Task 1

Session 1Participant: Daniel BagleySessions Aim: Improve shooting technique, accuracy and percentage of shots scored. Action The session aim was to improve Daniel’s shooting technique, accuracy and the percentage of shots scored.  From previous performance analysis, it was found that Daniel scored 60% of the shots he took, and there are inconsistencies in his technique which hindered him from shooting accurately repeatedly.  The session took place at the tennis centre and Daniel was the only participant.  Even though I was coaching the session I sometimes took part when it was needed, for example to feed the ball to the player.  The session started with a one-on-one on the technique of shooting, which was followed by a practical session inside the goal circle practicing what Daniel had learnt, by shooting from different areas within the circle.  This exercise progressed with the introduction of an active defender, and then by performing court sprints and receiving the ball once in the circle and then shooting as he previously did.  Daniel then did a movement and awareness drill in the circle, which progressed with the receipt of a ball and him turning to shoot.
 Reflection The first exercise of the session was a one-on-one focussing on shooting technique.  Daniel picked up the technique quickly, and there was a noticeable difference in the accuracy and preciseness of his technique, which Woodlands believes are ‘key… to consistent, high percentage shooting’ (2006).   He quickly progressed onto further drills, implementing what he had learnt successfully, and moving onto a conditioned game situation.  Throughout the session there was an improvement in Daniel’s technique, but there are several key points that he needs to focus on in following sessions.  For example, something that Daniel wasn’t always doing during the exercises was extending his body and moving the ball upwards.  This is a key component of shooting as a low release of the ball is going to increase the chance of interception, which Daniel found when shooting from within the circle with an active defender.  Woodlands supports this by saying ‘the player should release the ball from the highest point’ and they should shift their ‘weight forward up onto the toes’ (2006). Although this point was highlighted to Daniel during the session, he didn’t always respond and could have taken more time when shooting to focus on that.  It is understandable however that Daniel may not realise the importance of extension until he plays in a pressurised game and there are obstacles in his way to shooting.  

The above video shows Daniel shooting at the beginning of the session.

This video shows Daniel shooting later on in the session and you can see that his knees are bent, he is holding the ball above his head, and his hand is underneath the ball supporting it.
Daniel may also need more experience of shooting from different distances and angles within the goal circle.  When shooting from an area that he was comfortable with he shot accurately, but found it difficult to grasp the power and angle of release needed to score goals from different areas.  This is something that can be rectified easily with practice and experience.  With more experience Daniel will learn where he can shoot from within the circle successfully, and with what angle of release and power he needs to use.  This information will be stored in the long term memory, and Daniel will recall it every time he is faced with the same situation, in order to shoot successfully (McMorris, 2004).  Daniel could also take more time to set up these shots, and talk himself through the process and the key points rather than rushing, as it’s important he understands how much power and at what angle these shots need to be taken from to score, as ultimately ‘their number one objective is to score as many shots as they can’ (Woodlands, 2006).
During the awareness drill, Daniel demonstrated that he understands how he should position his body towards and track other players.  When he was fed the ball he reacted quickly, pivoting to shoot and abiding by the footwork rule - rule 14 states ‘a player may… step with the other foot in any direction any number of times, pivoting on the landing foot' (Thomas, 2000).  However, he may have rushed the set-up of the shot and not given enough thought to the key factors.  At this stage it’s important that Daniel sets-up the shot accurately (which he may need to take more time to do) to eliminate any problems that may occur later on as he progresses through the stages of learning with incorrect technique.  As Daniel is currently at the cognitive stage of learning he may use trial and error to find the best way of reaching his end goal (scoring a goal), but any inconsistencies in his technique will become more difficult to change as he progresses to the autonomous stage of learning (Wulf, 2007).  Also, as with the previous drills, Daniel wasn’t extending his body upwards or holding the ball safely above his head.  This is something that can be worked on however, and after playing a game Daniel may begin to understand the importance of lifting the ball upwards (again through trial and error, Daniel will find that if he doesn’t lift the ball it will be intercepted).
 I think Daniel benefits most from having a one-on-one session, and it was during the one-on-one technique session that he showed the most development.  I think this may be because during the drills he wasn’t listening to the feedback and prompts I was giving because he was too focussed on the task.  Daniel is also easily distracted by things around him (see his learning style questionnaire).  Therefore, by doing a one-on-one where there was interaction between myself and Daniel he found it easier to remain focussed, as there were fewer distractions, and gained the most from the session this way. 

