The Art & Science of Coaching

Lesson 1: Introduction

Hello and welcome to this short course on the science of coaching. My name is Lindsey Parry and I
am the Technical director of the Tuks Athletic club and academy.

Throughout this course we will explore the principles that underpin how an athlete learns and
masters a skill as well as explore some of the practical strategies that have allowed me to guide my
athletes to championships and podium finishes.

As coaches, we are privileged to help committed and talented athletes reach their sporting
potential. This privilege however, comes with great responsibility. We MUST take personal
accountability of our own development. Understanding the coaching principles and how you
integrate these into your own system will be central to your long term success as a coach.

This course aims to provide you not with the perfect coaching solution, but rather equip you with
the information and tools you need to develop into a great coach.

Coaching in its basic form is a process of transferring information from one individual to another,
or group, with the explicit aim of improving performance. In this part of the lesson, I’d like to
share with you the 5 principles that I believe have had the greatest impact on my coaching to date.

When working through these principles, take some time to consider your own programme and
whether these are aligned with how you support your athletes.

So to the first principle:

Keep it Simple. Whether you are programming for the year, the month or even the week,
simplicity is often the key. Even though complex programmes may look attractive and engaging on
paper, they seldom elicit the desired physiological response from athletes. These programmes
should be reserved for advanced athletes and for those that have significant experience within
your system.

This also rings true when teaching a new skill. Introducing complex movements before the
fundamentals have been mastered or overwhelming your athlete with coaching cues will often
inhibit their ability to learn and subsequently frustrate them.

By keeping things simple and only adding complexity when appropriate, you put your
programming and athlete in a much better position to succeed.

The next principle is individualize your coaching

It is important to acknowledge that no two athletes are the same. As such, you must take into
consideration their strengths, their weaknesses and their preferred delivery methods.

Now this is easier said than done. To do this effectively, you will need to observe your athletes, get
to know what their preferences are and fundamentally involve them within the coaching process.
Set them up for success by providing them with what they want, rather than your perception of
what they want and how they want it.

The third principle is to be flexible.

Even though you may have invested hours or even weeks creating your sessions, always be
prepared for unexpected changes. These changes may be enforced upon you through injuries,
performance, equipment availability and even the climate. You may also be forced to adjust your
session based upon how an athlete is responding to a particular exercise.

Now the difference between a good coach and a great coach, is the great coach can identify when a
change is needed and then make that change with confidence.
The fourth principle is encourage self-awareness

No matter how experienced or successful you are as a coach, you can never know exactly how
your athletes are feeling on a given day. Create an environment that encourages and empowers
your athletes to speak openly and honestly – both how they are feeling and secondly, their
perception of how they are responding to the sessions

For instance, if they aren’t mentally prepared or physically ready for the session, you may
consider adjusting the exercise selection, intensity or volume. Their wellness should be central to
your programme. This, like most things in coaching comes with a caveat – this system can only
work if your athletes are honest. Without honesty, this process will fail.

Remember, you are creating an environment to maximize their athletic potential – the more you
know about your athletes, the greater the impact you can make.

The final principle is offer positive reinforcement

Think back to a time in which you received some positive feedback– I bet it felt great, I bet you felt
motivated, inspired and had a great sense of achievement. Athletes want to get better, they also
want to know that they are meeting your expectations and performing well. Your positive
reinforcement will motivate and inspire them to keep working hard.

Let’s go ahead and put these principles into context.

Imagine you are a track and field coach. You are responsible for 20 athletes and within this group,
you have a healthy mix of both novice and advanced athletes.

The session of the day is 400m repeats with a minute rest and you only have two stop watches.

So,

One coach, 20 athletes, varying abilities and only 2 stop watches

How would you manage the flow of the session? How would you put yourself in a position to
effectively coach all athletes?

This on the surface may sound like a logistical nightmare, but if you consider the principles
discussed earlier, delivering an effective session for all involved is in fact easier than you think.

