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I often think about the different types of interactions we can have within our sessions. Depending on what interaction is used the impact can differ. Each one is useful, but the situation it’s used in can define it’s purposefulness.

Think about a recent session or session plan. Try plotting it’s rhythm. Map out the sessions natural high and low points. This can be on paper or just including in you natural reflections (in voicenotes, in chats with other coaches etc).

You can make notes during a session, film the training, gather feedback from players and/or use a clicker. The session’s rhythm can be physical or mental activity, as well as pace of play.

Having both high and low moments in your session is natural and not a negative. You might plan your session to build in intensity or challenge. A session might also have various peaks and troughs. Depending on the purpose of the session either of these options might work.

Tracking your sessions’ rhythm can include the arrival, the departure, the activities, the rests and the interactions.

The interactions you have may differ each training session and might vary depending on it’s aims.

When reflecting and planning training, I think about the types of interactions I might have with the players. I often vary the interactions I have each session (as long as it fits with the aims of the session).

If I use the same forms of interactions each session, then the pattern and rhythm of the session and the types of communiction becomes predictable. Predictability can dampen impact, enjoyability, curiosity and therefore learning.

Here is a list (there’s probably some I have missed):

Whole group huddles - Coach led or player led

These are the often the most used type of interaction. Often used to bookmark training by being used at the start and finish.

However, coach-led doesn’t have to mean coach-dominated. Limiting how often you speak or how many points you say can help the huddles become more impactful

Challenge: If you didn’t end training by a huddle, how else would you end it. What would the impact be?

1-2-1 chats - In between activities or during activities, coach-player or player-player

Short and concise. 1-2-1 chats players have with each other and with coaches can be small sprinklings of gold. Using them in an activity is an opportunity to give a player a challenge, prompts some reflections from a player or check in with them. Ask if a player wants a challenge first, they may not (for whatever reason) be ready for the additional mental and physical load.

Players will have numerous 1-2-1 chats with each other during training. These might include passing information such as rule changes to other teammates. Provide opportunties for players to reflect on those with each other and their coaches.

Challenge: Count how many 1-2-1 chats you have with players in one session. What story does this tell about your training session?

Small group huddles - Coach led or player led

These could be team chats in a game-based activity. Depending how you co-coach, there might be a coach assigned to each team. They might observe or contribute to the team chats.

These team chats might be called after a try is conceeded (to replicate a match). You could also allow players 2 minutes to discuss a rule change that’s just been made. I also like to use them after I’ve swapped 1 player from each team. New teammates are invited to lead the huddle to share strategies from their old team.

Challenge: Vary when you give players the opportunity for small group huddles, what changes?

Tip from Coaching Care Creativity contributor Andy Stevens: I often use ‘cheat’. Players can call ‘cheat’ in a small group huddle. They then get a secret coaching tip from one of the coaches.

Time outs and freezes - Coach led or player led

These are often used within game-based activities. Calling a “freeze” gets players to stop where they are. This gives you a chance to ask a question or invites players to spot an opportunity. It can also be a good opportunity to praise a passage of play or attempt that didn’t quite work, as well as demonstrating something.

I either restart the game with a 5 second countdown or ask one team to change their positions or plans in 5 seconds before the game restarts.

Player-led time outs can give players chance to organise their own team and have small group huddles. You can also add in rewinds. Players use a time-out and after a quick discussion can call rewind. This allows them to rewind the play back to the previous breakdown (touch-tackle, ruck etc). Try giving teams a set amount rewinds each game.

Challenge: Give teams a set amount of time-outs in each activity/Try measuring how many time-outs or rewinds are used each week? How can you support them when they use them?

Reflections

When reflecting on the interactions you have at training and the rhythm of the session. Think about which interactions you use the most and why. What is the purpose of training, what are you wanting to achieve in it’s pacing and rhythm, and how does it achieve those aims?

For the record, I’m still playing with this…and enjoying the playfulness.

(Shout out to Rusty and Ed Hall for some provocations over the years about interactions)

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Menopause is considered as one of the last female health taboos. Perimenopausal women can face alot of barriers to physical activity. Having coached teams that had midlife players, I know that team sports can be an amazing avenue for physical fitness, confidence and gaining some “me time”.

Before Laura explains her research into perimenopause and the benefits of team sport (in this case walking football). Here’s a reminder of the articles discussing menopause that are in the archives of Coaching Care Creativity:

I’ve always been involved in sport; as an athlete, fan, and coach, and now in my current role as a lecturer in sports coaching and development.

My experiences have given me a particular interest in girls’ and women’s involvement, and when completing my doctorate I chose to investigate female footballers’ coaching intentions.

Since then I have begun to widen my research focus. As part of a partnership between my university, and the local Active Schools team, each year I deliver a session to their young leaders about working with female athletes.

This highlights the key differences between coaching girls and boys, and discusses some key issues that impact girls and women as they enter and progress in sport. As the majority of Active Schools work involves young people, I briefly mention menopause, but focus more on periods, body image, and breast health.

When talking to the manager after a session, I explained that I didn’t really cover menopause due to the unlikelihood of the coaches working with women of that age (and time constraints of the short session), and this led to a wider discussion of the overall lack of awareness of the challenges that come with this life stage, especially in relation to sport participation.

From here I realised that, although the topic of menopause is becoming more commonly discussed in the news, workplace, and society in general, there remains a dearth of academic literature about sports participation and performance.

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Menopause and physical activity

The literature available is generally in agreement about the benefits of physical activity on menopause symptoms, and of peer support and menopause information, which many women find difficult to access.

I play walking football myself, and personally benefit most from the social aspect; a result of the camaraderie shared between us all. This got me thinking about how walking football could be beneficial to women as they negotiate their menopause journey.

A further search of literature found some interesting studies about physical activity at this life stage, but was very little involving team sport.

With the unique camaraderie in team sport, and the importance of peer support during menopause, I felt this was an area worth investigating further.

Previous research into menopause and sport discusses benefits of being active, but mainly focuses on individual activity. There is also lots of evidence that although women would like to be more active in this life-stage, many find their activity levels drop (often due to symptoms such as fatigue and discomfort).

The benefits of team sports for perimenopausal women

My study was an exploration of the experiences of perimenopausal women, who were currently playing walking football.

The study involved in-depth, semi-structured interviews, where we discussed their menopause journey, experience of sport and physical activity throughout their life, and their experiences of playing walking football. The aim was to find any potential relationships between these.

I found that most of the women had difficulty in gaining support and information from health professionals, and sometimes also family and / or friends. Regardless of previous sporting / football experience, they all found the walking football community to be extremely welcoming.

Since playing the game, all had experienced improvements in their quality of life; both physically and mentally. They discussed the ease of being active through walking football, which they found genuinely enjoyable, rather than their hitherto ‘clock watching’ at the gym.

They really enjoyed the ‘banter’ between teammates and opponents alike, and discussed how being among others at the same life stage created a ‘safe space’ for discussing menopause, and sharing ideas and information.

The biggest benefits were seen in the women’s mental health, where all mentioned feeling much more positive during and after playing.

