A basic Framework for Session Evaluation
Whenever I have conversations with other coaches, the themes of reflection and continued development regularly are regularly discussed. Detailed below is a relatively simple framework for assessing any coaching session. This can be done through a process of self-reflection, or undertaken by another individual who is observing a session. It is (probably) more helpful for more novice coaches, looking to improve a lot in a short space of time, rather than experienced coaches looking to tweak or fine-tune their practice. I hope that this will prove useful for you or someone you know: sometimes in all the apparent chaos going on around you, it can be helpful to have a clear and basic framework on which to judge and be judged. Especially at grassroots level. Between fighting fires, dealing with jokers and lugging mountains of kit to and from your auto-mobile, you might just get to do some coaching.
Credit: Source Unknown
It is worth noting that this is not something which I claim to have invented myself. I first came across the first four areas (A-P-E-S) from a fellow interviewee at a North Lanarkshire Leisure recruitment event around December 2011. I decided to include the ‘C’ at the beginning – though I admit I am possibly not the first to do so – as my own learning and thinking developed.
So, what are we looking for our session to be?
Challenging | Active | Enjoyable/Engaging | Purposeful | Safe
Feedback welcome as always.
C: Challenging
This is something which I massively believe in. If any individual is not challenged to do more, do something different, to be greater than they are now, then it can prove very difficult for them to find the motivation to practice (purposefully) and to learn.
Can you help your player move from where they are now, to a new place? Can you get them out of their comfort zone into their Zone of Proximal Development in order to accomplish new things? Things that perhaps they never thought possible? (See Mental Factors in Elite Sport)
Practically, can you tailor your activities so that there is always-always-always something more to do for some who ‘gets it’ – while supporting those who didn’t achieve success quite as fast? This may mean something as simple as playing a first time pass in a passing exercise, or creating an overload situation rather than playing in equal-sized teams.
Furthermore, you could challenge an individual by asking him/her to self-commentate. This can provide a challenge while still helping him/her by attempting to increase self-awareness and self-reflection. Self-commentating is a process where a player is asked to attempt to articulate their thoughts and actions out loud, as and when they happen. This incredibly challenging task forms part of the training which driving instructors undertake before becoming accredited.
See Winning Scotland Foundation/PCS and SRU Growth Mindset
Credit: Pinterest, 2015
A: Active
The individuals you are working with at your sessions have signed up (or been signed up) with the intention of them being active: running and sweating and being out of breath and smiling all at the same time. Are you attempting to provide that?
Children, especially, love activity. They want to be free and run and play and explore. Are you embracing that, or holding them back? Do you have lines of 20 kids waiting for one ‘turn’ – or can everyone be involved at all times. Such lack of activity for each individual can turn a session or exercise from fantastically fun to infuriatingly farcical.
Perhaps you need smaller groups or teams, or more footballs, or a second pitch set up. If it’s a ‘tig’ or ‘king of the ring’ type game, could players be asked to do a particular challenge when caught, like touch three cones or doing ten toe-taps, rather than simply sitting out? Sitting out means less time in the activity, which means fewer chances to move the ball and to make decision, which means less opportunity for development. No wonder the disparity between the ‘most-able’ and the rest in a session can sometimes be so big when some kids might take part in certain activities for double the length of time that others do.
Credit: BBC, 2012
P: Purposeful
So, you’re doing something… but why? What is the point? What can participants expect to get out of it? Have you told them what you are looking for? Do they know the success criteria? What does it mean to do this well? Have you tried to convey the reason that this is important, and is important now?
And does it relate to the game? (See Pre-Season Training: A Load of Balls?)
Perhaps it is because, through a deficit-based model (“Last Saturday, we really struggled with our…”) you are working on areas identified in for improvement, in order to improve in the next practice/match. Or perhaps you can explain that you see this content (whatever it is) is vital for their long-term development, which you are trying to facilitate through your curriculum for development.
Talk to your players. Involve them in the process of planning and learning. Tell them why.
Why does this content matter?
How will it help them improve?
Why now?
Young people will ask ‘what is the point’ – you better have an answer ready.
E: Enjoyable and Engaging
Here’s a very simple positive feedback loop. Perhaps it is dumbed-down too much, however still worth examining, in my opinion:
Enjoyment and Engagement can be very closely linked, and both have the potential to do wonderful things. They could help encourage deeper thinking, therefore deeper learning, and ergo reduce instances where you as a coach have to manage negative behaviours. Players who are active (see A) and stimulated and having fun are much less likely to ‘act up’ or ‘carry on’. The might, but chances are that they won’t have the time nor the motivation to do so! At the risk of sounding harsh, I would suggest that many cases of ‘bad’ behaviour come from something done – or not done – by the coach. If players are having to wait in long lines, or are not experiencing success, or are being made to sit and listen to ramblings or find it too easy or too hard, then no wonder their minds wonder. Keep them tuned in, keep them working, keep them smiling
See: Coach Chris McLaughlin: Active Learning
S: Safe
Perhaps the most obvious, and most important, criteria. People, especially children, need to be kept safe. You may not have a bat-signal to use when the going gets tough, but this is nonetheless a vital part of your role as a coach.
You, as the adult/organiser/coach have a level of accountability which you must respect. You also, at times, may need to simply cover your own a*se by undertaking the correct paperwork and following the proper procedures.
When you arrive early – as part of your professional standards and preparation, of course – check the area. This is not a complicated exercise:
- is there anything in the area which shouldn’t be there?
- is there anything in the area which may have the potential to cause harm to people or things?
If yes to either of the above questions, can you do something about it?
Note it, report it, cordon it off, tell participants and parents and the relevant facility staff.
Safety in terms of the unseen environment is also important. Very important. Participants should feel calm and welcome in the setting. They should know that they can ask ‘stupid’ questions and that they can try new things and they can make mistakes. This may not be as immediately vital to keeping them physically safe from harm, but it too creates the potential to set a wonderful philosophy in place and impact how all participants go about their play.
Credit: Pinterest, 2016
All in all, I hope that the above model is of some use to some people. It is not overly scientific; it is not overly complicated. It is simply there as a framework to judge a session upon and look to improve. This can be done through being observed or by self-reflecting, something which I am a huge fan of. Plan-Do-Review is a mantra repeated by many, often with good intention but action. However, through consistent and regular self-reflection, a coach can become very self-aware and tailor his/her reading, learning and progression in such a way that they can improve on their weaknesses while continuing to develop their strengths. Just like you would try to do for a player. Because coming to your session may be the highlight of their day. Even the highlight of their week.
In a future post, I will discuss another favourite acronym of mine: S-T-E-P-S, which is excellent for modifying a session based on development areas picked up through the application of C-A-P-E-S.
Credit: Wiki Archives, 2016
For many young people, there first hero is a football coach. That could be you. It could be from helping turn a young person into a world-class superstar, or it could be from doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a young boy’s shoulders and letting know that they world hasn’t ended.
Credit: Source Unknown
Coach Chris McLaughlin
Tw | @coachchrismcl
Chris McLaughlin 
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