Volunteer Bootcamp – Coaching Masterclass Summary
Guest Contributor: Level 3 Coach and Level 1 Coach Assessor Dave Fear
Thanks to funding from the Federal Government, we were able to deliver a series of bite-sized professional development sessions for a group of wonderful volunteers that work with children and young people in our Clubs.
The day kicked off with a Coaching Masterclass session, courtesy of the highly experienced and knowledgeable Dave Fear. Dave shared with the group a variety of tips and tricks for coaching grassroots squash.
PGA
Posture – knees flexed, racket up weight on the balls of your feet.
Grip – (v left hand side of the racket, for right handers, use the index finger to point at the target on the wall so fingers are spread)
Alignment – like a golf shot, feet aligned with the target.
Getting your racket back early, rotate! Not extending your arm and disconnecting it from your body,
Use your body to hit the ball.
Movement
Get into a position as early as you can to “step hit” so you step forward (towards the target), not sideways.
Watch the ball with both eyes. First movement is rotate and follow the ball. By doing this you will de-weight the leg you need to move first.
Types of Sessions
Learning (coaching)
Practice
Training
Match practice
Competition (‘Review -> Plan -> Implementation -> Review’ cycle)
This all links into periodisation of training and the annual plan.
Supervised practice is the key to skill acquisition.
Recommend methodologies:
Make the sessions interesting, use things around you as targets.
Communication
- Understanding of children’s stages of physical and mental development.
- The need for excellent demonstration.
- Concrete / abstract thinking.
- Growth spurts and their effects on coordination.