ANI 365 Workshop 2 Practical Slides

Editor's Notes

• #4: In the practical session we will follow this suggested Athletics 365 session. Please consider how you can vary this for your own coaching environments.
• #5: First of all we are going to start with a warm up game (Scout Ball). When considering a warm up activity / game or session, ensure the warm up allows for: Children arriving late – If children arrive late they should be able to join straight in rather than warm up on their own or weight 3-4 minutes until the game has finished. Greater Social interaction – By running a large warm up involving all the junior groups together will allow for kids to meet other kids from different groups and increase the social (friends) network. Help develop role models - By bringing older and younger athletes together in the warm up you can help develop an environment where older athletes can demonstrate a responsible attitude as well as support younger athletes. Minimise number of coaches required - By running a mass warm up which requires only a few coaches/ leaders, you can free up other coaches to set up the various coaching activities to follow. Most importantly the warm up should prepare the athlete (physically and mentally )f or what is to follow With this in mind, does anyone know why I have chosen this game? – Answer – Scout Ball allows for athletes to use an array of movements including running, jumping (vertical and horizontal) and throwing (pulling and pushing type throws). It also allows for elements of Balance, Coordination and agility.
• #6: Set up and take the coaches for Scout Ball (as per card) – Allow for 10 Minutes to set up and run the game once. You will need 8-10 participants to play the game. Ask the remaining coaches to look for elements of running, jumping or throwing taking place in the game. Ask the observation group to focus more on throwing skills in the game. After the game finishes ask the coaches observing the throwing action what did you see (5 minutes) Answers ideally would be a pulling (javelin) throwing action , a pushing (shot put) throwing action and maybe a slinging and hurling type action. Now ask the coaches was one athlete better than the other at throwing (they don’t need to say who). If yes ask the coach(es) how did they come to this decision? Try to pull out they compared the throwing actions to a model that they have in their head (A technical throwing model). Now explain that what they have done is begun an informal assessment process comparing the athlete against a desired throwing model. What Athletics 365 does is give you key criteria (the challenges) to assess the athlete against. Emphasise that coaches are always assessing an athletes competence against a model ,what 365 requires is that these observations are recorded in some form or other. (We will look at this later in the workshop).
• #7: Use this Power point or draw this diagram on a flip chart: Explain that by using a game like ‘Scout Ball’ you can now move into the first skill /technique development activity for running, jumping or throwing as elements of all these areas where covered. For now we will focus on throwing. We will first look at a game which can help develop throwing skills and allow for the coach to assess throwing competence. We will then look after this at an activity which is more skills / drill based which again allows for the athlete to develop throwing skills and allow for the coach to assess throwing competence. In both cases we can using an involving coaching approach to empower the athletes to work on their technique and assess each others competence.
• #8: Further extend beat the clock by explaining that athletes working at different stages of the starting technique can all participate in the same game (as shown above). If time permitting take them through The Lane Game and Kabbadi to work on reactions and agility. Pulling out that these additional games have been chosen on this occasion to develop the reaction skills.
• #9: Explain that we will now follow the same pathway as the throws and jumps examples with the running. It may be worth going back to the flip chart or bubble diagram to remind coaches at this point. Set out beat the clock Run through the game and explain that coaches can use this as a fun and alternative way of introducing running for distance/speed skills. Emphasise that coaches should know why they have selected this game and what challenges within Athletics 365 it will allow them to observe. Explain that this game has so many technical running things you can look for from the Starting technique to the full flight running technique.
• #10: Use this Power point or draw this diagram on a flip chart: Explain that by using a game like ‘Scout Ball’ you can now move into the first skill /technique development activity for running, jumping or throwing as elements of all these areas where covered. For now we will focus on throwing. We will first look at a game which can help develop throwing skills and allow for the coach to assess throwing competence. We will then look after this at an activity which is more skills / drill based which again allows for the athlete to develop throwing skills and allow for the coach to assess throwing competence. In both cases we can using an involving coaching approach to empower the athletes to work on their technique and assess each others competence.
