An example of good practice

An example of good practice #TCYC 

How one coach used "Mindful paying attention" to increase his awareness of the situations in training and refined his coaching.

Usually, when a part of the training ended, he said to the players: “Balls and water!” and after the players collected the balls, they sat on the bench and drank water, while the coach commented on their work, their exercises and, if needed, gave additional explanations about this particular practice and their performance.

The coach noticed, that after he says “Balls and water,” the players turn off and no longer listen.

The coach changed his behaviour and redesigned his instructions: when they finish with a specific part of the training, he first invites the players to gather together in the centre of the field. Then he asks a few questions to some players. He asks specific questions, like: “Why do you think we did this exercise?” or “How it can be applied in the game?” “Please, make some comments on the exercise.” 

He is very satisfied that his ability to observe the responses of his team has improved.  He also reports that it was easy to implement it into his coaching behaviour. The best is, he says, that the players are  happier and they are able to concentrate for longer time periods.