Later this year the Mountain Training UK are launching a new coaching qualification in climbing. It has been a long road to get there for them and I was a part of that process when I helped author the report into ‘Coaching in Mountaineering’ for the BMC and MT, having spent 2 years on the national source group on coaching. This document lead to these new awards that are due to release soon.
Seeing the future I went back to school to study Applied Sports Science with effective coaching, sport’s psychology and performance physiology at Masters level. I managed to pass this high level degree and ever since I have been waiting for these new awards hoping that I get the opportunity to be provider.
I have also taken the time to distill what is generally seen as skill acquisition and behaviours of an effective coach into a eBook format for iPad at the moment (I am looking into ways to retain the formatting in kindle but I am not sure it is going to be possible). I am also still developing online tools for coaches over at iCoach Climbing.
Anyway the book was released last week and then I headed down south for a spot of climbing before head back to explain the book in more detail. The book starts with an overview of what makes a coach looking at what we might consider the four core parts:
- Biomechanical Skills – Movement
- Cogntive Skills – Tactics and mental skills
- Physiologocal Skills – fitness, stamina and strength
- Social Skills – Fostering good interpersonal relationships
- Coaching Process – Skill acquisition
This book focus’ on the last two generic skills of a coach with the main emphasis on how we learn and how we can teach. I start with how we learn, as if we as coaches and instructors can understand learn then it is short step to reverse engineer it to teaching.
Having explained learning I then do something that I have not seen in any other text and link learning to anxiety models. I did this because it is my experience as a climbing coach that anxiety does disrupt learn and I use existing models to suggest ways that this happens. Whilst only short I think this chapter really makes the book stand out specifically for climbing coaches and how we can deal with anxiety issues.
I then go onto teaching and use many different models from some I have used in the United States on WEA coach/Instructor educations courses and other more standard skill acquisition models like ideas and edict. I then however go onto explain that these models are just that and instead focus more on what they contain:
- Introductions
- Demonstration
- Explanations
- Effective Practice
- Observation, Analysis and feedback
- Correction (more effective practice)
- Conclusion
The next chapter after this is about more advanced coaching and I look at communication skills like questioning techniques to find out exactly whats wrong so you can be more effective at finding the right solution. I then look at leadership using a simple model before utilising transformational leadership as a way to improve not only your leadership but your groups performance. I then move this onto team development strategies by look at collective confidence and group cohesion. The chapter ends by looking at legal and moral dilemmas facing climbing coaches today and child protection issues.
The last chapter focus on reflective practice for coaches and uses several models to help give you a framework to start reflecting on all your coaching sessions.
The whole book is aimed at raising your awareness and giving you ways to improve your coaching. As to me that is one of the key things to being a great coach, you need a chance to develop and constantly evolve, this book will help you do just that.
It is available in the iBookstore either search for effective coaching or you can find Effective Coaching: The Coaching Process for Climbing Instructors via this link. The learning chapter is available as a free sample.
I have spoken to Mountain Training about this book and at present they haven’t commissioned an official handbook on coaching. So it may transpire that this might be the only book available on the subject for a while. I am planning on putting together a mental skills for climbing instructors next, as I feel that my first book ‘How to Climb Harder’ covers the cognitive, movement and training aspects of coaching. Whilst How to Climb Harder does cover mental skills, I felt it would be possible to make a much more detailed book on the subject.
Anyway if you do purchase the book then I really appreciate any feedback here or by leaving a review on iBooks.