Problem Solving

Coaching always has its share of issues. I continue to be faced with scenarios that force me to problem solve. During the 2016 competitive season, I faced many challenges as a coach and individual. This reflection is about a recent problem solving situation I encountered and how I was able to use, “reflection” as a tool to solve a problem.

People who know me well, recognize that I am more about the solution, than the problem. My athletes are learning to come to me with solutions, not problems. They know that if they come to me with a problem, the first thing I am going to say is, “what is the solution to your problem and how can you work through this?” I try not to give them the answer, but guide them to the solution. Problem solving in coaching has always been instinctual to me. It seemed obvious that the only positive way to deal with a problem, was to come up with a solution.

This season I had several, “problems”. It was a long season and everyone had experienced their own hardships. The Okanagan Gymnastics Centre was faced with heart wrenching challenges, that were tough on the coaches and the athletes. I am proud of how we persevered through 2015-2016.

On one hand, we had many great accomplishments in 2016. My athletes represented Team B.C. at Western Canadian Championships and were virtuous in the team event. We were also successful in qualifying athletes in all seven available spots on the zone team for B.C. Winter Games. One of my athletes scored a 9.825 on vault and we had several Provincial titles. It was outstanding.

However, in June, I felt that my team was losing some momentum and the atmosphere was changing slightly in the gym. It was a struggle to keep the team motivated and positive. I wanted my athletes to realize that if they wanted to continue to be successful they needed to keep pushing forward. In gymnastics, technical body positions and alignment, are crucial for high scores. It was challenging for the team to understand the importance of the details. As a detail oriented coach, it is hard when my athletes seem to be oblivious to the details. I also wanted them to understand the importance of consistent training.

It was time for me to write the end of season progress reports and I was struggling with the presentation of the information. I felt the message would not be received appropriately from the progress reports we usually use. So, I thought to myself, “is there a better way to do this?”

Mostly, I want my athletes to be accountable for their behaviours and actions. I also want my athletes to recognize that what they put in at training, will be reflected in how they compete. I felt the progress reports would only tell them what they need hear, but not teach them.

So I came up with a solution. I created an end of season reflection questionnaire for my team using all of the recorded information I could find from the season. Throughout the season we tried to record routines on each apparatus at every practise. We also did quarterly physical and flexibility testing. I created a spreadsheet to track the start values, scores, and averages from every competition. I decided that if I gave my athletes copies of the information and encouraged them to reflect; they might learn more than they would have from the progress reports. Ultimately, creating a progress report of their own. 

I tried to manipulate the questions so that they could see how consistency and hard work in training would help performance at competition. By calculating their percentage of successful routines in training and comparing that to their competition performance they were able to see that the event with the highest training percentage was most likely their best competition performance. This numerical example may help get the point across to my athletes, that work ethic, details, and quality training, are directly connected to competition performance.

By reflecting on this connection, it may be possible to improve the overall work ethic of my team naturally. This was a positive problem solving moment for me because I believe it will have the strongest effect on the work ethic of my team in training during the upcoming season, more so, than the original progress reports. Hopefully, they will become more aware of the effort needed to achieve podium performances and want to work for it. They need to learn that gymnastics is hard and that it is supposed to be hard.

I hope that through positive discussion of the surveys, my team will learn the lessons that I originally wanted outlined in the progress reports.

I am looking forward to seeing how my athletes track their routines in training this coming season now that they have done it once. It will be interesting to compare the results from 2016 to 2017 and see how the team becomes more autonomous. As my athletes mature, their ability to record and understand information is helping the overall performance. As I mature, the delivery of the information is becoming more clear and it is being reflected in my team’s performance. This post is evidence of my problem solving abilities as a coach and my openness to experiment to see if I can get a different result.

One way to improve would have been to ask my team what they learned this past season. Initially, I did not have this question on the sheet. I will have to work it in to the next one.

Continuing to problem solve….one challenge at a time!

Progress Reflection Package

Score Stats