Through being active, women are more likely to reach the recommended levels of activity for health, reducing their chances of getting many non-communicable diseases (such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease).

Through team sport women make new friends, gain peer support, and often find they are in a space where they can be open and honest about challenges they are facing.

With women being healthier this will have a positive impact on the health service, workplaces may see more productivity, and wider society will benefit from more people using health facilities, and engaging more with their local community.

Advice to clubs looking to offer sporting provision to perimenopausal women

Don’t make assumptions – ask women what they enjoy, and what puts them off, and try to tailor provision for their needs.

Also encourage them to be open to try new things; many in my study had never considered playing football, and now they absolutely love it!

Don’t forget there’s two Whatsapp groups to chat and connect with fellow coaches and sportspeople:

Female Coaches Whatsapp

Subscribers (of any gender) Whatsapp

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You may know that I recently set up a Whatsapp chat for female coaches, working in any sport, at any level, wherever they’re based.

I’ve been loving some of the interactions on that chat.

It’s made me reflect about the readers (you!) and how we can extend the community we have.

We have a chat function on Substack, but that doesn’t get alot of use. I want to create a space where we can all chat, share ideas and support each other’s development (and you can hear from me as well, beyond the articles and pods you can via email).

I’m building a Whatsapp chat that’s for Subscribers. So if you’ve subscribed to Coaching Care Creativity you can join.

It will be a space we build together.

Click here to join the chat on Whatsapp

In this episode of Challenging the Game, Jess speaks to Professor Camilla Knight who is Director of Impact, Innovation and Engagement at Greenhouse Sports. They speak about measuring impact in sport, barriers young people face and how coaches can engage and develop better relationships with parents.

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A few weeks ago, I published a session plan written by Andy Stevens that looked at what to run when you had players new to the sport mixed with a couple of players who might be more experienced.

Here’s an example session plan from me which includes activities that you could run for players who are trying rugby for the first time. You can also use some of these activities as warm up games for more experienced players or as these players progress. As always, feel free to tweak them in a way that suits you and the players.

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Activities plan:

1. Game of Tag

How to run it

• Set up a playing area and designate one person as the tagger

• Run the rounds for 2 mins and then swap the taggers

Why it works

• You can see pool noodles in the photo above. The players are playing tag with pool noodles. Extra elements like this help make the game fun and a little unexpected.

• People can turn up to rugby training with some negative preconceptions of the sport. Using unexpected elements like pool noodles can help dispell this. Using pool noodles also means players have to be extra evasive and use their footwork. Give one player pool noodles (you can also give them a ball).

• They must tag other players with the noodle. If a player is tagged, they must freeze and can be released by other player who gives them a high five.

Level up the game

• You can change the number of taggers or change how players release each other.

• Try getting players to perform a 5 second dance move with each other in order to be released - it’s guaranteed laughs!

2. Rugby Netball

How to run it

• Use the same playing area.

• Split players into two teams.

• It can be helpful to make the two trylines clear by using different colour cones

• Players can’t run with the ball, but they can pass in any direction.

Why it works

• This game takes players from a game they might know (netball) and starts to move them towards rugby.

• You can include some activations within the game (ask them to perform an exercise after they’ve passed the ball)

Level up the game

• Add in some progressions by enabling one player on each team to move with the ball but they cannot score. If this player gets touch-tackled, they must stop and pass the ball to a teammate.

• Instead of using trylines, you can create several scoring zones (by creating squares using cones) in the playing area. Teams can score in any zone, but the same zone can’t be scored in twice in a row.

• Create constraints on their passing by asking them to only pass underarm or ask them to vary the type of pass each time their team passes the ball.

3. Multidirectional touch rugby

How to run it

• Keep players in teams

• Players can now run when they have the ball. If they are touch tackled, they must stop and pass to a teammate

Why it works

• This takes the game of rugby netball and adds in rules as a progression to get players running with ball.

• It functions as a middle game between netball and touch rugby.

Level up the game

• Add in some progressions that get players passing backwards: teams must have one backwards pass before they can score.

4. Introduction to contact

How to run it

• Put players into pairs

• Run a series of evasion and tracking activities where players compete against their partner

• Tag the knees: players aim to tag their partner’s knees whilst trying to ensure their partner doesn’t tag their knees

• Bearcrawl tap: each player gets into a bearcrawl position opposite each other. They must aim to tap or pull the arm of their partner, whilst trying to maintain their own balance and good body positioning.

• Grab the bib: Ask players to place a bib in their shorts at their back. Players aim to grab their partner’s bib whilst keeping their own

Why it works

• This gets players thinking and moving in contact-ready environments.

• It works great for players hesitant about contact as there’s no tackling, but it starts to break down the skill into manageable pieces.

Level up the game

• You can also give players a ball between them and ask them to try and rip it off each other.

5. Touch rugby

How to run it

• Put players back into teams.

• Players must now pass backwards all the time

• If the ball carrier is touch tackled, they must stop and pass the ball backwards

• Teams have unlimited touches, the ball is turned over when it is dropped, passed forward or there is a score.

Why it works

• This is the final level of the players’ rugby journey today. They’re now playing touch rugby.

• Don’t forget to celebrate the sense of achievement they will have (especially if it’s their very first session)

Level up the game

• Add in a rip restart: to restart the game after a try, a player from each team comes forward. They both place their hands on the ball, after you countdown they aim to rip the ball from each other. After they’ve ripped it, they must aim to pass to a teammate.

Interactions you can plan:

As well as planning the group interactions you might have with players, aim to plan questions that you can ask individual players and give players opportunities to discuss ideas with their teammates.

When introducing the final game of touch rugby, ask one player from each team to come forward. Give each of them the rules and say they must tell their teammates.

This enables you to focus on the next coach-group interaction which might be in the middle of the game when players are working out where to stand to support the ball carrier and the backwards pass.

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I talk about alot of inequality, in particular ones that I have experienced as a cis white woman. I want to discuss one inequal opportunity that appears every year.

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We’re approaching the time of year when my feed is flooded with coaching roles and opportunities at clubs.

Alot of them will be coaching roles within men’s teams, often they are the jobs that come with renumeration.

Alot of them will be player-coach job roles.

I hate seeing rugby coaching roles that are advertising for a player-coach. It’s a common job posting for men’s teams.

Advertising for a player-coach within a men’s team automatically means I cannot apply, and have no chance of getting the job. The job will either outright be listed as player-coach or there will be a seemingly secondary option on an advert for the successful applicant to be a player-coach.

I don’t apply for any jobs that are player-coaches with men’s teams, as I can’t fulfill the job requirements. I also don’t apply for jobs that list player-coach as an option.

Although I’m not instantly prohibited from applying, the fact that player-coach is an option makes me think they’re expecting a male coach and there’s no point for me to apply.

Due to the potential differences between budgets in men’s and women’s rugby, player-coach roles are predominantley seen in the men’s game. Therefore it is more likely to disadvantage any coach who can’t play within the team they’re applying to coach. This includes female coaches as well as older or disabled coaches.

