Synthesis of Learning:
Using a Cyclical Approach
In 2009, I started teaching at Corunna High School. Still fresh from my student teaching at Stockbridge High School, I was excited to teach and work with kids. As the year progressed, I attended school events and helped with the marching band a little bit, but still had not quite found my niche. However, I did want to work with kids in extracurricular activities. During the second semester working at Corunna, I asked the cross-country coach and fellow math teacher where it was safe to run outside (I was tired of running on the treadmill at my apartment). Knowing that I enjoyed running and working with kids, he asked if I would consider working at cross-country team camp, and that I was welcome to run with the kids after school, as well as during the summer.
Working with the kids at camp and running in the Flint’s Crim in the summer of 2010, I was hooked; thus, my coaching career began. At that time, I was learning the program by observing the coaches, and learning from and with the veteran runners and coaches. The feeling of a team bond is amplified in a different way as a coach than as a member of the team. I was helping kids learn and grow as people, they were helping me learn and grow as a runner and a coach. In my first year as a volunteer assistant coach, both the boys’ and the girls’ teams qualified for the State Meet. After that season, I wanted to do anything to help these kids be successful, not for the glory, but for the bond that we formed while running together and learning about running as a group.
Before the Program
Looking to Learn About Coaching
As I mentioned in my goals essay, I waited to start my Master’s until I knew what my learning goals were. As I continued to coach and teach, I knew that I wanted to know more about coaching and it was time to decide on my master’s degree. Thus began my search for programs that taught about coaching. I love to learn. My learning experience up until this point was generally face-to-face, and at first, I would not even consider an online program. However, my learning goals were clear: I wanted to learn about coaching. If it was possible, I also wanted to explore interests for my career path as it continued. In my research, I found the Master of Arts in Education (MAED) program from Michigan State University (MSU). Newly married, teaching, coaching, and finding other ways to be involved at school, an online master’s program provided flexibility to learn without the concern of needing to “be somewhere” at a certain time (or so I thought!).
Learning Along the Way
The program changed my approach to my teaching and coaching, as well as how I learn. Even though the courses are online, I had to set aside time to work as if I were “in class”. Quite literally, turning my phone to “do not disturb” and making our home office “my classroom”. Yet, the online program still provided me with flexibility of where I could be “during class” or “at group meetings”.
Each course in the program influenced on my teaching, coaching, and mentoring approach. I learn, think about its application to my team or classroom, try out strategies, evaluate its effectiveness, seek feedback, and utilize the feedback to improve. Each course design promoted this type of thinking in a different way. However, I was able to receive instructor and/or peer feedback and continue monitoring the effectiveness of new strategies in my teaching and coaching experiences. Throughout my career, I have sought feedback and discussions with my fellow teachers, but being in the program helped me strive to make the conversations take a different tone. We talk about assignments, gain one another’s perspective, and continue the conversation throughout the semester/school year. Still, I am learning to ask better questions to seek the feedback that I am looking for or strategy that I am trying to use.
These questions are ones that I still consider. While determining how to integrate assignments into my coaching, I also had to figure out how to communicate with my coaching staff. I learned a great deal of research and applications behind stretching, creating and maintaining a workout program, preventing injuries, and sports nutrition. They understood that I was starting my master’s, and were supportive in helping me complete my assignments. When I started to learn new ideas to add to our program, as well as question our current practices, I was not sure how to approach the situation. That first time around, I tried one of our sport-specific assignments regarding stretching. I referenced the “Allegory of the Cave”, that once you see the light, you cannot “unsee” what you saw. Fortunately, my fellow coaches trusted me to let me introduce dynamic stretching, or stretching your muscles while moving (as opposed to static stretching where you hold poses). While there is no perfect time to introduce something new, introducing something new right as you are about to use it is the worst time. Thus, suggesting new ideas needs to happen well in advance to allow us time to discuss its rationale, effectiveness, and ways to use it for our team.
In terms of working with students, there is limited time as well. Therefore, I must make clear the physical aspects of our sport. From KIN 856, I also consider the critical aspects of running form to prevent injuries and improve efficiency prior to our training. I work with the coaches, athletic trainer, and athlete to manage injuries as they occur. Communication must be open with coaches about new ideas, injuries, equipment, working with students, program planning, delegating tasks, and much more. With parents at the high school level, nutrition, injuries, and proper equipment must be communicated with families as well.
My first course in graduate school was KIN 856 – the Physical Bases of Coaching during the summer of 2012. That course was a shock to my system as a learner and teacher. The course began with learning material that took me back to biology class in high school. I had no idea that I would need to know the bones and muscles in the body! However, the experience helped me think through some critical questions: 1) How do I learn? 2) How do I learn best for this type of material? 3) What does this mean for me as a teacher? 4) How do I share my learning with my coaching staff?
