As the ongoing problem of poor communication continued throughout training sessions, and to a further extent, during games, I devised drills which required vocal input by players in order to succeed. It largely involved players being made to tell an impartial individual in the drill if, when, and where they wanted the ball to be played to them. Players were awarded a point should their communication pay off, and a further point should they complete a pass after receiving the ball. The punishment, should communication be lacking, was to deduct points. All individuals were asked to score themselves honestly. Cross & Lyle (2001) suggested that by including this competitive element into drills, it can be viewed as an opportunity for athletes to air their competitive frustrations, and let off steam. Initially the children were being deducted several points due to their poor grasp of the subject. However, as the drill continued, and the manager and I intervened throughout, making simple suggestions, the connection between announcing their position to their team-mate, and then receiving the ball, became apparent to the players.
The exercise ended with positive results as all players were able to complete the task and attain points as the competition demanded, however, the poor beginning of the drill was a direct result of my own bad planning of the session, and my communication of the task requirements. My directions were only verbal, with no demonstration by myself to ensure the players understood what was being transmitted to them. To my dismay much of the exercise was lost to back-tracking and reiterating what had already been explained. Argyle (1988) has estimated that non-verbal messages are 16 times more powerful than verbal ones. This area of my personal progression is one that I feel I must improve on in order to succeed in improving performers. This session made me aware of how important ‘showing’ rather than ‘telling’ is in sport, and how much of an impact it can have on the outcome of a task. Christina & Corcos (1994) highlighted the importance of using additional visual information when verbally explaining a new skill, especially to young performers. They also broke the demonstration process down into four catagories;
Attention- getting the attention of the performers
Retention- repeating important cues so the athlete understands the movement and remembers key points
Reproduction- organizing the demonstration progressively to help the athlete develop their motor program sufficiently to be able to perform the skill consistently.
Motivation- motivating the athletes to want to learn the new skill and/or want to improve their current skills.

The motivation area is seen as a critical component in determining whether or not athletes will benefit from the demonstration process. This will become a defining factor in my mentoring role in the future as I have seen the negative effects low motivation can have on a group of players. I feel my sessions may have to adapt to make room for focusing on boosting players’ motivation for the game.

Argyle, M. (1981) Social behaviour, in Psychology for Teachers, (ed D. Fontana), Macmillan/BPS, London

Christina, R. W. & Corcos D. M. (1994) Coaches Guide To Teaching Sport Skills, Human Kinetics, Champaign, Illinois

Cross, N. & Lyle, J. (2003) The Coaching Process- Principles and Practice for Sport, Butterworth-Heinemann, Edinburgh