Week 4's focus

Today our class received an e-mail from Keith notifying us of some readings with a focus on "The coach and teacher as a performer" which prompted me to do some further reading. Through my search I came across this article:


Chan J, Mallett C. The Value of Emotional Intelligence for High Performance Coaching. International Journal Of Sports Science & Coaching [serial on the Internet]. (2011, Sep), [cited February 24, 2012]; 6(3): 351-356. Available from: SPORTDiscus with Full Text.


I found it interesting that the article raised the issue that coach accreditation and education should endeavour to incorporate informal modules such as emotional intelligence. To me, this is one of the most important factors for coaching performance because if you don't have a strong connection and understanding with your athletes, your not going to get very far. I believe this would be a valuable incorporation as I know from my personal experience both coaching and competing that a significant part of my motivation came from the relationships that had been built between myself and that coach/athlete. Also, I am of the opinion that the coach can only begin to understand their athlete and what they need to develop, once they are able to understand their personality of the individual. 

Swimming Starts

In my second year I had the chance to do an assignment for Biomechanics on any sporting movement. I chose Swimmings dive start and came to the conclusion that both track start and grab start can be as effective as one and other, depending on the athlete's comfort, anthropometry and strength.

Here are some of the links I used to present my study:

http://www.coachesinfo.com/index.php?option=com_content&id=134&Itemid=138

http://www.edf.ufpr.br/Especializacao/Natacao/swimming%20grab%20start.pdf

http://gradworks.umi.com/14/29/1429871.html

http://benthamscience.com/open/tossj/articles/V003/137TOSSJ.pdf

Introduction

Hi my name is Bianca,
This blog has been created for a university unit called Sport Coaching Pedagogy in my Bachelor of Sports Coaching and Exercise Science degree.
I come from a Swimming background,  so you will find that most of my posts will incorporate swimming in some way. I don't have a great deal of coaching experience, so I hope to learn a lot from this unit. Currently I am undertaking my work experience with Ginnenderra Swimming Club as Assistant coach and I also work as a learn-to-swim teacher at the Canberra International Sports  & Aquatic Centre.
Feel free to leave any constructive feedback,
Bianca