During the session I took on a democratic style of leadership.  I think this was most suitable for the session as Daniel was the only participant, so by making decisions with him I was able to make the session entirely athlete-centered and based upon Daniel’s needs (Martens, 2001).  As the group size was small, a democratic style of leadership was effective and it meant there was a friendly atmosphere during the session (Weinberg & Gould, 2011).  However at times (for example when giving Daniel prompts to which he didn’t respond) it would have been better to use a more autocratic style of leadership as it is considered to be more ‘task-orientated’ (Martens, 2001) which Daniel was having problems with. 
 
Daniel suffers from state anxiety (as was found during his initial psychological assessment), however during this session he didn’t display any symptoms of anxiety (such as loss of concentration, nervousness and fear) nor was his performance hindered in any way.  This may be because when the initial assessments were conducted, Daniel was new to the sport and didn’t have much understanding meaning he viewed it as potentially threatening – state anxiety is defined by Adams as ‘an emotional response to any situation considered to be threatening’ (2007).  He now appears to be much more confident and comfortable when playing.  This may be because the session was predominantly one-on-one with me, and as Daniel and I have a good relationship he didn’t view the situation as threatening, or feel nervous or embarrassed. 

As well as technical and psychological development, Daniel began to show a tactical development.  The three second and footwork rule were introduced during the conditioned game and Daniel was able to see how they were used during a game environment.  It’s important that Daniel understands and plays by the rules, as breaking the footwork rule or keeping possession of the ball for more than 3 seconds will result in a free pass (Thomas, 2000).  Even though there wasn’t much emphasis on this during the session, there was still a substantial improvement from his initial tactical and technical assessment results.  The tactical progression Daniel has shown is pleasing, but there is still work to be done, however this will come with practice and will be the focus of specific training sessions.

The feedback Daniel received during the session was mainly formative, in that it was given to him continuously throughout the session with the aim of improving his performance (BTEC Sport, 2013).   The amount of feedback was ideal because it wasn’t too much that Daniel lost concentration or became confused, but the prompts were relative and necessary to improving Daniel’s performance.  There wasn’t however any summative feedback given at the end of the session, nor did I tell Daniel this review of the session would be available for him to read.  Summative feedback is important as it tells the learner whether they have reached the outcome indicated at the beginning of the session, it gives an overall summary of the whole session, and positive feedback gives the performer more confidence (Evaluation Focus, n.d.).  As the sessions had been recorded Daniel could have been shown this footage, which is an effective form of feedback as he could see the errors for himself, and how what he thought was the correct way of executing a skill could be amended.

Planning Overall there was an improvement in Daniel’s basic shooting technique, meeting the aims of the session.  During the next shooting session however, he needs to slow down the set-up of the shot and really consider the key points of the technique rather than becoming over confident and rushing it, because he doesn’t yet have a 100% success rate of shooting.  It’s important that he does this so his body knows how it should feel when shooting from different distances and angles, and he will begin to receive internal feedback from his body knowing whether it’s going to be a successful shot, which he currently isn’t aware of.  Daniel may also benefit from more challenging exercises so that the importance of the key technique points are highlighted, and he will understand why they’re necessary.  It will also be more realistic to a game situation because shooting won’t be as easy for him in a game as it was during the session.
 During the next session we will focus on extension of the body as this is currently one of Daniel’s biggest barriers to shooting successfully in a game situation.  We will also look at the variations of shooting technique but this will become more prevalent in more challenging situations.  For example, stepping backwards before shooting if a defensive player is blocking you.  Another thing which Daniel needs to improve is his cardiovascular fitness because he became tired very easily during the session indicating that he would struggle to play a full netball game as the demand on the cardiovascular system is high (HPathletes.com, n.d.). Daniel may also find the accuracy of his shooting is effected when he becomes fatigued.  Although there is already a focus on this in his programme by building it into all of his sessions, especially shooting, it will both improve his stamina quicker and be more realistic to a game situation.  What Daniel has learnt is integral to a game of netball because it is the team with the most goals that wins, and there are only two team members allowed to shoot so Daniel must be able to act at every opportunity.
 Session 2Participant: Stuart MarriottSession Aims: Improve Stuarts speed and agility and transfer it to a game situation. Action The aim of the session was to improve the performers speed and agility which could then be implemented into a game situation.  The session was completed on a squash court (due to the desired facilities being unavailable) with Stuart being the only participant.   Even though I was leading the session I participated in activities where there was a need for another participant (for example, wall work).  The first activity was rack sprints over a distance of 5m, 10m, 15m, and 20m, which then progressed by receiving and passing a ball.  This was followed by a wall drill focussing on movement and agility.  The session concluded with Stuart doing high intensity fartlek training and then cooling down.
  Reflection The first exercise was a sprinting drill over distances which may be covered in a game of netball.  Initially, I felt that Stuart didn’t give all of his effort to completing the drill, but once I motivated and encouraged him he did try much harder.  Weinberg and Gould state that intrinsically motivated individuals ‘strive inwardly to become competent’ and ‘want to learn skills to the best of their ability’ (2011).  Stuart initially wasn’t very motivated, which is concerning considering the above, but with verbal praise he became more motivated.  Verbal praise is an effective form of increasing intrinsic motivation as it is positive feedback encouraging the learner to further strive for improvement (Weinberg & Gould, 2011).   It’s important that Stuart gets used to giving his sprints 100% because if he doesn’t his speed training won’t be effective in increasing the explosive power in his legs.  This is important for mamy aspects of the game, such as jumping, sprinting, changing direction quickly and stopping immediately having caught the ball ((Livestrong.com, 2011).  Aside from that Stuart’s sprinting technique did develop during the session.  He used his knees to drive forwards, increased his stride length, stayed on the balls of his feet and kept his elbows at a 90◦ angle also using his arms to drive his movement (Mackenzie, 2001).  As the sprints were over such a short distance it is difficult to truly assess technique because as Stuart is getting into his stride he has to stop again.  Also, there was no definite measure of success during this exercise.  Even though there is an end measure (decrease the time taken in a sprint test) in place, this can’t be used at the end of every session as it’s impractical, however the improvements I saw during the session were promising.