I understand that there’s a potential budget problem that can be solved by having a player-coach, however it restricts the pool of potential applicants. (As well as being a tricky job for anyone to complete to the best of their ability - player-coaches have their focus split between being a coach and their own role on the pitch)

Player-coach roles also mean there’s a progression privilege that happens at the grassroots level. Player-coach roles often go to those who are still playing the sport and often at the early stages of their coaching career.

This means that, compared with women, male coaches of a similar age may have an additional coaching job or a ‘step-into’ coaching role that enables an easier progression in their career. A female coach doesn’t get the opportunity and therefore misses out at that rung of the ladder and has to fight to gain the experience another way.

I’m calling for player-coach roles to be phased out. I want equal opportunities for all.

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, analyst, coach, author and journalist, is back ahead of the Women’s Six Nations to highlight what stats to look out for. Sam also discusses what stats grassroots coaches might want to track and how:

The Women’s Six Nations

Coming off the back of probably the best World Cup ever and a sensational men’s Six Nations, I am really excited to see the crowd take this tournament to their hearts.

England are the overwhelming favourites but I think the other five nations will have competitive matches against one another and I’m not ruling out someone pushing England close either.

Overall though, the women’s game is in healthy shape and I can’t wait to see it take another step forward and for new stars to be born.

Stats to look out when watching matches

The one stat I pay most attention to is 22 entries - both total entries and points per entry. This is similar to shots on target in football. It shows how many opportunities you had and what did you do with those opportunities.

Both parts of this stat matter; total entries and points per entry. Look for teams to have twelve or more entries in a match and 3pts or more per entry. It’s very hard to win when you score a low number on either.

However, sometimes teams can win with a very high number of points per entry but that’s generally not sustainable for a long period of time, like a tournament. If you want to take it one step further, look for the difference in entries between one team and their opponent.

For example, if you have 10 entries and your opponent has just 5 then you 22-entries difference is +5. The bigger the difference in your favour, the more likely you are to win.

The key stats for each team will depend on what they want to achieve from their game plan.

In recent years, kick metres have been a big measure of success. In general, if you kick for more metres than your opponent then you have a higher chance of winning. For some coaches that will be a key stat.

Others will be more interested in what they do with lineout possessions. That starts with the lineout win % but can extend to success from lineout attacks; do you gain metres from your attack?

Other teams might want to limit their mistakes and so they would have a focus on turnovers conceded or error count. Ultimately, as a coach, you need to decide how you want to play and then what stats are illuminating.

It’s also important to understand the bigger picture and make sure what you are measuring actually matters when it comes to winning matches.

It can be easy to assume that a stat tells you anything about how likely you are to achieve a victory, but that’s not always the case and sometimes what you think matters just doesn’t.

The key Six Nations stats

Although possession isn’t useful as a metric for telling us which time will, or should, win it does tell us what the game looked like. Often a team like England will have a relatively low possession as they can score quickly. Whereas their opposition might go through multiple phases and get nowhere.

That will be shown in their possession stat. Another stat like this is offloads which tell us how much risk a team has been willing to take on. Stats like these should match what you saw on the pitch and shouldn’t be all that surprising.

From England’s perspective, their kicking stats can be key. They are unique in how often and how far they kick. That allows them to play fair from their line and then try and turn their opponent’s over.

That is unique to England but other teams are trying to move towards that direction with mixed success. Another area where teams will try and copy what England have done well is the set-piece.

A lot of England’s success has been built on a relentless lineout and scrum. These are great skills to be good at because if you gain the advantage you can win penalties and if you win penalties you can advance down the pitch without risk.

A team like Ireland want to run at their opponent’s and so expect to see them performing well when looking at metres made, defenders beaten, and clean breaks.

Ultimately though, the keys will be minimising the mistakes for everyone bar England if they’re going to run the World Champions close.

Collecting data as a grassroots coach

As a grassroots team, it’s important to consider two things; can you measure it and can you fix it?

For example, you might want to see how far your players run in a match. That is a helpful thing to know but unfortunately you’re not going to be able to measure it.

Equally, it’s quite easy to measure how many kicks your team makes but what would you do with that information? I would encourage you to think where you might have room for improvement and then collect data about that.

For example, maybe you worry how effective your attempts to turn the ball over are. Do you think you give away more penalties than turnovers you get? If so, you can measure that. How many times does your team go for the turnover, how many times do they win the turnover, how many times do they give away a penalty?

Make sure you collect a few games worth of data before you make any drastic changes to your approach.

Always be aware of what you can control and what matters and don’t try and collect everything all at once.

⁠It is easier to collect data if you film your games. But most grassroots teams don’t. In that case, just use a pen and paper. Decide what you want to collect and prepare to collect it in advance.

This doesn’t need to be super complicated. For example, if you want to collect your 22-entries then you will want to collect just the total number in some part of the page then in a different part of the page collect the outcome.

That could be as simple as positive or negative or you could do; Try, Pen Won, Pen Conceded, Turnover, Other. That gives you more information but always link it back to what you will actually do with that extra data. If you just find it interesting, it might be better to just collect the most basic information.

I wrote a book calling Attacking the Space. It’s the book that I wish existed when I was a young rugby obsessed kid. I love the sport of rugby and it brings millions of fans in for World Cups, Six Nations, and Lions tours.

Fans love the surface of the game; the big hits, the fancy footwork, the big names but if you look below the surface it’s even more attractive.

Attacking the Space will take you beneath the surface and show you what is actually happening in the game.

Check out Sam's Substack

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This is the second part in a series examining some of the headlines of the research conducted by Women in Sport and Leeds Beckett University.

Check out part 1 here:

The first part looked at employment conditions and explored how coaching is an unstable career. This instability has a greater effect on female coaches.

The second part will look at coach development and progression exploring some of the headline findings about career pathways and CPD.

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Coach Development and Progression

“Coach career pathways are ill-defined across the sector.”

The research found that there is a clear lack of structure and clarity about coach career pathways and development.

This absence of clarity can make it difficult for coaches to understand and gain the relevant experience and development needed to progress into different roles. Where there is a lack of structures (organisations, clubs and NGBs), this disruptions affects everybody but will affect those who are marginalised more.

Developing a career in coaching is confusing and hard to navigate. It can sometimes feel like others have a map that I don’t have access to.

“Access to personal and professional development is inadequate.”

Development plans are feedback are essential for progression. Personal development plans (PDP) are the exeception in coaching rather than something that is the norm. Only 1 in 5 coaches at the grassroots level and 1 in 2 coaches in performance and talent environments have a PDP.

In a system that is already difficult to navigate for marginalised coaches, including women, the lack of feedback and support around personal development make it difficult for promotion, progression and retention.

I’ve not had many internal chats about my own development. I’ve tried to drive conversations. I’ve aimed to drive my own development - it’s a skill I’ve worked on. I love learning and development but would have loved more support with it along my journey.

I have chats with other coaches, check in with mentors, aim to visit other environments and pay for courses. I try and get a blend of different types of learning environments.

