GUNN TIPS FOR COACHES #2 - 365 DAY PROJECT 2019/20 QUEENSLAND SPORTS COLLECTIVE REPORT -

G’Day learning peer

Welcome to Blog 2 of ‘Gunn Engagement - 365 Day Sharing Project’ a daily reflective piece for teachers/coaches of all movement contexts, designed to increase confidence and ability for managing the learning of unique individuals. 

I’m Gunny (Coach Gunny/Craig Gunn) an experienced educator and I have a particular ‘calling’ to support those at the grassroots/foundation/community level.  As such consider joining the below group:

“Grassroots Coaching and Consulting” Facebook group (not the page) is once such community resource that gathers coaching/teaching brains from around the world.  It began less than 17 months ago and now has 527 members from every continent and most sports: https://www.facebook.com/groups/147501649318126/

Join. Join. Join.  We’re practical, warm and engaging, but also a little more generalist for people who are often given a bag of balls as volunteer ‘coach’ and are trying to navigate what it means to be a teacher! 

I’m sharing this ‘Gunn Engagement - 365 Day Sharing Project’ to further support communities of educators, sharing about how to best engage learners in the work of movement…  

My blog begins now!

The topic of today’s piece is an observation on the ‘Queensland Sporting Collective’ housed and facilitated by Netball Queensland (NQ).  This is the introduction only.  I will share some of my idea summaries later.

In essence, I want to tell the story of how two very different collectives came to fruition within a year period.  And how with the latter collective,  I was able to eat some humble pie as a result. The collectives/forums were very different and maybe that’s because the participants were very different.

For example, I am often citing the likes of Martin Flanagan talking about his beloved Australian Football, (as reprinted in 'The Footy Almanac' ) where he explains  contrasting narratives: "...the game has evolved into two very different cultures. Those at the top talk in terms of branding and product and market share, the language of corporate culture”.  He describes this greatly with in the ‘grassroots’ when talking about the GAME of Australian football in his home state which is described to him like, ”...the ecosystem of Tasmanian football is sick”.  As such I try hard to support grassroots coaches particularly volunteers.

In July last year a ‘forum’ was proposed and facilitated by me, but housed by Australian Catholic University (ACU), Banyo. It was based on my passion for some of the amazing  research of ACU peers and guest researchers like Shane Pill and Rochelle Eime who find that community sports’ participation measurements needed an overhaul.  I worked hard at gathering together many stakeholders from many key sports and even left my own (rugby league (NRL)) out on purpose, figuring that as Queensland was an NRL state they were already securing great public funds.  In the end though, we talked and achieved little I suppose as it was never followed up.  We enjoyed it, had international guests and the hospitality was grand.  Yet I remember one key stakeholder from NQ, Richard McIness saying to the open floor, “We already know this Gunny.  But… How are we going to change it?”

Then one day a few weeks’ ago, I was scanning for learning material to share with coaches.   I came across a piece by NQ announcing the “Queensland Sporting Collective” and I was really conflicted.  Not because I wasn’t invited (this was quickly rectified) but was critical in social media because of the message I ‘assumed’ they (the collective/NQ) were trying to get out there. I mean here I was giving away much of my own IP for free for years… And I tried a few different free professional development formats etc at pubs for free and hosted groups like “Grassroots” (above) but kept feeling rejected…  (Talking like my kids now) I was just trying to think of, like, how much passion do I want to keep putting out there, only to be totally affronted by the ‘TCs’ (some of the greatest coaches in Australia and heads of NSOs ,Sport Australia, MPs on stage)???  This was a big mistake and I was blinded by my own bias of the ‘grassroots’.

 and NQ traded a few questions and I played the stubborn game of reconsidering past let-downs… However, unlike others from big corporations and those grassroots devotees like me in the past, as educators we remained curious, asking questions to ascertain motives etc. And soon, I accepted the opportunity to have an ‘open’ chat where key stakeholders were together addressing the issue I am most passionate about: Kids and Movement! Indeed, my own NRL who’d been so brave in addressing woes and drop-out were being used as a test case for change! And I should say that the collective was not the, you know, “oh we’re special, we write these plans and we love what we do” because I got the feeling that our current Queensland Sports Minister gets it. In fact, you had people like me questioning the head of Sport Australia about the demise of grassroots coaching.  You had members of the big sports saying we are sucking out too much public money.  We had an academic questioning the use of public funding for more wasted stadia…  We had Lisa Alexander and other head coaches debating some real issues around gender on a platform of, “let’s get fair dinkum!”   

