The old coaching courses

The structure of the courses that are hidden around on my website look similar for a reason – that is what was prescribed by NCTC/Coaching Ireland as part of the Coach Development Programme. Lots of people give out about them, not enough coaching too, much coaching, too arduous to complete. Are they correct? Possibly but I know I bought into it because I can see, still see the benefit of all of the NGB’s having similar content across all of the levels, and linked to the even wider European project of harmonising coaching education across the content.

What I like about it is the sharing of the material that works across different sports – coaching is coaching at the end of the day, just how we implement it and what elements are important for the individual sports. In some places some NeuroMyths, or NeuroBollix if you want to be stronger, have crept into some sports, not sure if it due to naivety of coaches without any scientific background or rigour, or people selling solutions to make a quick buck. I won’t speculate as that will be a rabbit hole for later, maybe. Anyway, I think its a fight that will not be going away, some people are very good at selling products & techniques and make it sound sexy. Once we can stick to what the evidence suggests, rather than what’s shiny and new, the business of coaching may improve, suppose that is the whole point ISC/Sport Ireland are funding all of the NGB’s to do just that. Pity the ISC/Sport Ireland don’t do that themselves.

What I and plenty of others have noticed is the takeover of NGB’s staff training by the HR types in Sport Ireland, and worse delivering compulsory Whoo and the type of NeuroBollix that should be kept out of sport – and business. It would be great if Coaching Ireland take back that type of training, because we do not need that type of rubbish creeping in. Some of the HR mumbo Jumbo being promoted is really concerning. Worse is the doubling down on their decision to keep this nonsense in the staff development, but the vindictive elements creeping in, where if they are called out, there are consequences for those staff, which is a disgrace. I don’t know if it is arrogance, vindictivness or ignorance or just not like being called out on it and being defensive, but if a course is being made compulsory to attend, it should be based in evidence. If that happens that would be great for all moving forward.

Back to the great stuff that Sport Ireland are doing to support the sports in the background, the coaching & instructor course development. Having done work with two different NGB’s I know if the work they put into get the NGB’s over the line and offer decent coaching courses. An example would be the Adventure sports framework, which involved the main adventure sports NGB’s – Orienteering, Mountaineering, Sailing, Diving, Caving, Cycling (MTB), Surfing, where the need for Instructors in each sports was recognised from the adventure/outdoor industry, so that people can be insured and work safely & competently. We came together because so many people working in all or just some of the sports in adventure centres wanted a core of skills and competencies that would allow recognition of prior learning and speed up the certification and accreditation for each sport involved, and those sports that were still outside of the working group to adopt. Irish Snow sports have produced some really good resources for their coaches/instructors that are working on the slopes across Europe. They have used the European coaching competencies, hopefully they have engaged with Coaching Ireland as we need some of the winter sports to grow and prosper. While it took a while, I produced two different instructor courses, which I am very proud of doing, even if the work is actively diminished by successors. No matter.

I intend to complete the third level of course, The Senior Instructor, along with two specialist instructors courses – MTB & Navigation Instructors courses.Even if they do not get used, I want to complete my vision of what our sport requires to thrive and grown in the adventure sport businesses, trying to survive in a tough market place. Teaching people to read a map for walkers, runners, Orienteers, Mountaineers and Mountain Bikers is still vital skills, for safety reasons alone! Getting lost with clients is more than just embarrassing, it could cost them their life.

Some of the other NGB’s have been slow to get there courses moving forward, but hopefully that they can get there over time, especially with more resources/staff being put into all of the sports. The big step will be dealing with the industry and academic local academic partners, that want to deliver these courses outside of the NGB’s structures. This linking of the courses with University/College credits, so that they can be used towards professional & academic courses is essential. possibly what’s needed is one or two people to work across all of the NGB’s in the ASF, to make sure the implementation is uniform. That way we win and the industry wins with better staff standards. It is happening, but it’s slow. Its something that I started working with the ETB’s to have the Instructor courses recognised, but I stopped as they wanted a lot of work done by us to get them ready, but were not willing to pay for the use of those courses. Until the time they stump up for those resources, nothing will progress. To say it was frustrating, is well possibly another post.

Over the next posts I am going to go into detail about what I designed and what I would do differently now, having some brilliant instructors to watch and see in action, MIA’s, MCI, Kayak & Canoists, MTB’ers and expeditionary experts. I will add some of the Coaching Ireland resources as well, as they do not exist on their new website, which is a shame.

So, yeah. That went worse than I thought it would

So, yeah, no, I don’t know what that means for the future. Interesting time ahead for the UK, together or fragmented into its northern & southern parts. Will have to ponder the cost & benefits of staying or going. Who knows. Scotland is going in a different direction to their English counterparts.