I’m currently working on my own coaching development plan (I’ve neglected it for a while). After it’s finished, I’ll share it with my network for their thoughts and support.

“Sex discrimination inhibits progression for women.”

The research indicated that 38% of women believe their gender negatively impacts their progression. The impact of the bias is greater as women progress through the coaching environments (grassroots - talent pathway - performance).

Coaches reported discrimination that included being: demied access to leave, denied pay, denied flexible working, threats of dismissal, discrimination in recruitment, denied opportunities for development, denied opportunities for promotion/progression.

79% of female coaches believed they have been discriminated against due to their sex. The research explored CEOs views into the flexibility of coaching roles (or lack of) and their perception of misogyny, particularly within hiring. The report suggested a gap between lived experiences of female coaches and the awareness of leadership. There is a clear need for organisations to undergo education, reflection and assessment into their practices.

Alot of this section in the report reflects some of my own experiences. Coaching is still a boys’ club.

I sometimes have a feeling of helplessness. I am just one tiny portion in a huge machine. How can I affect change, especially when I feel at the mercy of decisions and discriminations?

Change takes all of us; in small pockets of support and large groups of resistance. Something that seems small, like having a network or someone to talk to, can help when things are really tough - I know this from experience. Knowing the data and reading reports doesn’t make the lived experience as less difficult. It can make you feel less alone - a feeling which is often a blessing and a curse.

“Continuous professional development (CPD) is underfunded, with women impacted most.”

CPD is often considered a key part of sports coaching. 40% of all coaches are left to pay for their own development. Women in high performance are often less likely to have their CPD paid for by an employer. According to the report, this is something CEOs are aware of.

32% of CEOs believe they have set aside a budget to develop, recruit and retain female coaches. However 68% recognised that they hadn’t.

Women already face a disadvantage within the coaching system, by adding the need to drive and fund their own development it makes a unclear and discriminatory system even worse.

I’ve had to self-fund alot of my own development. Most of this money has come from family. They’ve paid for courses, experiences and levelled qualifications. They don’t have unlimited money and not everyone has this privilege.

I wish I didn’t have to turn to my family everytime I wanted to improve and learn. Sadly coaching currently doesn’t enable me to have the financial flexibility for me to pay for my own courses and there’s no other funding options that are readily available.

What can we do?

A coaching career is messy and filled with barriers. There are no clear pathways to progression and development.

There’s alot that needs to be done on a national level. There’s alot that can be done at local level too. Organisations need to thoroughly examine their practices and the lived experiences of their coaches. They also need support (and to be open to support) to do this.

As a female coach this is a non-exhaustive list of the things I need that focus on coach development and progression:

• Clearer coach development pathways - including a recognition of flexible working

• Funding for CPDs, which is fairly distributed

• Ensure there are regular opportunities for feedback and discussions about progression. Any actions will be followed up within an agreed timeline (no empty promises)

• Make hiring and promotion processes fair and transparent. They need to be less reliable on ‘who you know’ to ensure there is less discrimination.

Read the report here

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This game from Nick Wilkinson creates opportunities for players to develop their kick chase, kicking and transition skills. The game blends these skills in a game inspired by cricket. The batters aim to score the most points and the bowlers aim to score the least.

Try this as a small skill game in your sessions.

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How to set up the game

• Set up a grid that is 15mx20m (ideal for 6 players)

• Within the grid create lines using white, blue and red cones

• Split players into groups of 6 (you can create multiple grids to have multiple games going at the same time)

• Organise the 6 players into pairs

How to play the game

• One pair start as bowlers

• The bowlers start outside of the grid, behind the red line.

• Each bowler gets 3 kicks each

• The bowler kicks the ball into the grid

• The 4 remaining players (batters) aim to gather the kick and score points

• The batters can run with the ball and must pass backwards

• The bowlers aim to stop the batters from scoring

• As soon as they’ve kicked they can enter the grid and chase the kick

• If the batters make a mistake in their attack (forward pass, knock on etc) the turn ends.

How to score points

• If the batters gather the ball and score on the red tryline they score 6 points.

• If the batters score on the white tryline they score 4 points.

• If the bowler’s kick goes straight out of the grid, the batters score 1 point.

• If the bowling team regather their own kick it will tactically be the best game for them.

How the game can develop players

• It gets the bowlers thinking tactically - if they aim to kick the ball between the white and blue cone it will tactically be the best kick for them.

• It can help players practice a kick chase and their kicking skills

Progressions to level up the game

• Limit the amount of touch tackles the attackers have to try and score. For example: they have 3 touch tackles, if they don’t score before the 3rd tackle they don’t gain any points.

• If the ball carrier gets touch tackled, the turn immediately ends

• The bowlers must do drop kicks

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If you only see your players once or twice a week (like most teams), a communication channel is an important way for players to feel connected to each other and to the coaches.

There are two beliefs I have about using team chats (such as Whatsapp or Spond):

1. Your team’s channel of communication is about more than collecting numbers for training or matches.

2. The ability to create connection and opportunities to learn does not stop once training ends.

Before I detail some ways to use your team’s chat, an important safeguarding consideration. These are methods I have used for adult women’s teams, when all members were over 18 and all were happy to join a team communication channel.

For any tasks away from training for junior players, I have used a parent’s communication channel where the only people in the chat were designated parents and guardians. (It also helped the parents to engage with the team culture)

Please refer to your own National Governing Body and club safeguarding policies, including your club’s guidelines on social media use.

First steps

You’ve set up a team communication channel, (such as Whatsapp or Spond). The first step is to make sure the players know the purpose of the channel.

This could include communication around training and fixtures as well as staying connected as a team.

Agree some guidelines around the use of the channel. These could be your team’s values alongside a link to the club’s social media policy. It’s important these are agreed, posted and kept on the chat. They can be pinned somewhere or kept in the description of the group chat.

They function as agreed principles, exactly the same as when the players are on the pitch.

Creating curiosity about training

Your team’s communication channel can be used to get players excited about training before they step foot on the pitch.

Here are a few ways:

• Post clues on the chat that hint at the training theme or the focus of the next training block - These could be written clues, pictures or gifts. I aimed to try and send the clues out at a similar time each week. There was often a competition to see who could guess the theme the quickest, and I always had fun posting the clues!

• Give players some insight into the training plans - This one seems obvious but by sharing some of the activities players will know what to expect when they arrive at training. This could be important for some of your players and may help to reduce any anxiety about training. It can help reduce some mental load for players who are struggling with life outside of rugby; knowing a brief summary of training means it’s one less surprise they are dealing with that week. It also helps generate some excitement, especially if there’s a new activity or a player’s favourite game that’s being included in the plan.

Create engagement beyond the pitch

There are opportunities for players to learn after training has finished.

Here are a few ways you can help achieve this:

• Post photos and videos of training - Similar to posting clues before training, sending photos and videos you took at training is a good way to engage players who didn’t (for whatever reason) attend training. It’s not about punishing lack of attendance, it’s about keeping them engaged and connected when they can’t attend. posting photos and videos prompts players to share stories about funny or cool moments in training. It allows everyone to share in the moment.

