Coaches Comment Part 2 of 5. Are you getting the best out of your coaching sessions? (Part 1)

Posted by Jeanette Garrett, 16 Feb, 2010

Riding Tutorials, Performance Horses, Ponies

“Coach's Comment” with Jeanette Garrett B.H.S.I. ESNZ Registered Performance Coach and Coach Educator'.
National Assessor for NZ Equine ITO.

Jeanette holds the Advanced Diploma in Adult Learning and Teaching. One of her current roles is training, mentoring and assessing equestrian coaches for Equestrian Sport NZ and the NZ Pony Club Association - creating a step by step pathway to achieving coaching skills, recognition and qualifications.

Jeanette's articles are aimed at promoting thought and reflection on your performance as a rider and a coach

Part 2 of 5. Are you getting the best out of your coaching sessions?

There are decisions to be made right at the start – the choice of working with a local coach, or using visiting coaches or a mix of both. Ask the question – will the visiting coach come again and again to get the full benefits of progress, evaluation, consistency, that achievement requires? Will your local coach be happy to work with you in the periods between visits? Visiting coaches normally come at higher cost with travel and perceived superiority over a local coach. Equestrian coaches often feel underrated – because they are ‘local' and feel perceived to be not as good.

Personally I encourage my clients to work with internationally qualified visiting coaches. After all your coach does not own you and there are many advantages of attending a clinic. If I can, I will go and watch the rider's session with an open mind, seeing this as an opportunity to learn from ones peers as well as focus on my regular client. However some coaches feel threatened by this and observing/auditing is not allowed, which is sad. A closed shop approach restricts the learning and understanding of many.

When a visiting coach's clinic goes well it reinforces what we have already been working on. A visiting coach with sound training principles and good coaching skills can explain things with a different approach and then the learning and understanding light bulb goes on. For me this strengthens the relationship between horse, rider and local coach enabling the local coach, to build on this new understanding. To quote from Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC) coach information ” There can be many ways a problem/resistance manifests, many reasons that it is occurring, and many solutions ( or approaches to a solution)”

If the visiting coach's clinic does not go well the local coach is there to support and get things back on track again. Do respect your local coach by letting them know you will be going to the visiting coach's clinic – give them feedback on how it went, use it as part of the continuing learning curve. Your local coach most likely knows you and your horse well. Trusting a new visiting coach on hearsay regarding their riding experience does not always work out to be huge success.

This all begs the question – what is the relationship like between you and your regular coach. Your local coach is there for you when the visitor has gone. Visiting coaches can leave the rider ‘fired up' and motivated after a two or three day clinic which is great but often this wanes within a few weeks when the memory of the movements and effects seem to fade. This is no reflection on the quality of the coaching, but more a lack of physical and mental memory of the detail and ‘feel' from when riding at the clinic.

A training clinic has the added advantage of a rider being able to watch other lessons and learn from them. Be focused when you watch, it is counter productive and disrespectful to sit and chat while a coach is teaching. A clinic is not the place for a chance to catch up with friends and tell them about the party you went to last night or the joys now that your preschooler has now become ‘potty trained' ( I have heard it all!!!). Watch a whole session to get things in the right contexts, ask the coach if you may ask some questions at the end – take notes for later reference. This can give you a feel for the coaches teaching style if you have never worked with them before.

Whatever way you receive coaching – visiting coach, local coach, or a mixture of both, make sure they are qualified – qualified to teach means they have learned the ‘HOW TO' of coaching. A coach needs a sound understanding of individual learning styles. To quote SPARC “ Coaching is a mixture of ‘what to coach' (science) and ‘ how to coach' (art).”

If the coach is a ‘registered' coach from New Zealand or overseas they will be required to be current and up to date – to be registered there is a set criteria for regular updating. I amazes me that people send their children to school and expect them to be taught by trained qualified teachers yet they will sit their child on an unpredictable animal like a pony and be more than happy for ‘anyone' that has a horse to teach them.

However, being with knowledgeable and experienced ‘horse people' is an excellent way to absorb so much about understanding horses. They are greatly valued in the horse world and deserve much respect. We have much to learn from horsemen and women that have handed down their knowledge from generation to generation. Evolution of the use of horses in society is changing from war horses and working horses to the sport performance codes we have today. Therefore a sports coach approach becomes more appropriate for our times. SPARC's Sport and Recreational pathway states “explore, learn, participate, perform and excel.”

Check out part 2 of Jeanette's comment on our website.
For more information about Jeanette check out her website
www.equinepositvelearning.co.nz


Copyright J A Garrett

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