So yeah, the PhD and my studies. Technically I’m doing my psychology conversion MSc in Inverness College, but I put that on hold, partly because of the shit show of not being straight about the pass marks for the modules etc and wanting to take an opportunity that has arisen, more on that later. Lack of time and wanting to see where this interesting development will take me. What I will do in the mean time is apply for Graduate basis for membership to see what I can RPL in and then use the course to fill in the blanks and complete a dissertation on a related psychological topic. That is where my old Orienteering research will come in. Some of the content I created from the Level 1 & 2 courses will be revised and improved upon, hopefully making them better with what the research says about certain techniques, behaviours and skills that we use all the time on course. It would be great to separate the good from the weak, the skills acquisition stuff with the mental and psychological skills. make it a little clear, do an intervention and see what had happens.

SO, where am I thinking of starting, well at the beginning – with the Fear of getting lost. Is it similar to what climbers feel when the get afraid of falling off? Or what mountain bikers feel when they go and do a bigger jump or drop? Might explore that in a post in the near future, that along with those other gut feeling we rely on as Coaches & athletes, that we are going in the right direction, or maybe not today! Lots of unspoken communication we rely upon, but is very hard to verbalise or teach, or just recognise, so that we can attune ourselves to those soft signals we give ourselves. Is it experience coming through? All that practice paying off? Or just learning hard facts about our own ability, or lack of it.

When we think of juniors, even with the very good step progression of the colour coding of courses, there comes a time when the competitor needs to be brave and step off the path and believe they can do it. Can we teach that skill of bravery? What can we do to reduce that fear of getting lost? It causes anxiety and stress, with when we do go wrong frustrated at our own actions. Can we build resilience to these set backs and improve our resolve to do better now. That is what I intend to look at.

Can we reduce – Anxiety (what if things go wrong); Frustration (Why does it keep going wrong?); Stress (All getting too much); Pressure (Can’t let them down); & Boredom (Losing interest), but increasing – Bravery (What can I do better); Resolve (Sticking with it); Resilience (Bounce-Back-Ability);

Here’s to the start of the journey. or is it the end of the beginning, or the beginning of the end of this education road? Let’s see!

Some Neurobollix

Even in this day and age people are getting away with teaching rubbish disguised as Psychology or teaching theory. NLP, learning styles, VARK, MBTI have recently reared their head, I could write a scathing takedown, but, those that need to listen won’t. If you are ever on a course where any of these are brought up – please speak out & ask for the evidence, cold hard evidence! FYI: there is very little that any of it helps with your coaching – just the person selling this guff’s bank account.

So here are two great resources on taking down BS –

Ben Goldacre: Some great books and an extensive website taking down some big names in this rubbish.

Also this paper is worth a read by Richard P. Bailey, Daniel J. Madigan, Ed Cope and  Adam R. Nicholls, The Prevalence of Pseudoscientific Ideas and Neuromyths Among Sports Coaches, is well worth a look. Plenty others out there, add interesting ones you find below!

New (temporary) website

So that I can get some ideas out of my head and share them with others who might find them useful, I have started a basic website. Some of my meandering thoughts here may even turn into coherent essays.

More than welcome to have a nose around, any question let me know. 😉

Visit it here! 

Back, for the moment

So, i’m going to write a few posts, mostly for me and getting my head around a few things, like work, research, what i’m studying and getting a proposal together for my Doctorate.

So, entering my 5th year here in Scotland and an election coming up and the on-going saga of BREXIT, here I am trying to plan what to do next – my new 5-year plan – what do I want to achieve and the place I want us to be as a family. Hopefully not in a leaking house that’s too small like the present.

Well, my studies are progressing, with a start-stop with my MSc in Psychology, to get me to Stage 1 accredited with BPS. I started with good intentions, but stopped for business reasons, more on that later. Maybe. Regardless of the need for an MSc dissertation title, I have been looking at the Psychology of Adventure Sports, specifically the psychological skills training required to be a good Orienteer. It leads on from work I did with the Orienteering Ability awards.

I will wait and see!

 

Colours & Symbols

Before we move on and start some drills to learn the basic skills of OAA1, take some time to learn these symbols and colours.

They are the very basic ones, we will add to them as we progress. Using the map attached in a previous post, identify them. The hardest colours to understand are usually the white – fast runnable forest & Yellow – open land. When you think of fast forest, think something like a beech forest, trees well spaced out not slowing down your running speed, & also able to see for a good distance. These two factors are important with any colour of forest, because usually when the green of the forest increases, the less you can see in front of you and the slower it will force you to run. For the OAA 1, you only have to worry about two greens, Fight & Slow run, which should be enough of a clue about their runnability!
The Yellow’s on the map are at this level easy enough with the full yellow being playing fields and short grass areas found in any park. The Light yellow is used where the the grass or heather slows down your running speed. Think open mountainside.
The blues are a bit confusing as they are supposed to be changing them to two different blues (full blue – uncrossable water; Light Blue – crossable water) without the black line around the border to distingus between crossable and uncrossable. I hope the new system is made official soon!!

