought was making great progress. He won 1st place in his age group at the state championships. He won another tournament shortly after that. I made a suggestion that he should shoot in another tournament, and his attitude was, “Why should I compete in that tournament when there’s really no competition?” You see, the attitude is quite similar to what I mentioned above. However, I was able to convince him that the competition is with himself, with meeting his goals, and gaining tournament experience—not worrying about who was standing next to him on the line.

I informed this archer that he just needs to stay focused on his goals, keep an eye on the bigger picture. Train, practice and compete, and the competition will follow. I would say the same for us coaches. Don’t worry so much about the things that you cannot control, or things that shouldn’t impact your coaching abilities. The process of becoming a good coach requires self motivation, you must take ownership of your own development.

With all that said, I should mention that Butch Johnson, an American archer and three time Olympian, 1996 Gold medalist, coaches as well as he shoots.

Interestingly, I was coaching at a training camp at the Olympic training center a few years back, when Lloyd Brown, Team USA Coach at the time, grabbed a bow and started shooting. Some of the other archers and coaches were kind of startled as he said, “I haven’t shot a bow in ten years.”

Best of luck to you all,

-Daniel
Archery Coach, USA

[bkupris]

Daniel that is a very interesting post, thanks for your input

[Murray]

Lots of good input from coaches here. My wife coaches to a reasonable level (she's county coach and was previously going for senior coach until life got in the way) and also is an MB archer (of course, the ladies get MB much easier than us blokes ).

She gives a lot of her time to improving the shooting of others but she has a fairly unique talent... she can give up shooting for 6 months and go out and shoot better than she did when she was practicing!! I don't know how she does it, and it's very very annoying

I also coach but have never become "qualified" -

The primary reason is that I believe I know "enough" to coach at the level I do without putting anyone in danger, and believe that I can even perhaps help a little.

The secondary reason is that I simply don't have the time to be worrying about gaining "cpd points", go on courses or attend a conference, amongst all of the other things I do - I can see the purpose of these things of course, but they're not for me right now and being an unqualified meddler permits me the freedom to improve and expand my knowledge at my pace and in my own way.

The final reason is that, as a qualified coach, I would be asked to put time into other events and may even feel beholden to get involved in running other courses etc that I would otherwise not be involved in - as it stands I can volunteer if I see fit, otherwise I get to stay out of it.

Don't get me wrong, I admire those who go through the coaching courses and become qualified, then strive to be the best they can be - that's great stuff, but the more pressure we put on coaches to become more "professional" in their learning and their approach, the more we have to realise that they have to get a bit more in return than a warm fuzzy feeling - unfortunately this is not a professional sport and we're not there yet.

I would also say (and this may be seen as a little controversial, as well as a little off-topic) that if all the other volunteers in the sport were encouraged to take a similar approach to professional development (e.g. the committe members, the directors, etc) then we might be in a much better position as a sport - our leaders are, in most respects unqualified meddlers - surely not a good position for any forward looking organisation. Where's the recommendations for leadership, project management, business administration qualifications?

[geoffretired]

Bowcoach, your post is interesting full of information and very encouraging. I will look back at it when I feel low, thanks for that.
Murray,before I qualified, I felt much the same way you do now. I can see no reason why you should change.
The paperwork is a bit of a drag, but once the habit is started, it is no big deal(and I hate paperwork!)
Getting points for renewal makes good sense, as you say, it's a shame that distance learning isn't one of the accepted methods; there's much to be learnt from this forum, yet it doesn't qualify.

[Meddler]

Originally Posted by geoffretired

Getting points for renewal makes good sense, as you say, it's a shame that distance learning isn't one of the accepted methods; there's much to be learnt from this forum, yet it doesn't qualify.

The concept of distance learning is already in action, albeit under test conditions... Scotland has a Coach Training site (under moodle) which is used for the handing in of assignments and the propagation of learning material. We have used it for our last Coach course. We are currently doing County Coach training for one of our very own AIUK members (step forward and take a bow 7,3, Miss). Whilst he has been up to Scotland on a couple of occasions for face to face teaching, he has been doing the rest of it at a distance (based in Norfolk if I remember correctly).

Under the new Level 1-5 coaching, distance learning will be used more and more, the higher up trainees go.

Iain.

[Meddler]

Daniel,

Lots of interesting points in your post. I'm sure this will open up some debate.

Personally, I know that somewhere I have a list of the 90+ jobs a Coach has to be able to do to be a Coach, I'm going to have to look it out....

Iain.

[hypertigger]

all very interesting...

i started shooting and a couple of years later became a 'qualified' gnas coach, and for several years - about 4 found it very hard to keep focussed on my own shooting when it was my turn to shoot. I've had just under a year of being back in shooting, after a 3 yr break for my studies at university, and it has made a huge change in my abilities.

i had a break from physically shooting, but i still thought alot of about shooting. i did some coaching/teaching, and now i am quite happy to coach and shoot in the same session, and have no bearing on how i'm shooting. i think i've managed to separate the two, and stop them interfering with each other.

coaching for me, is about learning how others think and react, knowing how to push, what to say to inspire, encourage, support etc, i'd aspire to be like bowcoach. i know a bit about tuning - but it's the mental side that will make or break an archer, and it's like that for all sports!?!

if you do become a coach, make it very clear to others when you're available to coach/teach. (make sure you're clear in your head too!!)

[geoffretired]

Meddler, thanks for the reply. I am glad distance learning is on its way.
Will it come my way ,I wonder?

[bowcoach]

I thought I would add this to the discussion… This video, while not directly related to archery illustrates perfectly what I have tried to imply by my suggestion that a coaches greatest strength may lie in his ability to interpret ideas and communicate concepts to his/her students.

The fact that the teacher in this video is a master violinist becomes almost inconsequential when compared to his ability to communicate and motivate his students. I hope you coaches out there find this as interesting as I.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQRpa4u3EYE

Cheers,

-Daniel

[not dead yet]

It is possible to keep the two of them going but you need to be able to be distinct about it. Maybe Coaches wearing a coaching uniform (or wearing a T-shirt which says, "I'm shooting - ask somebody else") is the way forward. This idea has been put forward in the National Source Group..

I don't think that people going on Coaching courses should be there to improve their own shooting (if it happens it is a bonus). They are there to help other people improve.

above quoted from meddler

sorry item one does NOT work. i know, trust me. various reasons ... people will always come up to you, people have been known to say ."but your the club coach" etcetc

the coaching course can teach you how to put things over and the basics but you start learning to coach when you actually start coaching

every archer is different and there are many ways to shoot an arrow. the right way, the wrong way, the way that works.

this post is a mine field.

sorry for the input
pete.

coach,