COACHING CHILDREN: THE VALUE OF INSIGHT, EMPATHY AND ADAPTATION.

Richard Cheetham Senior Fellow in Sports Coaching University of Winchester

joyful freedom

memorable diminished

consciouness of self

play

Brooks, D. (2008).The Social Animal. A Story of How Success Happens. Random House. New York.

• Play by play narrative

• “In his stories there were generals and privates, mummies and

daddies, dentists and firemen”.

• “Games had a certain narrative…”

• “Rob got the urge to join in.This was a big mistake. It was

roughly the equivalent of a normal human being grabbing a

basketball and inviting himself to play a pick up game with the

LA Lakers”.

Neotony: “Retention of childlike attributes into adulthood”

Lesson 1: Coaches may need to learn to play again!

• Playtime

Robinson, K. (2015). Creative Schools. Penguin. London.

• “It (empathy) begins by recognising in ourselves the

emotions that others are feeling and how we would feel in

the same circumstances”.

Meaningful Memorable

Creative Curious

Learning

Lesson 2: Take more time to understand the child’s view of the world and the science of learning.

Connections Imagination

Themes Creative

Stories

Brown, S. (2009). Play. How it Shapes the Brain,Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul. Avery. New York.

• “Expertise is about forming internal connections

so that little pieces of information turn into bigger

networked chunks of information”

• “Learning is not merely about accumulating facts!”

Lesson 3: Adapt your coaching practice by using stories to develop effective connections between participants and the

learning experience.

Characteristics of effective coaching practice

Support Learning

Engage and

enthuse Develop

skills

Unlock potential

References and additional resources

• Brooks, D. (2008).The Social Animal. A Story of How Success Happens. Random House. New York.

• Brown, S. (2009). Play. How it Shapes the Brain,Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul. Avery. New York.

• Robinson, K. (2015). Creative Schools. Penguin. London.

• TED Talk • http://www.ted.com/playlists/383/the_importance_of_play