Just like our players come to training to learn, we encourage our coaches to seek out learning opportunities that can improve the daily environments we create for the players we serve. A question coaches should ask themselves, “Do you have your development plan as a coach? Have you recently assessed your needs and sought support from your Director of Coaching (DOC)? Did you know that all CRYSC coaches should have their own Individual Development Plan (IDP) and seek a one-on-one meeting with their DOC?”. Our staff is here to help each and every coach that desires it! As our fall seasons wind down, we have a unique opportunity to reflect on the past season. Most importantly, we can use this time for self-development to update our self-regulated learning plans.
The three key steps in the self-regulated learning process include:
- Forethought: Assessing your personal why, values, and reason for coaching youth soccer. After completing the assessment, it’s time to start setting realistic and measurable goals within one’s learning plan.
- An example here could be that a coach has recognized a personal deficiency in coaching technique for U11 players. Therefore, the coach creates a plan to observe other coaches who are technically competent and then to plan specific moments into each session to help players develop better technical execution. Included in the plan is to ask players where the coach excels and where the coach could grow regarding this competency. Finally, the example coach would like to video training sessions (using her smartphone on a tripod), specifically focusing on the technical corrections.
- Implement, Monitor, and Control: After creating the plan, the next step is to put it into practice. It’s important to keep flexibility in mind as you will monitor the implementation by reflecting in action.
- Continuing our example from above, the coach implements the plan by observing one coach but quickly recognizes that the model coach isn’t as helpful as originally predicted, so the example coach must pivot and find another mentor. Additionally, the filming has gone well, but with windy conditions, the video is inaudible. Therefore, the coach reflects in action and asks an injured player to help with filming by following the coach around to capture closer video with audio during the coaching interactions.
- Reflection: The final step includes reflecting on action after the implementation has reached a final place within the season. Reflection is the conscious thought of turning experiences into learning and we must reflect on the effectiveness of the learning strategies we used throughout the season.
- At this point, our example coach now reflects on the effectiveness of the overall plan. What worked well? In the example, the coach could pivot and find a different mentor that was much more helpful. Additionally, removing the tripod and having an injured player be in charge of filming helped provide better overall data for reflection. The coach also recognizes that reflection was done more on the fly than methodically, so the coach plans to schedule reflection touch points to stay consistent with the process of turning experiences into learning.
These three steps in the self-regulated learning plan are easy to understand and can be applied by coaches of all levels. Consider contacting your DOC and initiating the Coach IDP Process by completing the form here. Your next step would be to schedule a meeting to discuss the “Forethought” step and help set goals for the next season. The IDP is a crucial first step if one wants to include a formal course opportunity supported by the club, or it could be that you become more aware of the various coach development workshops hosted across the club.
Additionally, seeking out data from players and parents and using club tools like the Satori Net Promoter Score is a great way to gain both quantitative and qualitative feedback that can help create the next steps in your learning plan. Implementation could include asking your DOC to observe a training session and to meet afterward to reflect. At the end of each season, you once again review your learning plan, make changes and updates, and then look to implement again the next season.
Utilize the time off between seasons to rest, recover, and, most importantly, reflect. We all know coaches with many years of experience but we could say that they are not yet experts. Someone who can invest time and energy into their self-regulated learning process will create a detailed plan, get some experience in implementing it, and then reflect on those experiences to turn it into learning. In this way, we move from simply being experienced to gaining more expertise.
