Athlete-Centred Coaching and Game Sense Coaching

September 26, 2018

Athlete-Centred Coaching and Game Sense Coaching

Originally published September 26, 2018

Updated December 20, 2021

Many of the guest of the workshops I am asked to offer are on the Game Sense coaching/teaching approach and athlete-centred coaching An athlete-centred coaching approach promotes athlete learning through player ownership of their learning and responsibility for their learning, guided by the coach/teacher.

Athlete-centred coaches use practices that promote player/athlete self-determination, self-regulation, and they promote an autonomy supported environment.

Image from LGFA Research Pod YouTube Channel Presentation: see here

The original athlete-centred coaching description by Kidman (2005) and Kidman and Lombardo (2010) suggested that a teaching games for understanding (TGfU) or Game Sense coaching is one of the central elements of an athlete-centred approach. The nature of a Game Sense coaching approach lends itself to the encouragement of athletes participation in decision-making and problem-solving in a shared approach to knowledge and its transmission. Some of the key features of a Game Sense coaching/teaching approach are illustrated in the diagrams below.

Diagram 1. The complex flow of learning in a Game Sense coaching session which makes the game or a game form the focus of the practice session

Diagram 2. Instructional strategies involved in designing games and match simulations

Diagram 3. What a game-based approach, such as the Game Sense approach, might look like

[If you are interested in knowing more about the Game Sense coaching approach, I have summarised some ideas on coaching invasion games like football here and a few more examples here If racquet sports are more you interest, I share a few ideas for tennis here, while for net/court sports a few ideas for volleyball are shared here]

Humanistic perspective on coaching
The athlete-centred coach positions the athlete/player as responsible for their learning. Not just their game learning, also their learning to be good people - at the club and in community. An important chapter in the book Perspectives on Athlete Centred Coaching (see here link) is provided by Deb Agnew and Andrew Marks, who discuss the role of coaches in assisting athletes for life beyond the sport, when that transition needs to occur for the person. Transition in sport is inevitable, however, too often, athletes transition involves a sense of loss, even grief, and sometimes a lack of control over the situation and events that follow. At the elite level, players comment that they were use to the clubs 'doing everything' for them. Athlete-centred coaching brings a coaching perspective on developing better people for their life now and in the future, not just developing better players. This is well explained in the book, Legacy, and the culture of the most successful sport franchise in the world, summarised as 'better people make better All Blacks - and better fathers, partners and friends, and later better businessmen, carpenters, or lawyers.

In summary, athlete-centred coaching is a style of coaching promoting athlete learning through appropriate to age and context responsibility, ownership, initiative and awareness - guided by the coach. It is underpinned by a philosophy of empowering players as learners. There is an emphasis on relational understandings that extend a coach concern to the whole person.

These ideas are explored in the book Perspectives on Athlete-Centred Coaching