Well that’s the inspiration that I got—and in a very small, kind of obscure way—I will continue working hard at my ‘Grassroots calling’. So this is a kind but weird congratulations Richard, NQ and crew.    It won’t be read by many but please know that I have placed your HONEST and FAIR DINKUM efforts at no.2 of the Gunny 365 project.  AND, I was indeed wrong to jump the ‘Gunn’ and fire the crossed bow blanks at this worthwhile ‘think-tank’.

So, this is a story about resilience and ongoing plying of our trades, even when you have no guaranteed signs that you’re going to find any kind of success.  However, I believe that the NRL’s ‘tackle safe’ program is something that’s come along that highlights bravery, skills and abilities that will eventually contribute to something positive for our kids in all of our professional futures.  AND it took brave members of NQ to remind me of it…

And so I actually got in my truck homewards processing words but also a strange feeling in my stomach: there has been action with the NRL and now NQ, reinforcing in me renewed opportunity for lifetime movement learners that I really care about.  AND I’m just, overall, thrilled that these two sports are going against the tide and being honest about ‘churn’ and revitalizing their games (although I’m not sure of the NQ workings in fine detail). 

Now before I finish, I must recall that coaches across Australia once knew this feeling well. Putting effort and time into kids and being able to share it out among peers feeling with pride through the Australian Sports Commission and NCAS.  So peers, if you’re struggling now with a problem whether it’s a government body, a grant, a lack of resources etc and you’re thinking about hanging up the whistle, I encourage you to share it among the wider caring collective. Just like we did on that morning.  Indeed start your own sharing cross-code mastermind group. Share that you’re trying your best to make good decisions. And, who knows, rather than parting ways with me, like other key sports’ stakeholders and accusing me of ‘online bashing’, remain curious like NQ and Richard and ask questions. Because it really, really worked for me.  And got me thinking again about my own learning motives…

REFLECTION:

By the way, Gunny and Dale Sidebottom https://energetic.education/ are coming to UK and Ireland in September: 

1) What changes have you made in your own actions over the last few seasons to try and ‘walk in a different stakeholder’s shoes’? 

2) How has this helped the learners you are working with? 

3) What specific evidence actors showed up in the narrative? 

Learning!!! 


email: coachgunny@craiggunn.org (September UK and Ireland tour of learning 2019)


Again learning peers, I’m Gunny.  If you want these Blog Posts to your inbox send me a personal email on address above or other, and, I’ll start compiling an all-important ‘list’.

The HOW (not WHAT) of coaching can be found at the ‘Gunn Engagement’ YouTube channel:

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DAC5b2rZHlt8bxXHVgAHg/featured?view_as=subscriber   

Please SUBSCRIBE!


To correspond on today’s post, provide discussion guidance, or ask questions that can be used in future posts, connect with me on:

Twitter https://twitter.com/c_gunny73, OR

FaceBook Pages, https://www.facebook.com/coachgunnybrizvegas/   

AND https://www.facebook.com/gunnengagement/ 

OR LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-gunn-b5017a69/ 

OR Website, www.craiggun.org 


If you find the ‘Gunn Engagement - 365 Day Sharing Project’ to be a supportive resource, please consider sharing with your friends and network—again, don’t forget to subscribe to the email list or YouTube channel and again tell your friends and colleagues.  ‘Word of mouth’ is still my preferred advertisi

‘Gunn Engagement - 365 Day Sharing Project’ was brought to you by, me Gunny, and superior learning vision is curated by my partner in learning Anthony O’Brien of AOB Media, https://www.aobmedia.com.au/

Of course learn more about my work or how to hire me as a consultant, facilitator, or speaker, through 0431311070.  

Finally, “Kids learn teacher NOT subjects!”


Yours in learning,


Gunny

GUNN TIPS FOR COACHES #1 - 365 DAY PROJECT 2019/20 - Gunn Engagement

G’Day learning peers. This is what I do:

Welcome to the ‘Gunn Engagement - 365 Day Sharing Project’! This is a daily reflective piece for teachers/coaches of all movement contexts.  It is designed to increase confidence and ability for managing the learning of unique individuals.  

I’m Gunny (Coach Gunny/Craig Gunn) an experienced educator and I have a particular ‘calling’ to support those at the grassroots/foundation/community level.  I thought I better tell you a little bit about this ‘project’. 

Up until recently, I gave away teaching/coaching expertise for free.  “Grassroots Coaching and Consulting” Facebook group (not the page) is once such community resource that gathers coaching/teaching brains from around the world.  It began less than 17 months ago and now has 527 members from every continent and most sports:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/147501649318126/

“Grassroots Coaching and Consulting” FaceBook group for volunteers and experienced sharing learners.

“Grassroots Coaching and Consulting” FaceBook group for volunteers and experienced sharing learners.