• #11: Set up and take the coaches for Push Golf (as per card) exchange one handed bean bag throw for two handed football throw – Allow for 10 Minutes to set up and run the game once. You can adapt this game to become ‘Throw Golf’. Throw Golf is exactly the same as Push Golf the only difference is you can encourage the athlete to use a Pull throw (Driver), Push throw (Putter) a Sling throw (Iron) and a Hurling throw (Sand wedge). You will need 4 pairs of volunteers to play 4 holes of golf. Ask the remaining coaches to pick a pair to follow around the golf course. Give all the athletes the brief coaching points they need to work on when doing the push throwing action in this game. RED 22a) Wait for instruction from coach before throwing and retrieving implement safely. 22b) Push an object up and forwards to gain height and distances, and aim at a raised target. 22c) Demonstrate a standing two handed push throw, extending arms through the elbows. YELLOW 22a) Demonstrate a standing two handed push throw (as Red) with knees bending then extending prior to throw (legs before arms). 22b) Demonstrate a standing two handed push throw, with flicking action through the wrist and fingers. 22c) Demonstrate a standing two handed push throw (as above) stepping into the throw. GREEN 22a) Move body parts in an effective order to aid a two handed push throw for distance and efficiency (from legs to hips to arms). Provide the observing coaches with the Athletics 365 challenges for the Push throwing action (Red – Green) to help them observe whether the athletes are doing this (assessment of competence). Explain that if each athlete took 4 shots per hole this would be 16 throws in total. This method of delivery also allows the athletes who need more practice to throw more often. That this same method can be used for stages 1 – 6 (red to black) with small adaptations in equipment and technical focus. Ensure safety is paramount though.
• #12: Explain you could now move the throwing game onto a more skills / drills based activity. You may move straight to this activity after the warm up with older more experienced athletes.
• #13: Set out the Shot Put Throws Grid as shown above and talk the coaches through it. The yellow cones mark the throwing lanes arrows show the direction of the throw and red cones mark potential safe observation areas for the coach. Explain that traditionally athletes either throw in a straight line or one at a time out of a circle when doing shot put. If they throw in a straight line this can mean the coach is a considerable distance from some athletes (safety and observation issues). If athletes throw one at a time out of a circle this can minimise the number of throws per session and increase boredom. By using the grid system coaches are closer to all athletes (better for safety, control , observation, etc). Athletes are throwing outwards away from each other. Good for safety. Allows for up to 8 athletes to throw at any one time. Does not require a shot circle, but does require a big enough field area. Athletes of various ability can throw out of different sides of the grid (e.g. Red throw out one side, yellow another and green another). Athletes are able to use this grid until glide or rotation is required. Please consider safety when using this system (e.g. is there enough space, is the surface safe, etc).
• #14: Explain that coaches can also use a throws line grid. This is safer for javelin / pulling activities. Set out the Throws Line Grid and explain the lay out. Yellow cones mark the throws line and Blue cones mark the safety line. Arrows mark the direction of the throw. Ask for 8 volunteer and split them into pairs. Ask each pair to stand in between two yellow cones. Decide who will throw first. First person to throw stay in between the yellow cones. Second person step back so that you are behind the two blue cones. Past one red and one green cone to each athlete behind the safety line. Ask them (staying behind the safety line) to stand in a position where they can see their partner throw. Give basic throwing instructions to the athletes about to throw and ask their partner observe whether their throw is good or not based on your instructions. If the think it was good raise a green cone. If they think it was bad raise a red cone. If they raise a red cone they have to explain what the athlete needs to do to get a green. This is encouraging peer analysis and self awareness of the required challenges. Swap athletes and run the same task. Coaches can observe and listen to athlete discussion and feedback if required.
• #15: Take a short break (5-10 minutes) before carrying on: Explain that we will now follow the same pathway as the throws examples with the jumps. It may be worth going back to the flip chart or bubble diagram to remind coaches at this point. Set out hopscotch pinball in the break. Explain that this game can be used to develop triple jump skills, throwing skills and ABC skills. Run through the game and explain that coaches can use this as a fun and alternative way of introducing triple jump skills. Emphasise that coaches should know why they have selected this game and what challenges within Athletics 365 it will allow them to observe. You could cover challenges Red B & C, Yellow C(?) & D and Green C & D.
• #16: Explain a alternative to or progression on from ‘hopscotch pinball’ could be the triple jump grid. Set out the triple jump grid and explain: By jumping into the side of the pit, more athletes can jump at the same time, allowing for a greater number of jumps per session. Setting out different distances allows for athletes of all stages and ages to participate in the challenges You could cover challenges Red b, Yellow c, Green b and d and Purple b – d with this exercise. You can repeat the red cone, green cone peer analysis here to aid the coach.
• #17: Review the practical session and explain throughout the practical session we have explored how we can develop skill through games and how we constantly assess athletes skills. Coaches are constantly assessing an athletes skill level - Empower the athlete to record progress – Give athletes the responsibility to record their own results. Involve the athlete in peers analysis - Red cone/Green Cone. Adapt recording paperwork to suit individual club
• #18: More information around planning and assessments can be found online.
• #20: Thank coaches for their time.