Some statement ay!?! Caught your attention though!
It’s National Coaching Week, an initiative by Sports Coach UK that runs every year, to empower sports coaches and raise awareness.
Sports Coach UK says:
‘The awareness campaign - which empowers athletes, coaches and the public to celebrate great coaching - will centre on the need to ‘Support Your Coach’, kicking off with the #GreatCoachingPledge that will call in the nation to give some of their own time, sharing thanks and support for the coaching community’
I am a huge advocate of coaches - I believe it can be a hugely isolating role and often goes unappreciated, especially at grass roots. So any campaign that celebrates coaching has a big thumbs up from me!
One of the responsibilities I loved about my previous role as a Netball Development Community Coach was working with up & coming coaches, supporting them in their qualifications, mentoring and general hand holding!
I may not be in that role anymore but that hasn’t stopped me in a voluntary capacity!
Coaches Network is a group of local netball coaches I put together 2 years ago to share ideas, best practice and generally be a support network. We tried to meet up either face to face or online every month before COVID-19 took a grip. Even through lockdown the conversations and morale boosting has been strong.
Which brings me back to the controversial ‘I am a World Class Coach statement’!
One of the things I notice in Coaches Network ALOT and speaking to other, mainly female, coaches across a variety of sports, is the under confidence in our own abilities and the almost apologetic nature when we (reluctantly!) speak about our achievements.
It is quite remarkable and also really quite sad.
I was delighted to attend the Project 500 Zoom Q&A with Judy Murray during lockdown. What a worthwhile hour. I learnt heaps and was so inspired.
The two stand outs, even months ahead are definitely:
💜 Step out of your comfort zone: it’s amazing what you can learn & achieve.
Judy told of her reluctance to ‘spread the women’s coaching word’ for fear of public speaking, until an associate pointed out that she was perhaps, part of the problem! You’ve got to see it to achieve it!
💜 What are you World Class in?
She told us it took her a long time to realise but she is a world Class Coach in her own right. She is a World Class Tennis Coach of Under 10s.
The message was definitely one of ‘why are the ‘best’ coaches coaching elite squads and programmes? You’ve got to have the best people coaching at the best level for them and the participants.’
My understanding is you have to have the right / best coaches coaching your beginner juniors because this is what sets them up for potential success - whether that’s a life long love of sport or the other end of the spectrum: world titles and elite success.
It’s simple really but it smacked me in the face like a wet fish!
Ever since that Zoom Q&A, alongside some, frankly feminist, as well as coaching- themed, reading and listening (I am a sucker for a podcast!) I have gone out of my way to step out of my comfort zone.
It’s take courage and an enormous amount of energy to get over some anxieties - about how I am perceived, about how I look / sound and under confidence in whether my experiences, my knowledge is enough.
But frankly, how can I mentor up & coming coaches if I don’t step out of my own comfort zone?
One of the consequences of me ‘stepping out’ can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1OXFImrVL9ft9Hd8WB9oYJ
It’s not perfect but it is real!
I have another opportunity to step out of my comfort zone as just prior to starting this blog I agreed to be part of a webinar speaking about returning to coaching from lock down. I’m sweating just thinking about it! It’s another opportunity to share my experiences though and also I never come away from these type of events without learning something myself. Genuinely.
So, in conclusion and to round up my Coaching Week blog, I am a World Class Back to Netball Coach.
There it is in black and white! There is no one raising an eyebrow more than me, I can assure you, but frankly I can back it up with figures, experience and expertise. I have passion, I have sustainability, I have confidence.
I am a World Class Back to Netball Coach.
What are you World Class at? What could you be World Class at?
