It has been a beautiful internal journey discovering my core values this year. I spend time reflecting on the implementation of my core values and how they are received by the athlete. Recently, we did some reflective journaling to prepare for the upcoming season. We started the exercise asking the athletes, “why are you here?” We then made our way towards season goals and steps to achieve the goals.
The following practice, I had each athlete read over their journal entry with me. This was a way of affirming the goals and connecting with the athlete to make sure we were both on the same page.
The Core Values I used in my Coaching Philosophy presentation for KIN 586 were…
Creativity
Teamwork & Friendship
Safety
Work Ethic
Physical Literacy
Fun
When my athletes read me their entries, I was pleasantly surprised by their answers to my question.
“Why are you here?”
This goal setting and reflection exercise really brought out some honest answers. I was so happy to see that the team is actually learning my core values. The fact that they all mentioned teamwork and friendship, affirms that my core values are being learned and modelled by my athletes.
Artistic gymnastics is a tough sport, especially after puberty. I am proud to say that I have a team of athletes who are staying in the sport while maintaining healthy minds and bodies.
Hopefully, this will lead to a legacy of wonderful young women who are confident and strong.
andrew evans
February 2, 2017 — 12:44 am
Jesse,
You must be extremely encouraged by this reflective exercise you gave to your athletes. Each athlete responded with many ways gymnastics adds to their life and they all had goals that will serve them well in high performance sport. What I love about this is that you have created an environment with these athletes that will continue for a long time and have ongoing results, both in gymnastics and life.
I deal with young men who are not too keen to journal but I would love to see their expression to the questions you asked your athletes.
Your athletes are in good hands,
A
david hill
February 14, 2017 — 7:49 am
Jesse, some awesome evidence! You must be very proud by the way each athlete reflected. As I was reading through the reflections it reinforced Wade Gilbert’s four C’s as desirable athlete outcomes that all coaches should aspire – Connection, Character, Confidence and Competency. While your own values are peppered throughout the athlete reflections, you must admit that the 4 C’s come through loud and clear. It would be interesting to see how younger athletes may respond to the same type of reflection. I noticed that all of them shied away from “Long term or ultimate goal” which may be a reality for adolescent gymnasts.
To me this really speaks to your effectiveness as a coach. If you are able to see the 4 C’s in your athletes, then you are doing a great job. As outlined in Gilbert’s article on coaching effectiveness he suggests that the coach’s professional, interpersonal and interpersonal knowledge are critical in continually becoming our best. Professional knowledge is what we know about our sport, Interpersonal is what we know about others, and Interpersonal what we know about ourselves. Your journey through this program seems to be adding to all of these knowledge bases. Great job!