Its starts by explaining the purpose of the session to the group. The session purpose should be
limited to one or two explicit objectives - anymore and you may overwhelm or confuse your
athletes. Once these objectives have been discussed, find out how your athletes are feeling, this
may be a simple show of hands or you may ask them to complete a readiness questionnaire prior
to training. Naturally, if there are any injuries or concerns, you will need to adjust your session
accordingly.

Now, managing 20 athletes is never easy, to do so however, I would look to separate them into
two groups of ten with one group filled with the advanced athletes and the other, filled with the
novice athletes.

I’d then look to start the groups at separate times. This not only allows me to track their recovery,
it also puts me in a better position to offer technical feedback, reinforcement and if needed,
encouragement.

During the session itself, observe everything, from the general flow to how your athletes are
responding. If you feel logistically things aren’t working, regroup, make the adjustment and go
again. Make a mental note of what didn’t work and factor this into your future planning.

Similarly if you feel some athletes are struggling with the session, adjust it for them, reduce the
volume or simplify what they need to focus on.

It is also advisable to create a sense of personal accountability among the group, whether this be
them tracking their own recovery or recording their own times. When an athlete is in part
responsible for their programme, more often than not they tend to be a little more motivated and
compliant.

Finally, take a moment to reflect upon the session.

What went well?

Where the session objectives met? Did the session flow as you had hoped? What was the feedback
from the athletes?

Remember, your sessions should be structured in a way that brings about the best from your
athletes. Be honest with yourself. If the session wasn’t ideal, take responsibility for it and adjust
for next time. Be the coach they want, be the coach they need and create an environment enriched
with learning opportunities so they can fulfil their potential as athletes.

Lesson 2: Pedagogy & Practice

Pedagogy speaks to the art and science of teaching. This is an apt topic to cover when speaking
about coaching because coaching is in essence about teaching athletes to acquire new skills or to
master an existing one in an effort to improve their performance when it matters the most – in
competition.

Coaches who understand these concepts and can apply them effectively are better placed to get
the desired results from their athletes. It can be successfully argued that the best learning happens
through practical experience – a caveat to this however, is that the experience needs to be
carefully structured and expertly delivered to maximize the learning potential of the athlete.

It is only through experience and exposure to different athletes, coaching strategies and
environments can you determine what strategies are best for any given athlete, skill or situation

In this lesson we will focus on how you can leverage what you know about learning and how this
information can influence the structure of your sessions. In any coaching situation, a number of
potential strategies exist to bring out the very best in your athletes.

It is difficult to argue which is the most effective so it’s in your best interest to expose yourself to
as many strategies or practices as possible. The reason why a one size fits all approach doesn’t
work, is that athletes all respond differently. If you were to prescribe the same programme to your
entire group, you may in fact be putting a ceiling to some of their development. It is your job
therefore to identify what the right coaching solution is for them and then deliver it.
I’m now going to discuss three practices that I believe are key to effective coaching. These
practises are: Observation, Reflection and Action

So, beginning with observation. Observation, in my opinion is one of the most important skills a
coach needs to possess. Coaches are essentially problem solvers. They identify a problem, whether
it be poor execution or a lack of understanding, and then put systems in place to address them.
Observation is essentially gathering information in order to make an informed decision on how to
approach an athlete’s development.

Note, that the information collected isn’t exclusive to what you see during the session itself, but
also what you gather from the video analysis or even feedback from other coaches. For to you to
design the best possible programme for an athlete, you need to see what is happening, you need to
identify where the issues are and subsequently programme for them.

Take time to observe your athletes, specifically how they respond to your sessions, how they
engage with you and how they interact with their teammates. All of this information should then
be used to inform your coaching approach.

Reflection. Reflection can be considered the way in which you interpret what you see. Reflection is
the second part of the skill building process and it is here that you identify what needs to be done
to elicit the desired response. Reflection is also the point in which you can determine whether the
session itself was structured and delivered in a way that optimized the athletes learning.

And finally action. As a coach this is where you will enjoy to work the most. Putting your plans,
theories and philosophies into practice. Your programmes should reflect what you have observed
and what you have interpreted.

