My second week of work in Saint Lucia with United Through Sport has given me the chance to be exposed to a wider range of sports and sessions delivered than my first. This has included coaching at the national tennis centre's sport camp; helping with water confidence and early swimming training; and observing higher level sports competition alongside volunteer physios. Also, returning to previous sessions with newer ideas for activities and delivery methods allowed me to evaluate what general solutions and priorities coaches should have when approaching sessions.
At each session, There is an entrenched enthusiasm for sport and activity from those participating and supporting delivery. But, different challenges meant finding common solutions appeared challenging. In football or multi-sports sessions, maintaining group control, smooth transitions, and the continual engagement of large groups despite a sparsity of balls proved to be more significant problems. Alternatively, at the tennis centre, equipment was plentiful, but age and ability range, and limited court space meant repetitions and progressions were often less feasible. Whilst neither of these inhibited the swimming sessions, instead the biggest challenge appeared balancing swimmer's enjoyment of play in the water with developing actual strokes and water safety skills. Similarly, my experiences made me reflect on what impact I can realistically aspire to, and direct future volunteers towards, rather than adapting to existing systems.
Ultimately, these experiences helped to direct me towards developing a structure for the UTS coaching framework I want to produce. In particular, the value of having goals driving the content of sessions, seems paramount to me. Coaches coaching with an awareness of what benefits they are hoping to draw out through sport, whether these are physical, social, or mental, are more inclined to produce sessions that satisfy these possible outcomes. Furthermore, it gives them a gateway into constant self-evaluation, that can often help them make sense of how seemingly chaotic sessions can be fine tuned to best serve participants. This is particularly useful for younger, lower ability sessions, where sometimes varied movement, social competencies, and encouraging participants to associate being active with enjoyment are better evaluative goals than how many goals were scored, or how attentive participants are to long explanations. This has encouraged me to be more mindful of goal-setting in my own sessions, but also allow myself to maintain a positive outlook when I have missed original targets, with the knowledge that changing information and circumstance means that often following the right divergent path can lead to more meaningful outcomes.
That being said, my own observations should not inform my framework in isolation. I plan to talk with other longstanding volunteers, coaching partners, and staff in order to have a clear structure established for next week, which I would look to share as my weekly entry.