Christy Wong

Coaching Session Plans

Skill being coached: Vortex Throw Date, time and location of coaching session: 28/2/2014 Gym

Goal for session: End of Coaching/Unit Reflection



Activities (15-20mins total)
(What is the activity they will be doing)
Organisation
(Groups, individual, set-up,
formations)
Coaching Points
-What do they need to know to do the activity
successfully?
-Tips and helpful reminders to improve technique
and outcome
Warm-up: maximum 5 mins
Individual Running (light jog)
Arm stretching
Moving the shoulder joint (active
stretching)
Side on running
Side steps
- Doing it with the supporter (if
able)
- Mostly running the width of
the gym or the secondary roof
- Stretching would be done in a
corner
- You need to have the knowledge that you get the
momentum through side on running.
- Moving the shoulder joint more often during the
warm up because when throwing the vortex
many strengths needs to be applied from the
arms.
- Arms needed to be stretch
- Have a side on footstep, making sure the placing
of the foot is right as few side steps needed to
be taken to provide enough momentum for the
vortex
Activity 1:
Throwing a tennis ball (modied situation
of the throwing technique of the vortex)

-
Distributed
-
Part
-
Drill Based
Need to prepare:
- Cones (to mark where they
cant pass as that is like the
line where if you pass you get
disqualied)
- Tennis Balls (preferably 2 or 3
so that we dont waste time
picking up the ball)
- This would be done
individually, throwing across
the width
- They need to know that when throwing the
vortex, you can not pass a certain line (space),
as it will be called as disqualied if they step over
the line
- Arms should be straight when they are pulling
their arm back to throw the ball (vortex)
- Remind them to follow through but BE CAREFUL
of the line
- Follow through is really important
- Arms straightened to exert as much as force
possible
Activity 2:
Throwing an actual vortex for the nal
activity.
Need to prepare:
- Vortex (2, so that the
supported can also join in)
- A target for the vortex to be
aimed at
- Cones, marking the line
- Reminding the athlete the actual line for
disqualication
- Adding all the practices done from the warm ups
and the modied throwing, side on and then
throw the vortex
- Remind the steps of the foot, footwork of the
side on and the follow through so that it can end
- The arm that is not throwing should be pointing
out, aiming at where you want the target to be
- Techniques like arms straight, grip of the vortex
should be revisited












Conclusion / Debrief:

What parts of the practice session went well?
I think that the actual activity (which was throwing the vortex) actually went pretty well, my athlete understood it clearly. This could also be
because of the throwing warm-ups using the tennis ball. And also i believe the stretching from the beginning was also very important and i
think that it worked pretty well in corresponding to my actual activity.

Was the athlete able to meet and complete the goals and activities that you set?
Yes my athlete was able to meet and complete all the goals and activities that I had set.

What type of practice did you use? Did this work well? What do you need to adapt/change for the next coaching
session?
The types of practice I used were: Distributed, Part, and Drill Based. Through this I think it actually worked pretty well for the athlete to
understand the steps of having a good vortex throw. Having a distributed practice allows the athlete to take rests after throwing the tennis ball
because the athlete should rest as it might be their rst time, and hence if they do not have solid grasp to the skill, distributed practice and
slowly improve their skill. I think after this coaching session, next time I would probably change practices to whole practices, because to throw
a vortex isnt such a hard skill, hence if the athlete worked in whole practices, they can get feedback easier and quickly improve and change
any problem.

What did you nd difcult about the coaching session?
Well it was overall ne, with the warm ups and the actual activity. However I actually think that when creating our activities and planning was a
bit more harder than usual because we did not really know our athlete and their level of understanding in PE. This is because without knowing
what skills our athlete are good at/or not good at, can affect the choices of the types of practice used. And this was pretty difcult when
determining and inquiring about the skill of the athlete. And also during the coaching sessions, we got pass the warm ups pretty fast and we
got to the activity relatively quickly, hence I had to quickly come up with more activities (like aiming at a certain goal) so that they had more to
do, which was some downsides of the coaching session.

What guidance did you give? Was this effective? Visual, verbal, manual
The guidance that I gave to my athlete was mostly verbal and visual. The warm ups were visual as we did that all together (including the
supporter). When we got to the throwing the actual tennis ball, I rst showed it with me throwing it in front of them so that they can see how to
throw and what points to be careful about when throwing. And when they were throwing, I would verbally give them some improvements, like
throwing some words to help them to increase the speed and distance of the vortex, but we werent mainly looking at that but the technique
when throwing. I actually think it was pretty useful because visually, it can help them see how it should be done, and verbally when standing by
their side when they are throwing can help them improve their technique so that they can have a perfect throw.

What type of feedback was useful? Internal, external (visual, verbal)
The type of feedback that I found useful was internal and both external feedback. This was because I usually look at my athlete and how they
throw it, and how they throw will potentially reect upon what they understood about what I taught them, hence I would have have then either
told them word for word (however this was less efcient for them to understand). However internal feedback has been pretty important
because they can feel what is going right in the throw and improve individually rather than with the coach. But I mainly used external feedback,
actually doing the activity one more time for them to clearly see what is happening.
You were given THREE different roles within the coaching sessions (athlete, coach and supporter). Which did
you nd easiest and which did you have the most difculty with. Give examples in your answers.

I think the role I found most easiest was to be the supporter mostly because I got to help the coach when she
needed it and also I got to give mental support to the athlete while she was learning her skill. Being a supporter
didnt require anything difcult, if the coach needed you for a demonstration you can always help, and in my
case, I went down getting speakers for the coach as she was teaching dance hence I mostly aided her with
her problems while she was teaching. The most difcult I think it is denitely the coach because the amount of
work needed to create a good coaching session is really hard. This is because I had to consider the building
blocks to the overall big picture (which for me was the vortex throw), and also because I didnt know the level
of skill of my athlete made it harder so I had to start with the most basics leading up to the throw. Coaching is
pretty hard because you have to sufcient guidance to the athlete and also good feedback for them to actually
improve their technique on the skill.


In the athletes role, did you nd the guidance you were given both verbal and visual effective and feedback
external and internal. What did your coach do that enabled you to improve on your level of skill?

When being an athlete, I found that the guidance both verbal and visual had been very important because
without it, I am pretty sure I couldnt have achieved what I had to do without the visual guidance from my
coach. I think I really improve from my level on my skill when my coach was telling me what to do when I was in
the process of doing my skill hence I can immediately change what I was doing wrong and quickly improve my
skill allowing it to be way better than it was before. Both internal and external feedback was really important,
because my skill was doing a handstand, it was good to have the coach to debrief on where I should have
started my handstand and what technique I could have improved. Internal was also important but I think it
didnt help me as much as the external where the coach was coaching me while I was doing my skill.


Do you think you were able to make a substantial change to your athletes level of skill, why or why not.

Well, I am not so sure because my athlete had perfect understanding and knowledge of the vortex throw, I
dont think I made her throwing skills better, but probably I kind of improved her technique of throwing because
she didnt have a really good side step (footwork before the throw) and this really affected the throw because
even if you have a great strength, without the footwork, the outcome would denitely be different. So to
conclude, I dont really think I have greatly improved her level of skill, but I did create minor changes to affect
her quality of throw


The unit question was how do my actions achieve change? what would you do differently ?

I would have maybe taught the throw in a different perspective rather than keep on practicing the throws. I
actually think I should have changed some of the types of practice to achieve a better change in my athletes
performance. Like changing the distributed into mass because throwing should be done over and over again
to get a better quality.