The programmes that carry the most value are those that are specifically designed for the athlete
and for the environment in which they operate. In order to be an effective coach, you must be
organised in your thoughts and clear on the message you want to get across.

This also means you need to be confident in the delivery of that message and the reasons why you
have elected to do a session in a specific way.

Upon review of these practices, note that an athletes learning is not linear, meaning that they don’t
always move from one step to another, so you may in fact need to work across each of these
practices simultaneously.
I’m going to move away from track and field and use swimming as an example.

Coaching a swimming session provides multiple opportunities to observe, reflect and action on an
on-going basis during and in-between sessions. Swimming as a sport requires the coach to
address a complex physiological demand while at the same time ensuring all the technical aspects
of the start, dive, turns and continuous stroke skills are maintained.

Right from the warm up, the coach should be able to determine if the swimmers have understood
the purpose of the session by using lap times, stroke rate, stroke count and possible heart rate.
These performance measures can also be used to monitor the session and to track athlete
compliance and execution.

While swimmers are moving up and down their lanes, it would be a logistical luxury to focus only
on timing, but if the coach wants to add real value to the session, ideally they’d take a step back
and focus on their athletes breathing patterns, head position, their kick, the width of their arms,
hand entry, the catch and so on.

Only then will they will be able to identify what adjustments need to be made, and from this,
instruct the swimmer what to focus on during the next set or sets.

Following the session, wrapping things up with the athletes is always a good way to finish, it is an
opportunity to establish what the athletes have learnt and what they are to take away from the
session. This is also an opportunity for the coach to reflect on the session delivery and whether or
not the objectives were met.

In this example the coach has observed their athletes in the pool, reflected upon their execution,
put actions in place that will improve their technique and finally, encouraged their athletes to
reflect upon what they have learnt during the session.

With this example in mind, is this a fair reflection of your sessions? If not, how does it differ?
Lesson 3: Motor Control & Skill Acquisition
In this lesson, we will focus on motor control and skill acquisition.

Motor control can be described as a process whereby the central nervous system (CNS) produces
purposeful, coordinated movements in its interaction with the rest of the body and with the
environment

And motor skill acquisition as defined by Newell, is a process in which a performer learns to
control and integrate posture, locomotion, and muscle activations that allow the individual to
engage in a variety of motor behaviours that are constrained by a range of task requirements.

In essence, motor control is the movement that we as athletes perform to get sporting tasks done
and skill acquisition is the refining of the motor control to the point where the movement
becomes skilful.

Using a free kick in football as an example. The motor control required to kick the ball would take
a few minutes to figure out, but with consistent refined practice that movement would become
less cognitive and more autonomous meaning you can focus less on the action but rather where
you’d like to direct the ball and how hard you’d like to strike it

When learning a new skill, researchers Fitts and Posner claim that an individual will proceed
through three identifiable phases characterized by periodic decreases in cognitive activity and
incremental increases in movement precision and accuracy

Put simply, as an athlete gets better at performing a skill they won’t need to think as much as they
did when they first learnt it, allowing them to direct their thoughts towards their sports specific
responsibilities.

These three stages are: The cognitive stage, the associative stage and the autonomous stage

The cognitive stage of skill acquisition requires the athlete to REALLY think about the skill and
identify how they are going to execute it. The challenge for the coach here is to determine the
appropriate skill progressions to expose the athlete too.
Typically the skill will be broken down into smaller, more manageable elements and built up from
there.

The cognitive stage is characterized by:

Heavy cognitive effort from the athlete

Continuous need for feedback
Their execution may lack fluidity
Simple drills are prescribed to introduce athletes to the skill
The athletes will typically show a steep learning curve

The second stage is the associative stage.

By now, the athlete should have grasped the fundamentals and is now looking to refine their
execution. Their thoughts move from the HOW towards the HOW WELL.

From a coaching perspective, exercises or drills prescribed become a little more complex and
challenge the athlete to rely upon their own experience and auto correct their flaws. Like all
programming, the exercise selection should be carefully thought out and take into the account the
athlete’s proficiency, the environment and their sporting needs.

