Invention Session:

Invention:

   

 

During a practical session, Cliff Olsson asked the group to split into groups of fours, and distributed cards to each member of the group; on these cards was a sporting activity that had to be coached to the group, these where very diverse activities ranging from headstands to the basketball finger spin.

    The activity I was given was the Cruijff turn (Cruyff as more commonly known), which is something I was knowledgeable, not only due to football being my sport, but also because it’s a requirement I have to coach for challenger over in the States; so I felt very confident in my ability to portray the relevant information to my group. I tended to be autocratic in my coaching style as I didn’t want the participants to learn the incorrect protocol, as it can be quite a complex fake/turn for younger participants, but in hindsight I believe I should performed a demonstration of the turn and allowed guided discovery to take place and have the participants attempt the turn, due to them being older participants instead of breaking the turn up into four components like I usually do with younger participants, (like what is shown in this hyperlink http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOqQbamkPvE  ). Then as suggested by Schmidt and Wrisberg (2000) I will provide feedback on the attempted turn that will prepare the individual for future unassisted performance.

     Once the participants had mastered the Cruijff turn I then, progressed the activity from a fairly static movement in a small area, to a faster fluid movement that required more movement and space, before further progressing the activity so that the turn was performed in a opposed scenario starting with cones and working with fellow participants.

   In my group Connor McGowan was given the task of coaching spinning a basketball on the finger, something well out of his usual comfort zone, yet he performed admirably under the circumstances. I think he was aided by his inexperience and lack of knowledge about the activity as he had no pre- conceived notions in which to influence coaching, which ment he allowed the participants to problem solve and thus based on their performance note errors or improvements and assist them via guided discovery which progressed them further. This problem solving approach allowed for activity based questions such as, “does that feel comfortable”, “ why are you using that finger” etc. which not only provided an insight into the participants performance, it allowed the coach to extract potentially valuable information form the participants, that would allow pointers and coaching to take place.

  The session was very rewarding as you had to act instinctively and think outside the box with several of the activities in order to create fun, interactive mini coaching sessions. The session demanded creativity, ingenuity and instinctive coaching.

 

Schmidt, R. & Wrisberg, C. (2000). Motor learning and performance. A problem-based learning approach. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.P.94, Accessed 03/01/13