How to take a control

So you found your first control, congratulation! Now what? Well for starters just because you have found a control does not mean it’s your control. At most Orienteering events there could be over 50+ controls out in the terrain and unless it’s a Score event there is a high chance that its not yours. First off you should know what you are actually looking for, no, not the flag, but the feature it will be placed on. Secondly you should know what the code will be on your control. Check that it’s the right code when you get to the control, make sure you punch the control by placing the SI card into the SI unit beside the flag!

After you have left your Attack point, you should have a routine in your head so that you know what to do, & when you will you know to do it:

• Know what you are looking for before you get there – the feature & where on it you will find it (Top, bottom, side, edge….)
• Know the right code.
• Check the code at the control.
• Make sure to punch!
• Know which direction you will be leaving.

Having a routine developed will reduce the time you spend at the control site.

Go and practice it! it will be talked about in a later post when we look at having  a routine for each control & route choice you make – reason they halp is that they reduce the required amount of active thinking – the more you perform automatic, the faster you can move!!

 

Orientating the Map with just the Terrain

This is one of the most fundamental skills involved in orienteering and needs to be perfected if you are to have a successful experience.

The map is a representation of the ground, and the two should always correspond. As you change your position and direction so you should change your position and direction to reflect this by turning the map in your hand so that it always stays orientated and thus represent the features around you. Rotate your map until everything matches. Doing this without a compass achieves two things – Orientates the map correctly and identifies where you are on the map.

To orientate a map means to turn it in such a way that north on the map fits in the landscape and that the terrain features shown on the map are lined up with these features in the landscape. So, you inspect the map & terrain & turn the map until the map fits the landscape.

The map is only held with the writing the right way up when you are facing north.

I’ll add a few drills once I have introduced all of the OAA1 skills!

 

Understanding the Orienteering Course

To complete an orienteering course you must navigate from the start point to the finish, via a series of linked control points, All the points have a specific purple symbol to represent each of these, as well as other important details which may influence the route choices. Before you start it is important that you understand the course symbols being used:

Basic course Symbols everyone should know:

• Start Triangle & Its orientation;
• Connecting lines;
• Control Circles & Numbers;                 
• Finish Double circles;
• Dangerous & Out of Bounds Area;    
• Taped routes;           
• Banned Routes;                                           
• Crossing points;

There are more, but learn these as they are the basics

Understanding the Map

For someone who picks up a map for the first time it can be confusing to what everything means and how to use it. Understanding the map requires you to know what the symbols and colours represent and be able to match the features on the map with the features on the ground, so that it can become useful to the user. These symbols are usually listed in the legend on the map.
The other major relationship which should be highlighted is of distance & direction are the same on the map as they are in the area which the map represents as the map is only a miniature representation of the terrain. Using a variety of maps can help to develop an understanding of maps.

Map Layout
Castletroy Park Orienteering Map

Every quality orienteering map contains the majority of these components:
Title: All maps need to have a name!
Magnetic North Lines: Normally black or blue & separated by the equivalent of 500m. All orienteering maps will be orientated to have the Magnetic North at the top of the map, unlike Ordnance survey maps which are orientated to grid north (which is also different to true north!);
Credits: This lists the people who did the work to produce the map, covering fieldwork, cartography, printing as well as copyright holder, principal landowner & Ordnance Survey Ireland Permit Number;
Scale: The scale is always stated on an orienteering map and in most cases there will be a scale bar. This is a vital bit of information, as it will allow you to estimate the distance covered as you follow your chosen route. Measuring more precisely is also useful so that you can judge accurately when you want to leave a specific for another. The most common scales used for Orienteering competitions are 1:15,000 for Classic & Long distance, 1:10,000 for Middle & Relays and 1:5,000 or 1:4,000 for Sprint & Trail O.
School maps can be from 1:1,000 up to 1:4,000 which are suitable for small children.
Legend: Nearly every map will show both the natural & man-made features represented by a number of symbols and are described in the legend along the side of the map. Each country may have symbols which are unique to their conditions, but the vast majority of the symbols have been standardised by the IOF, covering the different formats – Foot, Mountain biking, Trail & Skiing – in detail. These can be downloaded from the IOF website and will be discussed later.
Also the contour interval should be stated, usually it is 5m intervals but can be as little as 1m on some school maps.

Colours, What will they depict? 
Black: Its hard, either rock or man-made object;
Blue: Its wet, either very wet like lakes & rivers of a little like marshes;
Brown: Its earth related, either made of it like an earth bank or representing it like contours;
Green: Vegetation, the darker the harder it is to get through;
Yellow: Open land, fields, mountain side or anywhere its more open the forested;
White: Fast runnable forest, the only thing that will be slowing you down is you!
Grey: Easily passable objects, either over (bare rock) or under (Canopies);
Purple: Important information which has been added after the map was finished, it has been added for a reason so take an interest in it! Also the course details & control descriptions will also in purple.

Have a look at these and start to learn them, answers can be found here http://orienteering.org/resources/mapping/

Happy reading!