The associative phase is characterized by;

Skills are performed with greater accuracy and consistency

Athletes rely less on coaching feedback and more on intrinsic feedback
They are able to put in place strategies to auto correct their execution
Exercises become more complex in an effort to challenge the skill

To offer an example, think about a soccer player learning how to kick a ball. Their learning will
start simply and as they show proficiency with the basics, more advanced kicking styles are
incorporated, so how they curl the ball, how to use different parts of their foot, how to add power
and maybe, how to kick a moving ball.
Through repetition and feedback, the soccer player will be able to judge whether they have
performed the skill correctly and subsequently change their posture or foot position to ensure
they correct any flaws for the next rep.

The last phase is the autonomous phase. It is here that the athlete can expertly perform the skill
consistently with little to no cognitive effort. They rely solely on intrinsic feedback and only look
to the coach for reinforcement. With processing time significantly lower, the athlete can now
direct their thoughts to their sports specific environment.

Reaching the autonomous stage is the ultimate goal, but to do so requires dedication and
consistent development.

Athletes won’t always transition from one stage to the next consecutively so be patient, constantly
evaluate their performance and adjust your programming accordingly.

To put this learning journey into a little more context, I will lean on my own area of expertise in
coaching triathlon.

One of the skills required in the Olympic format of Triathlon is the transition. The transition refers
to the time that the athlete moves from the swim to the bike and then the bike to the run. Both
these transitions take a tremendous amount of skill which need to be performed at high speeds
while surrounded by furiously competitive athletes.

The transition between the swim and cycle requires the triathlete to run with and then mount the
bike at speed, all while having to adjust their clothing and avoid other riders. The second
transition, the one between the bike and the run is a little easier but still takes place at great speed
in a congested environment. The athlete is expected to jump off their bike, rack it, and then switch
to their running shoes.

When teaching the transition, I begin with the most basic elements of each, so, foot positioning,
hand position, where they put their body relative to the bike and so on. Once proficiency and
confidence grows, the complexity of the tasks I ask them to perform naturally increases.
For instance, if I were to coach how to run with the bike, we would first practice how to hold the
bike, where to stand and then how to walk with the bike. Once the athlete can do that, we
progressively increase speed.
I’d follow a similar process when teaching them how to mount the bike, firstly at slow speeds and
gradually at higher and higher speeds. Once the athlete can demonstrate that they have grasped
the fundamentals, id add further complexity by using obstacles. Obstacles such as cones or even
other riders. This is important, as during the race, they will be expected to perform these skills
while fighting for their position.

The challenge for me as a coach is to determine when and where to add complexity. Too soon and
I run the risk of overwhelming and potentially frustrating them, too late and I have wasted time by
not challenging them early enough.

An exceptional tool to use throughout the learning process is visual feedback. Providing athletes
with a visual of the ideal and then compare that ideal with how they perform, often provides
powerful feedback that accelerates their acquisition. What’s more, using video is a great way to
provide reference and track their learning.

The final stage of the skill acquisition process would be to challenge the skill within a race like
environment to see how it holds up when surrounded by opponents and subjected to a degree of
pressure.

Remember, while controlled environments are ideal when developing a skill, you need to
challenge the skill within an environment specific to the athlete – so, in competition. Only then will
you genuinely get to see how robust that skill is.

Even though I used the transition as the example, a similar construct can be applied to any skill –
start with the fundamentals, progressively add complexity, expose the skill to competition like
environments then review and refine how to improve it further.

Lesson 4: The Art of Coaching

In the previous 3 lessons we have explored some of the theoretical models that underpin coaching
and paired those principles with practical examples of how they can impact the coaching process.

In this lesson we are going to discuss the art of coaching, which shouldn’t be confused with the
science of coaching.
The science of coaching for the most part deals with numbers, stats and the tangible things we can
measure, whereas the art of coaching refers to how you impose your personality, creativity and
experience on the programme.

While science certainly supports and informs the coaching process, it is the way in which you
leverage this information and create an environment enriched with high quality learning
opportunities that will often define the success of your programme.