• Share footage of skills - Alongside posting photos of fun moments, share videos of teammates improving their skills. This needs to happen with the player’s permission. This allows everyone to celebrate that player. You can also use the footage as a learning moment to share what was done well (even better if you ask the players to share their thoughts so that peer-to-peer virtual learning can happen).

• Share examples from other teams - Post videos that link with your current session theme or something players want to learn. This could be a video of the Red Roses team executing a skill or South Africa’s lineout skills. You can then ask players what they see. You can also give players a task to go and find some videos that resonate with them and share them in the group. This creates more opportunities for players to see particular skills, meaning you’re not just relying on 1.5 hours at training. However, make sure you’re not giving too many tasks out or sharing too many videos at once. These tasks should feel optional and not compulsory homework. It shouldn’t feel like a penality for those that simply don’t have time outside of training.

Create competition

Get players engaging with each other outside of training by creating opportunities for virtual competitions.

• Create a team fantasy league - Use professional competitions’ fantasy leagues to create one for your team. The Women’s Six Nations will soon be here and they will have an official fantasy league. This gets players watching out for particular players as well as watching more matches. It’s important to frame it as a learning opportunity as well as a competion so you don’t put off any players who are still very new to the sport.

• Host a virtual game night - In person socials are important, virtual game nights won’t replace those. However, they are a fun way for teammates to have 30 mins or an hour of games without leaving the house. This is an important factor for anyone struggling with work or childcare. There’s online quizzes and pictionary games that can be fun options. You could also give out prizes for the winner at the next training session. These virtual game nights are opportunities for teammates to connect with each other.

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I’m excited to be launching a Whatsapp chat for any female coaches working in any sport to connect with each other.

The chat is open to anyone women+, who is aged 18 and above. The chat is a place to network, share ideas and support each other.

It will be a space we build together. You don’t have to have coached a certain level to join. You could have coached for 10 years or be just starting out. You could also be on a break from coaching, you’re still welcome to join.

If you’re a male coach, please spread the word…and if would like to be part of a wider network, please reach out and let me know!

I would love to expand the offering to have a seperate chat for coaches of all genders who want to chat inclusive and creative practices in coaching

Join the chat here

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Taking some space to announce some news! I’m going fully freelance and offering some consultancy work.

I’m excited (and a little scared). It all kicks off at the end of the month.

I’ll be aiming to work with coaches, clubs, organisations and NGBs. I’m keen to have conversations around coach development, mentoring, coaching W&Gs, inclusive coaching and research/impact.

I’m also keen to do some in-person coach development sessions and some guest coaching at different clubs.

Examples of what I can offer

• Guest coaching

• Coach mentoring

• Coach development

• Support to develop inclusive coaching at your club

• Support to develop your coaches

• Support to grow your W&Gs sections

• Support to develop your female workforce

I’m also keen to have some cool mentoring chats with coaches. Tailored to them. Coaches get 1-2-1 hour-long zooms once a month plus some texts/emails. There’s also some levels/options available for club-wide/W&Gs section engagement.

I’ve got some mentoring options for individual coaches (£30 a month) and some availability to work with clubs and W&Gs sections (virtually and in-person).

(My aim has been to price this at a level that is accessible for clubs and coaches but enables me to pay for groceries!)

What can you do?

Please help spread the word. Recommendations and connections are welcome!

If you’d like me to work with your coaches, guest coach your team plus more, please reach out!

If you can buy me a coffee occasionally or become a paid subscriber to keep this content away from paywalls that is also much appreciated!

If you’re keen to find out more you can email me by replying to this or email me via coachcarecreate@gmail.com

And this content will continue with more articles and pods coming to your inbox.

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My role is Periods in Sports Lead for Freedom4Girls. When I started at Freedom4Girls 2 and a half years ago, I wanted to share my passions of sports and activism to develop a periods in sports campaign.

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I had seen and experienced how menstruation can be a barrier to physical activity and staying in sport and wanted to use the knowledge and resources we have at Freedom4Girls to tackle this problem across all ages and groups.

It started off with the development of the period friendly sports guide which provides simple guidance to clubs and individuals on how to make their clubs, class, or session period friendly. It has since developed into a wider campaign which I am very proud of.

Who are Freedom4Girls?

Freedom4Girls are a period poverty charity. Our wonderful CEO Tina started off working in Kenya and then when she returned home to Leeds started work here and we’ve since expanded to Leicestershire as well as one off events all round the country.

We believe that period poverty is caused 3 factors that we call the toxic trio:

• Lack of access to products

• Lack of education

• Shame and stigma.

All of our work is focused on tackling these 3 areas and ultimately ending period poverty. When people hear period poverty they often only think of not being able to access products, but we want to show that period poverty covers so much more than that and that it’s likely that everyone has or knows someone who have experienced it.

We want to empower women and menstruating people to understand their bodies and their cycles and ensure they always have access to the period products that are right for them.

Keep Her in the Game

Keep Her in the Game is our latest periods in sports campaign. It is a pledge by sports clubs to commit to reducing the numbers of girls who drop out of sports because of their periods.

1.3 million girls in the UK alone have dropped out of sport in their teenage years and over 70% avoid sport all together during their period due to pain, leaks or embarrassment.

To help support this pledge we provide clubs with a variety of free period products such as pads, tampons, period pants and menstrual cups to ensure everyone has the product that is right for them.

We also offer training for coaches around the menstrual cycle and how certain symptoms may impact participation and performance. We know that everyone’s cycle is unique, thus one persons experience may be entirely different to another so we try to avoid being prescriptive ie only do this in this phase.

However, we want to acknowledge and educate on how people may feel and respond at different times of their cycle and how to get the best out of our bodies physically and mentally across each stage.

We also want to tackle the shame and stigma and make periods something everyone feels comfortable talking about no matter the environment they are in, whether that be at school in PE or at their local netball, rugby or football club.

We know the vast positive impacts that sports can have on our physical and mental health and we want to be a part of reducing barriers to access and encouraging more women and girls to start and stay in sport.

Advice for coaches wanting to keep girls engaged in sport

My advice for coaches is to be educated on the barriers to sports for girls and be comfortable and respectful when engaging in conversations about these barriers.

If you can’t engage with them and talk about what’s stopping them from playing without awkwardness or judgement, then you can’t help or retain them.

Make sure your club is inclusive to all. This isn’t just about having both a men’s and women’s team, but understanding the needs of the team and the individuals.

It’s about not having white shorts and making sure there are adequate toilet facilities, it’s calling out misogynistic language and ensuring that every player is respected, regardless of gender.

Lastly, be enthusiastic and respectful about all sport. Be considerate of the language you use when describing men’s vs women’s sport and treat them equally.

Period poverty in sporting environments

Period poverty shows up differently in different environments. For example: at your children’s grassroots football club, it may be having people who can’t afford products or having children who start before they’ve had a lesson on it.

It can also show up differently in clubs for older people or elite environments where finances may be less of a barrier.

