Coach – Athlete Mindset

Simone Magill is currently a student of Edge Hill University and is studying for a BSc (hons) Coach Education, Simone is also an elite football player who plays internationally for Northern Ireland and for Everton Ladies at club level. As somebody who is on a Coaching degree but also has experience of being coached at the highest level, we have asked Simone to write about the two experiences and how they have influence her own coaching practice.

Having played at an elite level for numerous years I have been exposed to a high level coaching and resources. More recently, however, I have become a coach myself taking on the coaching role of the University’s women’s football team. Whilst this is a new challenge, I believe that from playing, both the skills and experiences (positive and negative experiences) I’ve gained are transferable into my own coaching practice.

When planning a coaching session the thought process will differ of that from a playing mind-set. From a player’s perspective going into a game situation my thoughts will solely focus on my roles and responsibilities when on the pitch, personally I will block a lot of extrinsic factors that could potentially result in the loss of focus, therefore becoming very single-minded and focused on the task at hand and how best to combat it. When going into a game situation, from that of a coach’s perspective, the approach will differ greatly to that of playing. From a coaching perspective I will adhere to motivate each individual within the team and specify their roles and responsibilities, taking into consideration all the players’ individual differences. As a coach I have to account for each member of the squad whereas when playing I focus solely within myself. This transition can be difficult, however, my studies on the Coach Education degree have helped me in this by allowing myself to be placed in an environment whereby I can aim to improve this transaction and receive feedback from my peers and tutors.

One similarity between the two roles is the motivation role I portray. Having been exposed to highly qualified coaches throughout my career (practical experiences) who heavily motivated me, I have carried this through into my playing career and now transferred it across into my own coaching style.  Due to the exposure of such high level coaching in my career it has shaped my mind-set as a player and has also had a heavy influence into the way I coach. In light of this, while I have had numerous positive experiences through my exposure to quality coaches, where I have learned a lot, I have also had encounters whereby the coach has had a negative effect on myself as a player. Although from a playing perspective at the time such effects resulted in de-motivation, it has taught me a lot in terms of the way I want to coach and my approach to coaching as well as the image I want to portray as a coach. This is important to me because I want to be perceived by my players in a positive light.  Having been on the receiving end of poor coaching, whereby I felt discomfort as a player, it has allowed me to think about my own coaching practice and the way I want to address my players as well as the mannerism in how I do it. The aim being that players don’t encounter similar experiences as to how I did and can perform to the best of their ability.

As a result it can be said that both the practical (personal) experiences and the academic understanding are important to my own coaching practice. Having a knowledgeable understanding of the theoretical aspects of coaching have proved helpful, allowing what is learnt in the classroom (theory) to be transferred into real world practices, whereby I can begin to make sense of the theory learned and apply it to my own coaching practice.  This being said the practical experiences have enabled me to gain an in depth understanding of coaching within the real world and allowed me to reflect upon aspects of both positive and negative coaching experiences.