The art of coaching embraces the intangibles and places a huge emphasis on relationships,
feedback, team ethics, team culture and collaboration between coaches and athletes.

In the next part of this lesson we will discuss some of the things you can do to enhance your
impact as a coach and the quality of your sessions.

In this part of the lesson I’d like to discuss the importance of planning and preparation, cueing,
feedback and finally, session flow.

Beginning with planning and preparation. Now, the word ‘art’ elicits a sense of creativity and may
give the impression that planning and preparation are secondary. This however couldn’t be
further from the truth.

The fact of the matter is, if you want a programme that is going to deliver consistent results and
long term success, than you MUST invest time in planning, not just planning how the session is
going to run, but rather what the bigger picture looks like.

Relying on a strong personality and creative mind isn’t enough. You must invest time making sure
that all facets of the programme are considered – for instance, what are the objectives of the
training phase, who will be available on the day to deliver the sessions, where will these sessions
take place, what equipment do you have available, what does the session look like from a logistical
standpoint and what timings do you need to work towards?

The beauty of a well-planned programme is that if things need to change, they can do so with
minimal disruption, what’s more, an organized session creates time, time in which you can invest
in your athletes. Remember you are a coach, the more time you spend coaching your athletes and
not simply ‘delivering’ a session, the better placed you and your athletes are too succeed.
Secondly, cueing and feedback. During the skill acquisition process, your athletes will look
towards you to provide them with the feedback they need to learn and to master a skill.

Providing feedback is easier said than done. The way you offer this feedback, whether it be
through visual means or verbally and the timing in which you offer it, will largely depend upon
athlete preference, their proficiency and your familiarity with the skill itself.

What we do and what we say matters. The words you use and the visual cues you offer should all
be geared towards their learning. Get to know your athletes, understand what their preferences
are and at the same develop a comprehensive understanding of the skill and the many ways in
which you can facilitate your athlete’s acquisition of it.

And finally, session flow. Session flow refers to the overall running of the session - so how you
orientate your athletes so they can see you and you can see them – this is particularly important
when coaching a new skill, the timing of each component, who delivers what, how they transition
from one piece to the next and finally, how you manage the energy of the session.

It would be impossible for me to present the perfect session, largely because we all work in very
different environments, each with their constraints, what I will say however is that these finer
details can make or break the session. When planning, consider these details. Each contribute to
the effective delivery of the session. It is these that differentiate the good coaches from the great
coaches.

For the art of coaching to truly blossom, you can set yourself and your team up for success by
creating a well-structured, well thought out and well coached sessions.

As mentioned at the beginning of this course, we find ourselves in a very privileged position in
that we are responsible for the athletic development of ambitious individuals. Everything we do
should be geared towards optimizing the development of our athletes - Whether this be through
structured sessions or simply supporting them as humans.

Our role as coaches is complex and diverse. Not only do we need to stamp our authority on a
situation and be structured and organized in our delivery, we also need to be compassionate,
flexible and creative. Now, this isn’t easy, but like any skill, the ability to bounce between these is
trainable.
This said, I encourage you to surround yourself with as many committed coaches as possible,
interact with them, ask questions and share your own experience. The coaching community is
very welcoming, we all share a common goal and with that, we can all learn from each other.

The community space that supports this course has been designed for exactly that. So I therefore
encourage you to visit this space and join in with the discussions.

Remember, the more knowledge and experience you have at your disposal, the better equipped
you are to deal with the many questions and problems your athletes will present. I have lost count
of how many coaches have supported me through my career, many of which operate in very
different sports. I have learnt a lot from them and I’d like to think they have learnt a lot from me.

So in closing, please take it upon yourself to understand the theoretical principles that underpin
the coaching process, explore how these principles can impact your approach, create an
environment that maximizes the athletic potential of your athletes and finally, create a strong
network of coaches that will support you throughout your career.

Finally, thank you for taking the time to complete this course. I do hope the information and
examples provided help you become a better coach.

Wishing you all the success and good luck.