It is often about the shame and stigma that surrounds menstruation and menstruating people’s experiences. I remember going to mixed team training at my university, walking in chatting about being on my period to my friend and being told by the captain that that wasn’t appropriate to be discussing.

I remember being told that having period products available in the kit bag was unnecessary, despite being aware that many people were struggling financially. A friend was told she was making up excuses for underperforming by saying she was struggling with her period (she had suspected endometriosis).

Reducing the stigma

There is often a lack of understanding or empathy surrounding periods and menstrual health conditions as women and menstruating people are just expected to get on with it and ‘jog it off’

It’s incredibly complicated as we are only now starting to see open conversations around periods and sports and we want to avoid slipping into a narrative that periods make us less capable.

It’s about trying to find a balance between letting women and girls know that championships and races have been won on every day of the menstrual cycle and not to let periods be a barrier; whilst also empowering women who are struggling to connect with their bodies, break down the internalised shame and stigma around periods.

We want people to use the knowledge and research we do have to improve their menstrual and sporting experiences though things like eating in flow and switching up their period products or contraceptive options.

Celebrating impact

We have so many incredible and emotional conversations every session we deliver and it’s often hard to quantify the impact that we have outside of simply how many products we’ve delivered.

Whilst this is obviously important, I think the work we do to educate and support menstruating people is just as important but harder to explain in terms of impact.

One story I always share is when I was leading of my first ever session with Leicester City in the Community 2 years ago. We were chatting about our experiences of periods and what products we used and one women got really overwhelmed and uncomfortable as this was the first time she’d ever been in a space where periods where being discussed openly.

We had a long chat about understanding where that internalised shame and stigma comes from and how she can navigate period conversations with her daughter to try and end the cycle of shame.

Fast forward to now and she’s actively participating in in menopause groups and sharing tips and tricks with others. It shows the power of simply providing spaces to talk and giving people the opportunity to ask questions and learn.

One of my teams’ favourite stories to tell is of when we were doing our roadshow with Active Leeds, touring all the Active Leeds leisure centres giving out period pants and period swim wear to launch their in-centre donation stations.

We had a panicked mum rush up to us and say that her daughter had just started her period whilst getting changed for her swimming lesson. The mum knew how difficult first periods can be and worried she may be embarrassed or judged by her peers but instead one of her child’s friends handed her daughter one of the period swimming costumes and told her to try that so she wouldn’t miss out.

For us, this highlighted the difference in attitude amongst these children, there was no embarrassment here it was just a normal thing to be dealing with. It also meant that her period wasn’t a barrier to being active and continuing her sport as she had a solution before it ever because a ‘problem’ and that’s what we hope to provide every menstruating person with.

How can clubs and coaches help support parents?

First and most fundamental thing is to be able to talk about periods as though they are the most natural thing in the world, because they are. It’s ok to be unsure and not know everything, but just being comfortable having the conversation.

If coaches are more invested/passionate about learning more then there’s training available such as becoming a period friendly champion (Freedom4Girls offer this) and they can become a point of contact for parents to ask questions about periods.

Lastly, just be compassionate and empathetic, especially towards parents who may be uncomfortable engaging in initial conversations. Some parents may use the excuse that their child is too young but, if you can, highlight the importance of early education and that it’s ok to be unsure or need to ask questions.

What resources are there for coaches, clubs and parents?

At Freedom4Girls we have our free period friendly sports club guide which aimed at grassroots coaches, clubs and parents to give them a basic overview of the menstrual cycle, potential impacts and how to make a club period friendly.

If they want to go a step further we offer our Keep Her in the Game training which is an hour and half session developed by myself, my colleague Charlotte (who is a period coach) and 2 PhD students from Loughborough University, Emma and Natalia.

This training looks deeper at the menstrual cycle, symptoms, menstrual health conditions and how to manage symptoms at training or on a game day considering different period products, nutrition, and pain management techniques.

We also work with clubs and coaches individually so anyone is welcome to drop us an email if they would some resources, advice or guidance.

Find out more

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The theme this International Women’s Day is Give To Gain. The theme emphasises a need to grow together.

Everyone has something to share or give. This could be knowledge, time, donations, resources, visibility, support, allyship, advocacy, time or respect.

The day is a chance to reflect upon what we all currently do for gender equality and equity.

Today is often a celebration of women and a push for equality. I would challenge everyone now to look at how much you currently do as an ally or to uplift other women. How much does your club or organisation do?

Beyond the sharing of photos and an IWD post on social media, what else can be done? This is no shade to IWD posts at all. However, it is shade on social media posts marking IWD from organisations, clubs, bodies that then do very little to add gender equality.

A pledge to support gender equality is for life not just for the 8th March - something I take quite seriously in life and on this Substack.

Consider this brief post a call to action, what will you do in the 24 hours, 2 weeks, 6 months or 1 year after IWD? What will you give?

If you wish to support the work I do as female working within sport and female-centric coaching, please consider supporting this Substack.

There’s a subscription priced at £5 a month through Substack or you can buy me a one off coffee. These payment help me keep the content going.

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In this episode of Challenging the Game, Jess speaks to Heather Lewis who is Head of Delivery for LooseHeadz. They speak about mental health, how coaches can support themselves and their players, and why connection is important.

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Music: TVARI - Tokyo Cafe

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I’ve written and spoken about some of the gender bias experiences I’ve had as a female coach. Some of them have been seemingly minor instances that make you feel undermined or second guess yourself. Others have been more direct and sometimes confrontational.

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Now a new report into the state of coaching (conducted by Women in Sport and Leeds Beckett) states that coaching is a hostile environment for women.

The research has come from 3 national surveys of coaches, heads of coaching workforce and CEOs. The report gives an insight into the coaching in the UK, which emerges as an unstable employment landscape for coaches of all genders.

There are a range of stats on the precarious nature of employment and pay, and the effect this has on the diversity of the workforce.

I have witnessed, experienced and heard about working conditions (including pay) that make it difficult for anyone and I’ve seen how it disproportionally affects anyone who isn’t young, white, male.

I’ve struggled to write this article for a while. I think because the findings are so large and some of it I have directly encountered or heard about.

I’ve decided to split this into a series of articles, following the main 4 sections of the report: employment landscape, coach development and progression, culture and inclusion, and keeping coaches safe from harm.

Part 1 (this article) will look at employment landscape. I’ve taken each of the main headlines from the report, summarised them and added my thoughts. At the end, I’ll go through actions.

Employment Landscape

“Coaching is characterised as an unstable and violatile employment landscape.”

The research found that coaching roles often have a mixture of contract statuses. These include full time, casual and permanent contracts for paid or voluntary roles.

The report stated that over half the coaches in paid employment stated that they don’t have a formal agreement with terms and conditions of employment.

Coaching as a career feels precarious. I’ve occupied roles that didn’t have clear definitions and it felt unstable. No terms and conditions means you feel at liberty of every club decision with no safety net.

“For many, working in coaching as a primary occupation is unsustainable.”