The video shows Stuart's improved sprinting technique and him putting in more effort.

During the second activity, the wall work drill, there was a noticeable development in Stuart’s agility and footwork.  Again, this exercise is hard to measure, and it was especially hard as I was taking part in the activity myself.  However, as I was taking part in the activity I noticed that it was flowing better and fewer mistakes were being made.  Stuart became very light on his feet, with his knees bent, remaining on his toes and changing direction quickly.  Most importantly Stuart remained balanced and kept his speed under control meaning he could stop and change direction immediately, because if he didn’t in a game situation he may be penalised for footwork (Woodlands, 2006).  He was always in the correct place to catch the ball and threw it accurately so that I, the other player, could catch it - a skill which must not be ‘underestimated’ in such a fast paced game (Woodlands, 2006).  When we completed the exercise in reverse order Stuart picked it up quickly, and had no difficulty with the change of direction.  Again, he was on his toes and able to move in a different direction with speed.  Feedback for this drill at the time was limited, and this is not Stuart’s fault, but mine for not having enough participants to enable me to step back and watch the drill.

The video above shows the wall work drill.

During the fartlek training Stuart gave a lot more effort than he had in the first sprint drill, which I was pleased with, especially as I think he struggled with the intensity of the exercise.  Fartlek training is ideal for netball as the athlete must switch between the anaerobic and aerobic energy systems (as would happen during a netball game) leading to an ‘improvement in aerobic endurance’ (BTEC, 2007).  Other benefits of fartlek training are that it reduces boredom in comparison to other aerobic training, and the pace can be set by the athlete (BTEC, 2007) which is beneficial for Stuart as he sometimes loses motivation.  Again, as this is a fitness building exercise it’s difficult to measure the success of it.  At the end of the training programme Stuart will do tests that will measure his progress.  Currently however, I am pleased with the amount of effort that Stuart gave, and if he continues he should definitely see an improvement.

The aim of the session was to improve speed and agility and transfer it into a game situation.  As of yet it can’t be measured with Stuart’s speed and agility has improved, as this will be measured at the end of the programme, and unfortunately there weren’t enough participants to play a netball game.  This means he was unable to meet that session outcome, but that was not Stuart’s fault but was my planning of the session.  The speed and agility that Stuart is developing will make him quicker in games, meaning he can get into spaces quicker, change direction quickly to dodge other players and the strength in his legs mean he’ll be able to jump higher, which is all necessary for a competitive player (Woodlands, 2006).

A concern is that with both the first and second drills, I had to stop the session and explain them again because Stuart didn’t understand.  If Stuart doesn’t understand an explanation or demonstration of a drill he needs to communicate this with me so I am aware and I can change the way I approach to situations with him to something more suitable.  There is also little point in starting a drill and having to stop again, as it wastes time and can make both the participant and coach agitated to do repeatedly.  During the session I took on an autocratic style of leadership and that may be the reason Stuart didn’t feel comfortable telling me he didn’t understand the drill.  An autocratic leader dictates to the participants and is task focussed, whereas a democratic style of leadership is more cooperative and athlete focussed (Martens, 2001).  Had I taken on this style of leadership Stuart may have felt more confident and discussed any problems he was having.