In my fourth year of coaching and fifth year of teaching, I took KIN 855 – the Psychosocial Basis of Coaching KIN 855. In this course, I learned explicitly about balancing student athletes’ experiences, developments, and outcomes in the sport that I coach. Although this provided me with excellent background knowledge, it is still something that I continue to discuss with coaches and students. Our coaching staff promotes positive experiences for the group in several different ways. We start this early in the season at team camp. Here, we teach our program philosophy and training program, as well as empower veteran runners to give their input by teaching parts of our philosophy. Additionally, we celebrate personal best times at the following practice, have team dinners the night before races, and have special runs throughout the season all with the goal to promote a team bond.
Next, I think about promoting athlete development differently. In order for mental skills training to be effective, it must be something that we explicitly teach and maintain throughout the season. During the course, I kept an online journal to reflect on my coaching, integrate new ideas and evaluate progress. Our athletes already kept a logbook. After this course, I saw the importance from not just a physical standpoint (times and distances run) but also I understood better as to why the other coaches saw this as motivational. Their logbook was their version of journaling. The logbook helps athletes understand their performance based on other performances to make future running decisions. Also, athletes record their thoughts about each run, providing a space to be reflective.
In addition to journaling, I also use other mental skills training techniques from KIN 855. One method is imagery, a mental skills strategy that uses all five senses, to prepare for races. This is different from visualization, which focuses solely on what something looks like. During our pre-race meeting, we look at the course map, photos of previous races, and videos of previous races when possible. In these discussions, we note the size of the race, different aspects of the course, where to expect it to be louder, where to place our fans, what the weather will be like, as well as what the terrain looks and feels like. These discussions help the athlete plan their race strategy from what to wear to what to think about during the race. Another way that we help athletes mentally prepare for races is establishing and tweaking pre-race routines throughout the season. By making adjustments at each invitational, we can carry these improved routines for larger meets (conference, regional, and state meets). These routines reduce pre-race anxiety for runners, and establish expectations for runners, coaches, and families for race day.
Lastly, we also use goal setting as a mental skills strategy and as a means to discuss outcomes of our sport. We have separate boys’ and girls’ team meetings to tailor race strategies, routines, and goal setting to each team. Athletes set outcome goals for individual races and for the season based on times that they have run, and expected outcomes from our training program. Moreover, we establish team goals, such as qualifying for the state meet, by using our season data, examining the competition, and discussing ways that our team as a whole can accomplish a goal by working hard together.
After taking coaching courses for the physical and mental aspects of sport, I took KIN 854 – Legal and Administrative Issues for Administrators and Coaches. A requirement of the coaching certificate, this was the first legal course that I have ever taken. Reading the first example case study about a summer program, I was horrified at the adults’ decision-making processes. Then, I quickly realized how easy it is to have a goal and good intentions, but overlook safety and liability.
While there are not exactly “right” ways to handle challenges, there are many ways to prevent liabilities as well as think through ways to analyze unexpected situations to find positive solutions. For instance, hazing is a topic that has come up in each of the coaching courses. It can be subtle and nuanced, yet must be addressed early on to promote a positive team atmosphere. Other preventative maintenance comes from addressing where we hold practices and meets. Coaches do walk-throughs of our course routes and racecourse for safety and appropriate directional markers on a regular basis. We communicate with the building and grounds staff and athletic director to determine the needs of our practice and race areas. Moreover, risk management plans, which include an emergency action plan, allow coaches and administrators to think through in advance what do to in case of an emergency. This way, everyone involved understands the proper protocols and follow up procedures for situations such as lightning during practice, or when to call 911. These plans also must be reviewed regularly to ensure that they fit our current needs. Other preventative plans include codes of conduct for athletes, spectators, and travel. Each of these preventative measures influence our team atmosphere and promote safety.
In addition to preventing harmful situations, the course also taught me a different perspective on problem solving. Reading the case studies helped me understand ways that other coaches and athletic directors prevent or handle situations. In this way, it helped me view our program from a different lens to think more about preventing liability and about the safety of our students in a concrete manner.
Learn, Apply, Evaluate, Reflect, Feedback, Repeat.
While each course in the MAED program had a different design, each promotes learning, applying strategies, evaluating, utilizing feedback, and making adjustments accordingly. Therefore, I have changed my teaching, coaching, and mentoring practices to follow this model. In the future as I plan for the upcoming sports seasons, I will review the physical, mental, and legal aspects of the sport to best prepare for the runners. Also, I will work on communicating with the coaching staff to consider making these changes. Lastly, I will continue to review and update my teaching and mentoring practices as well.