If coaching roles and contracts feel precarious then this means coaching as a main job won’t be enough to live on. 47% of coaches surveyed said coaching wasn’t their primary occupation. Many had additional full-time, part-time or self-employed work.

Alongside these financial demands, coaches are often then expected to pay for their own development through courses and CPD opportunities.

Coaching doesn’t look appealing if you’re seeking financial security. This has been my reality. I’ve done other roles (including teaching at a university in sports coaching) that I’ve loved, those roles have enhanced my coaching but also enabled me to coach.

“Women coaches are disadvantaged in accessing permanent and stable employment.”

The report highlighted that women are on more zero-hour contracts than men or have no formal agreements in place.

Restructuring of management is mentioned as one of the reasons women have left paid roles. In the age bracket of 35-44 years old, 45% of male coaches have permanent full time contracts compared to 19% of female coaches.

The disadvantages continue for women who are from ethnically diverse groups or who have disabilities or long-term health conditions.

I will soon be in the 35-44 age bracket. I have often occupied number of small part-time, flexible, informal roles. I formed a jigsaw puzzle of jobs. The roles I’ve occupied have often felt like they’ve been built on sand and could change due to managerial whim.

“Overall, women coaches can depend less on coaching income.”

The research showed that when starting out men and women are paid roughly the same, however as their careers progress men are paid more. This gap is most apparent at the 35-44 age bracket (again) where women are less likely to be earning higher levels of money.

This potentially shows women aren’t progressing to roles where there is a higher rate of pay during this age bracket, when their male counterparts are.

Alongside this, women are less likely than men to have their expenses reimbursed. Women are 10% more than likely to not receive expenses. This means that coaching is not a financially sustainable for women and potentially leaves them earning less and out of pocket.

The research also highlighted frustrations around late payments. Many of these financial issues have affected me, including late payments.

“Coaches have low awareness of maternity and paternity policies and pay entitlements.”

The research highlighted that both men and women are unaware of the rights they have as employees. However, the contracting inequity affects women in this area as well. As women are on more casual contracts they may not be entitled to any maternity benefits.

This adds additional barriers in front of women, making coaching a less viable career for women wanting a family. Many female coaches are fearful to enquire about maternity policies. This is due to a perception of coaching environments being unsuitable for female coaches who are mothers. The report says that women often face a choice between taking time away from their families or missing opportunities that harm their career.

Coaching as an industry needs to address the balance so that it’s not a choice between career and family.

What can we do?

The report is clear that the coaching landscape is insecure for coaches of any gender. However, these challenges affect more women. The report calls for minimum employment standards.

I want to echo that. There’s alot that governments and National Governing Bodies need to do.

We need to support the coaching workforce (coaches of all genders) and we need to address the structural issues that clearly affect female coaches.

As a female coach this is a non-exhuastive list of the things I need:

• Job descriptions with pay included

• Contracts and roles that assess hours, pay and workload at unsocial hours

• A clear path for career progression

• Increased awareness of employment rights (and how they differ between contracts)

• Clubs (of all levels) to be able to access support on workforce strategy and planning

• Jobs that are accessible to all - I am fed up of seeing men’s teams advertising for player-coaches. This immediately means I cannot apply. Even if the player-coach was optional, it makes me think it’s not worth applying as they won’t consider a female coach.

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Andy Stevens is back! Andy’s current roles include: Barton Peveril Lead Coach - Men’s and Women’s U18, Bath Rugby Academy U16 PDG Lead Coach, RFU Coach Developer and Mentor and Hampshire RFU Coaching Lead

As part of his coaching, he’s delivered rugby in schools to girls that are new to the sport. This is a typical session plan that he might use.

As always, tweak these ideas to suit your coaching style and the players. You can also use these ideas for groups that have a mixture of newer and more experienced players.

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Activities plan:

• Netball rugby: players can’t move with the ball, they can pass in any direction. Teams aim to score on opposing trylines. Include Activate exercises within the game.

• Multidirectional touch level 1: players can move with the ball, they can pass in any direction. If the ball carrier is touch-tackled, they stop and pass the ball to a teammate.

• Multidirectional touch level 2: players can move with the ball, they can pass in any direction. If the ball carrier is touch-tackled, they stop and pass the ball to a teammate. Teams must complete one backwards pass before they can score.

• Backwards touch and pass (optional depending on level of players): All passes must now go backwards. If the ball carrier is touch-tackled, they stop and pass the ball to a teammate.

• Piggy in the middle: Split players into groups of 4. 1 player starts in middle, 3 players are surround the middle player and pass the ball between them. The middle player aims to hug the player who has the ball. This helps the player predict where the ball is going and an opportunity to teach them to get into a low and safe position for the hug.

• Hugby (optional depending on level of player): Return to a larger game and add in hugby rules. The ball must be passed backwards. Defending players aim to stop the player by performing a low, safe hug. The ball carrier is not taken to ground.

• Hugby lower level option: Play touch rugby rules, but restart the game with a ‘hug’ on the halfway line.

• Hugby/Backwards touch level 2: Ask the teams to add a new rule each. The rule changes apply to both teams.

Questions to ask players during the session

The questions you ask will vary on the confidence of the players, but they could include:

• Why have I just stopped the game? (You can use this to highlight something good that the players may have not realised what they’ve done)

• What did [player name] do really well just now?

• How could we have scored earlier/quicker?

• How could your team score more tries? 30 seconds to discuss - don’t tell the opposition.

• Why have you/I changed the rule? What has changed in the game?

Interactions you may have with players during the session

If your group has more experienced players, they can help explain, demo and lead. You can also add rules so the experienced player feels involved and valued while also making sure they don’t dominate the game.

When introducing the activities and sessions, you can structure them around principles of play. You can talk about the principles of play early on in the players’ journey.

Then you can plan and talk about your sessions using them and almost tick them off each week or couple of sessions. This can help prove to the players that they’re playing and learning rugby.

What’s next?

In the next few sessions, activities could include:

• Wrestling competitions

• Tackle technical activities (check out Tackle Ready and Contact Confident)

• Include Hugby in training sessions, potentially adding in an option to complete the tackle after the ball carrier has been passed the ball

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When I’ve coached adult women who are new to rugby, I’ve noticed they’ve often struggled with their confidence. This can be a combination of anxiety around learning a new sport, being in a new environment and potentially additional challenges due to going through the menopause.

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It can be hard for any player, but especially those new to the sport, to identify and reflect on their progress. As coaches, we can help players believe in themselves and recognise the growth they’re experiencing.

These can come from structured and unstructured verbal exchanges we have with players. It can also happen through interactions that are player-player that we help facilitate.

These exchanges between you and the player, or player-player can be something as simple as praise. This (hopefully) isn’t a groundbreaking concept.

Reflecting together

Player-player reflections can often be more impactful, as it’s a peer recognising how a teammate has developed. This can be arranged by pairing players up to share feedback.

This could be partnering players up longer term; a newer player could be paired with a player who has a leadership role or a higher playing age. This helps newer players feel connected and supported. It also means no player is potentially left on their own in any planned or organic connection time.

