Planning

1. Planning • Design appropriate learning activities to meet requirements of athletes’ stage of development • Setting goals for the season/session • Choose coaching methods to enable athlete learning • Plan for different ability levels • Plan equipment and facility usage

2. Training Session Principles • Provide plenty of activity • Provide maximum use of time, facilities and equipment • Provide a variety of activity • Ensure skills have a progression from simple to complex • Provide a safe, successful, non-threatening environment • Ensure athletes progress at their own rates • Be organised, yet flexible in your planning

3. Planning Activity Checklist • How will you introduce thetask? Will you explain it? Demonstrate it? Use questioning? • How will you know that the athletes understood your instructions? • What materials or instructional aids will you need to teach the tasks and enable athletes to practise effectively? • How safe are the tasks and activities that you have planned? Do you need to check equipment? • Are the progressions of the skill at the athletes’ level? • Do your activities cover all domains of learning? • Will both your higher and lesser ability athletes get something out of the session?

4. Planning Considerations • Background of season to date • Background of athletes • Purpose or learning objectives • Games/activities to be used • Learning opportunities • Evaluation

5. Holistic Performance Objectives • Physical (Movement Skills) • includes all growth and change that occur in a person’s body - and the genetic, nutritional, and health factors that affect those developments as well as motor skills • Cognitive (knowledge and awareness) • includes all mental processes that are used to obtain knowledge or to become aware of the environment • Emotional (affective) • includes emotional, ethical, personality and social development • Social Social development, group needs

6. Performance Objectives • Having performance objectives enables coaches to • select or design learning activities to suit athletes’ needs • provide a basis for whether or not athletes achieve objectives and goals set • provide clear direction for athletes in attaining the established objectives

7. Athletes’ Learning - Setting Objectives/Purpose • Emotional • emotional needs • Mental skills • Social • emotional needs, social needs, • Cognitive • decision-making, tactics and strategies • Physical • Fitness, technique

8. Competition Phases • Transition/Foundation • Preparation • Competition

9. Planning for Competition • Integrate into day to day training sessions, for example • Mental preparation, eg practising in pressure situations (TGfU fantastic for this), timing of training to match competition • Physical athletes will play the way they train (intensity level) • Practise competition routines • Practice skill in meaningful contexts

10. Planning for Competition • Mental Preparation • Physical Preparation • Pre-competition routines • warm up • technique • fitness • psychological routines • Competition strategy • Competition Talk • Half time Talk

11. Testing • Is this necessary - why or why not? • General planning considerations • training emphases • fitness foundation • basic training • emphasis shifts

12. Example of Pre-competition Routine • Arrive at venue XX minutes before the start • Check equipment • Begin warm-up and stretching • Think happy, relaxed thoughts • Positively image upcoming performance • Listen to coach’s brief comments (no new information) • Apply these comments to imagery and/or self-talk • Engage in heavier physical preparation • Use more imagery if necessary • Engage in quicker physical activity • Ready self for the start - think of opening skills and game plans • Cue word for the first skill • (Kidman and Hanrahan, 2004)

13. Self Control • Trust your preparation • No new information • Body language rubs off • Have comments that are encouraging and prompting, no ultimatums • Final should be same as every other game/competition • Control the controllable • Don’t show frustration