In our first week of the High Performance Coaching and Technical Leadership Certificate, I got to meet many new and interesting coaches from all over the country and beyond.
It was great to exchange experiences and ideas with all of the other coaches. I truly get the feeling that all of us are passionate about their calling to be a coach.
I also was fascinated with a new concept of autonomy supported coaching that I was introduced to. I should say it’s not new to me since I have been coaching in an autonomy supported way but wasn’t aware of the terminology.
As I’m doing more research into leadership techniques it becomes clearer to me what kind of a coach I want to be, and realize that I learn best by researching what I’m interested in. Fortunately that’s exactly what this program allows us to do.
The strength of the program is the people who take the program and the freedom to explore our passions and allow us to delve into subjects matters and spend extensive time in researching and analyzing. I’m so happy I enrolled into the HPCTL, and I’m excited for the journey ahead.
Hello Ueli, i think that your excitement is shared by us all and the sense of community that the group is showing in such a short time is amazing! Having a community of like-minded, passionate coaches from different sports is so energizing and exciting!
Hi Kelly,
Thanks for your comment on my blog and sorry it took a while to reply. It has been a super busy summer and my blog was put on the back burner for a bit. It was great seeing you at the Canada Games and get to catch up a bit in the couches lounge. Our season is now over and I’m focusing back on school work and catching up on things. I find myself reading more articles on leadership and I’m using this time to reflect on the season and looking forward of what techniques I’m going to implement for our next season. I will be meeting with all of my athletes over the next month and debrief and plan for next season. Autonomy Supported Coaching will be at the top of my mind as I want the athletes to decide on where they want to be in 1 year and 5 years and guide them in the process. I hope things are well with you and talk soon.
Morning Ueli, I enjoyed the reading from Shauna on Mastery, Autonomy Supportive and Transformation. I think that Mastery coaching is pretty clear cut but the lines are a little more blurry for me between AS and Transformation styles. I’m interested to learn to better differentiate between the two as I probably switch between all styles depending on level of athlete and being able to better identify what kind of style I am using at a given moment will help be reflect and improve.
Hi Adam,
I agree, there are times where I find my self struggling on how much autonomy I really want to leave to my athletes. In the end you want the athletes to succeed and become the best they can be. However sometimes a new athletes just needs a lot more guidance and motivation. I’m not sure how you experience in your sport but I find especially in Para Sport with athletes who are born with a disability that they often struggle more with internal motivation to get better and also need a lot more encouragement then athletes with acquired injuries. Generally I find athletes with acquired injuries are extremely driven to get back to be indecent and become the best they can be. I guess that’s one of the things I really like working with Para Athletes they seem to much the boundaries of their physical capabilities and that’s what High Performance to me is all about.
Ueli, thanks for the first blog reflection. I am glad that you are excited to move forward and to learn from the cohort. Be sure to follow the process outlined for the reflections on the KIN 598 course shell. In particular, identify a competence and what you currently understand / demonstrate about the competency, the indicate how you are currently demonstrating the competency, and then finally actions or changes that you will do to further your demonstration of the competency.
Thanks David,
I have reviewed the rubric and I think now I understand better what you are looking for.
Since this is the Leadership section I will be talking a bit about the approaches that I have taken in my Leadership Practices. Before entering the HPCTC I have held leadership positions and have done lot’s of leading as most coaches do. I’m confident standing in front of people and giving presentations. Leadership is about empowering others to perform at their best. According to Kouzes and Posner “model the way” is one of the 5 important practices and it is always at the top of my mind. “Inspire a shared vision” and “challenge the process” are themes I constantly encourage my athletes to think about. We often talk about how awesome it will be to make the Paralympics and I’m in constant dialog of how we can improve our program. “Enable others to Act” is probably one of the areas I can improve on. I have to think about a succession plan and getting more people involved in being part of the leadership team. I will recruit more assistant coaches and mentor them to become coaches and leaders themselves. Encourage the heart meaning giving recognition the people involved and constantly remind them how valuable they are to the program. I will make more of an effort to praise people for good efforts and helping out with the program and recognize them with awards celebrations etc. Already I have learned a lot and I’m starting to use more of an evidence based approach to my leadership style. Being able to back up my values based on evidence and research will be a big help in getting more athletes and coaches to buy into a shared vision.