You can help guide some of the reflections based on what questions you ask. This could be something like: “find a partner and share your goal for the session.”

Depending on the day the player has had, the goal could be something simple like “have fun”.

You could then prompt the partner to ask how they could support their teammate in achieving their goal for the session.

This could also link with getting players to share and support each other on long term goals. You can help facilitate this by asking them to share one long term goal, arrange opportunities for the players to have regular check ins with each other, and partner or group them on activities that directly work on their goals (for example: grouping them on a tackle exercise if one player has a contact related goal).

Goal cards

I’ve found it’s important to have something physical in order to help players track their progess. IDPs (individual development plans) are a great way to get players to share their goals.

I have often simplified this (especially for newer teams) and deliberately made them physical rather than digital. Goal cards are small paper cards. (I’ve written about them before.)

On one side, players write down 3 superpowers. These could be anything physical, mental, tactical, technical etc. Writing down these 3 superpowers helps players give themselves a confidence boost.

A player might struggle to identify 3 superpowers. I have then encouraged other players to support their teammate and tell them what they like their superpowers are.

One the other side of the card, players write down 3 ‘even better ifs’. These are things they could improve, so they would be an even better player if…

For newer players these goals might be quite broad. For example: “improve confidence in tackling’. As players develop, you can narrow the goal down to be more specific about an area of the game. For example: the connection element of the tackle.

In players that are new to the game, listing ‘gain confidence’ as a goal is telling you where the player is currently at. In reflections after this, have some chats with the player to see what aspects they might struggle with and how you can help.

When a player has achieved a goal they can physically tick the goal off on the card. For a player that has put ‘gain confidence in the tackle’, have a chat with them around how they confidence has improved.

It might be that their overall level has increased but they now want to work on a specific area of the tackle. The player can tick off their first goal and replace it with another.

This helps the player reflect on their own progress as well as refine their own goals as they develop.

Did you know there’s a subscription option for Coaching Care Creativity? Nothing is behind a paywall so your subscriptions or coffee clicks can help keep the content going. The subscriptions are £5 a month or £50 for the year. You can also buy me a one-off coffee for just £5.

Buy Jess a coffee to support the work

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I am moving out of a full time Assistant Director of Sport role at a Girls Independent School into a Coach Developer Role with England Hockey. I am also a part time Research Assistant at Dublin City University as part of the CoEx Lab, and a Hockey Coach for both Juniors and Adults.

Relationships and building connections before training starts

Building relationships is fundamental to coaching and teaching. I make a dedicated effort to get to know players as much as I can. That includes greeting people by name and asking how their day has been.

It starts conversations with players so when it comes to talking about the game, questions don’t feel so alien to players. I tend to be a little goofy too – I enjoy humour in a session to try and make players feel at ease.

When people are getting ready for the session I try to say hello to everyone. It gives me the opportunity to gauge where people are at with their moods and energy, who might need some support and who might need some direction.

Getting opinions on practises and ideas discussed in sessions can make training collaborative. If there is something players don’t enjoy or are finding difficult, I try to find out why.

Getting to know players likes, dislikes and motivations can be really beneficial when planning activities and in the interactions we have in the sessions.

Interactions during a session

Generally, I use bigger huddles to explain the logistics of the practice, then get them into a demo and then playing as soon as I can. After a while we would then go into small groups to discuss, or I spend time with the rotating players to have conversations whilst they are between playing time.

In some sessions I might spend more time pushing information towards them to provide new information for what they are working on. Other times I will try and pull information from them to get a understanding of what they know, or don’t know, and what they are seeing during the practices or games.

I’m often with large groups during sessions, so it is really challenging to get 1-2-1 interactions with everyone from a logistical perspective. I try to mix up the interactions the players have with each other.

As I coach multiple teams I can’t always be there during matches, so they have to problem solve and communicate together without me. I try and ensure this happens in training so they build relationships between each other too, especially in environments where there is a mixed age range.

Practising their communication, clarity of messages and instruction is just as important as knowing where you stand in team moves.

Engaging a group of players in a PE lesson or training session

As a PE teacher and coach we need to understand where the players are at and respond to the needs of the group. Sometimes that means deviating away from the plan.

I’m fortunate that I have a few tricks up my sleeve so should the session deviate, I have an idea of what I can do next.

I try to consider what I need to do to make the challenge just right for players, but also where the players might be at during the session in terms of their understanding and application to the game.

Fun and enjoyment underpin everything. If we enjoy something we are more likely to put effort in engaging with it. It’s important to know players to see what they like/dislike.

Some students I’ve taught don’t enjoy competition, i.e. the winning and losing, but enjoy playing the games. Take a moment to understand the participants’ perspectives on the game/sport, rather than trying to push our own.

Some of the games we have played don’t look like the usual game, but they’ve enjoyed it and I think that is a really important stepping stone to building a positive relationship with sport and physical activity.

There will always be differing levels of understanding, technical ability and fitness. When running a lesson or training session with a mixed ability group, having multiple tricks up your sleeve is a must.

Having as many 1-2-1 or small group interactions as possible help with this. It can give you an understanding of what they understand, or don’t understand. That can help inform what adaptations you might make to scaffold the activity or set harder challenges.

I think there is also value in allowing players to watch and converse with one another to help build pictures of what the game or the skill looks like.

Did you know there’s a subscription option for Coaching Care Creativity? Nothing is behind a paywall so your subscriptions or coffee clicks can help keep the content going. The subscriptions are £5 a month or £50 for the year. You can also buy me a one-off coffee for just £5.

Buy Jess a coffee to support the work

Buy Jess a coffee to support the work

The first part of the year is a great time to think about what we’d like to try or challenge ourselves with.

Challenges and goals aren’t just for players. When giving yourself a challenge at training you can share it with your co-coaches, track it on your phone or share it with your support network.

Giving yourself a challenge is important, but the reflection afterwards and during is just as important. Make sure you’ve got someone you can reflect with. (If you don’t have anyone/want to chat with someone different you can send me a DM on substack)

When reflecting on the challenge, think about the effect it had on you, other coaches and the players.

If you need ideas for challenges, here are some you can try:

• In an activity, only coach 1-2-1 with players.

• Plan and coach through 1 game for the majority of the session. You can change rules and adapt to escalate the challenge level of the game.

• In a huddle, players must speak first.

• Give positive feedback to 10 players.

• Check in with every player across the session.

• Give positive feedback to your other coaches.

• Players must referee the game (what does this give you time to do?)

• Ask 20 questions across the session

• Give players 5 opportunities to problem-solve (in pairs, groups or teams)

I’d love to know what challenge you’re giving yourself for your next few sessions. Comment them below!

(Shoutout to Russell Earnshaw’s Magic Academy Coach Challenges cards which I use alot in my own practice!)

Did you know there’s a subscription option for Coaching Care Creativity? Nothing is behind a paywall so your subscriptions or coffee clicks can help keep the content going. The subscriptions are £5 a month or £50 for the year. You can also buy me a one-off coffee for just £5.

Buy Jess a coffee to support the work