As well as improving physiologically, Stuart’s technical and tactical awareness also developed.  During the wall work rotations exercise Stuart wasn’t allowed to make contact with the other player (as the defender must always be 0.9m away from the ball (Thomas, 2000)) so his spatial awareness increased by working in such close proximity to another player.  He also had to catch the ball whilst sprinting so the footwork rule became increasingly important as he had to control his speed in order to stop immediately (Woodlands, 2006).  Even though it’s limited, Stuart has still shown a tactical development since his initial analysis.  The extent of Stuart’s technical and tactical development cannot be fully assessed because he didn’t play a game.  Playing a game is the most effective way of learning tactical skills and for the athlete to realise the importance, so Stuart will definitely do this during the next session.

During the session Stuart was quiet, and didn’t appear confident when performing the drills, occasionally looking to me for confirmation.   This indicates that his anxiety which was identified in his initial assessments has not yet reduced, and his confidence is still quite low.  This may have been because I stopped both rack sprints and the wall work drill, which may have been quite disheartening for Stuart.  Before taking part in the next training sessions Stuart should complete a psychology questionnaire so his psychological development can be assessed.  Over the following session there will be an emphasis on building Stuart’s self confidence, because without it he won’t take the risks he needs to in order to improve (France, 2009).  One of the most effective ways of improving Stuart’s self-confidence would be to set achievable and measurable goals, so that he can see the improvement in his performance (France, 2009).  As stated above, the activities completed during this session were not measurable to be able to assess whether they had been successful.  However, as leader of the session I could see that Stuart had shown technical and physiological developments and so I should have given him more praise.
 The feedback Stuart received during the session was mainly formative, but this was limited especially when I was taking part in the drills.   Formative feedback is ‘communicated to the learner… intended to modify the learners thinking or behaviour… for the purpose of improving learning’ (Shute, 2007).  The benefits of it are that it allows Stuart the opportunity to change his behaviour before the end of the session enabling him to still meet the session outcome.  The amount of feedback I gave could be increased, and it could have been more positive.  The Cognitive Evaluation Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) states that positive feedback makes the learner feel rewarded and often increases intrinsic motivation, something which Stuart is lacking (Gadsdon, 2001).  Alongside this, there wasn’t any summative feedback given at the end of the session, nor did I tell Stuart this review of the session would be available for him to read.  Summative feedback is important because it informs the learner whether they have reached the outcome indicated at the beginning of the session, giving an overall summary of the whole session, and any positive feedback increases the athlete’s confidence (Evaluation Focus, n.d.).    Feedback is especially important for Stuart as his confidence is low, so any information which may modify his behaviour and make him more successful, is likely to increase his confidence.  As the sessions had been recorded Stuart could have been shown this footage, which is an effective form of feedback as he could see the errors for himself, and how what he thought was the correct way of executing a skill could be amended.

Stuart showed the most development during drills when he got stuck in and found what was best through trial and error (in this case this occurred during wall work rotations).  From his learning styles questionnaire, it can be seen that Stuart is a kinaesthetic learner – someone who remembers ‘what they do and what they experience with their hands or bodies’ (Hayes, 2010) – meaning Stuart learns best from doing.  During trial and error learning ‘a person tries a variety of approaches to learning a motor skill and evaluates their successfulness (Fairbrother, 2010).  Wall work rotations are repetitive meaning it allowed Stuart to alter his movement having seen the result of the previous movement.  A disadvantage of trial and error learning is that the learner may pick up bad habits, but as Stuart was supervised by a coach, and as a kinaesthetic learner, this is the most effective way of him learning.  Stuart learns the least when he is being talked to, as this isn’t his preferred style of learning and he only takes in a limited amount of information as he is unable to take in that information in the same way he could if he physically did it.

Planning During the next session there will be more emphasis on game situations as this is ultimately what matters.  There should also be more communication between Stuart and me, as the coach, so that I am aware if he doesn’t understand something, and so he feels comfortable to tell me if he has any problems.  Alongside this, I need to give Stuart more feedback so that he can continue to succeed, and more praise, to help build Stuarts self-confidence.  This should also increase Stuart’s intrinsic motivation, so that he gives more to the sessions.  I would like to see Stuart begin the session with as much effort as he ended this one, so that the results of his end fitness tests reflect the maximum he is capable of achieving.  It would be beneficial for Stuart to work with a sprints coach, as they will have a better understanding of speed training and Stuart will be able to achieve his potential. 
The above session reflections are based upon Swailes and Senior’s (1999) adaptation of Kolb’s Learning Cycle (Jones, 2006).
Image from Jones, 2006.

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