Please feel free to join us.  We’re practical, warm and engaging, but also a little more generalist for people who are often given a bag of balls as volunteer ‘coach’ and are trying to navigate what it means to be a teacher!  I decided to create “Grassroots” but it’s nobody’s ‘baby’ as we are dedicated to learners in our charge. 

From here I’m sharing this ‘Gunn Engagement - 365 Day Sharing Project’ to further support communities of educators, sharing about how to best engage learners in the work of movement.

 A few things for you to know in this first post:

 The first is that I specialise in ‘learners’ and NOT sport. I actually have educated in every context and coached/taught many, many thousands of students and lessons.

The second, I’m always learning as a role-model.  Indeed, some of my post-graduate study has been on professional learning communities. As well, since 2016, I’ve gone from a flip-top phone called a ‘Doro’ to expanding my network through social media.  This is important as I was still handing out my land-line number in 2015…  

Thus these reflections bring some of that vulnerability and knowledge into creating a good sharing experience for you, my fellow learning peers.

The third thing to know is that I’m going to try to keep these posts relatively short (in Gunny terms). As in, two and a half to three A4 pages of ‘text’ (12 font Calibri). You and I know, that one of the challenges of coach development since the invention of YouTube has been the inundation of information over time. Thus my aim is to keep it at a reasonable length and ask questions so ‘volunteer’ or ‘pro’ coaches can squeeze them into their professional lives.  You may be surprised what pops up in your daily walk or drive…

Finally and most importantly, anyone who knows me well, knows that I don’t like ‘talking myself up’… BUT I think the ‘365’ will be practical and packed with tips that you can use as well.

To begin with considering this query by an experienced coach recently in a coaching forum I am a member of called ‘Coach Logic’ (costs me about $5 Aussie every month https://app.coach-logic.com/player):

“Hi all, quick and simple one. I am doing a season review meeting with the rest of my coaching group for an under 16’s team.

Any tips on how I encourage the other coaches on defining success outside of simply “we didn’t win the league and therefore the season is a failure” which is what I’m going to get from a few of them.

I define success on the fun the lads have had and the learning and development they have enjoyed plus they scored over 500 points this year which is amazing!

How do I change the other coaches thinking?”

 

Gunny response (in itallics):

 G'Day _____

Start with what you said: "I define success on the fun the lads have had and the learning and development they have enjoyed."
Learning is hard to see even in MRIs...

By the way, Gunny and Dale Sidebottom https://energetic.education/ are coming to UK and Ireland in September. I'm on a roll here so ask:

 1) What changes in player, club and coach behaviour have occurred?

2) How has this helped motivation of all stakeholders?

3) What factors showed up in thebuild to the ‘500’ = knowledge, skills etc?

4) What have you as a coaching team done to MODEL or explicitly teach, or grow this all? EG. If you have followed the problem solving/guided discovery of ‘Magic Academy’ and or England Rugby’s ‘CARDS’ etc, How was this different to traditional "Lines, Laps and Lectures”?

5) Look up Kolb's work on reflection! Plenty of stuff here to incorporate.

6) List many of the different learning strategies as a coaching group brain dump and then use these sub-questions to scaffold:

a) What was new?

b) How did we solve problems?

c) Where are our next opportunities?

d) When did we use games to explore?

e) How did we get players to reflect?

f) What were some missed opportunities?

g) When was it player led?

 Love learning,

 Gunny

 email: coachgunny@craiggunn.org (September UK and Ireland tour of learning 2019)

Again learning peers, I’m Gunny.  If you want these Blog Posts to your inbox send me a personal email on address above or other, and, I’ll start compiling an all-important ‘list’.

 The HOW (not WHAT) of coaching can be found at the ‘Gunn Engagement’ YouTube channel:

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DAC5b2rZHlt8bxXHVgAHg/featured?view_as=subscriber   

Please SUBSCRIBE!

To correspond on today’s post, provide discussion guidance, or ask questions that can be used in future posts, connect with me on:

Twitter https://twitter.com/c_gunny73, OR

FaceBook Pages, https://www.facebook.com/coachgunnybrizvegas/  

AND https://www.facebook.com/gunnengagement/

OR LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-gunn-b5017a69/

OR Website, www.craiggun.org

If you find the ‘Gunn Engagement - 365 Day Sharing Project’ to be a supportive resource, please consider sharing with your friends and network—again, don’t forget to subscribe to the email list or YouTube channel and again tell your friends and colleagues.  ‘Word of mouth’ is still my preferred advertising!

‘Gunn Engagement - 365 Day Sharing Project’ was brought to you by, me Gunny, and superior learning vision is curated by my partner in learning Anthony O’Brien of AOB Media, https://www.aobmedia.com.au/.

 Of course learn more about my work or how to hire me as a consultant, facilitator, or speaker, through 0431311070. 

 Finally, “Kids learn teacher NOT subjects!”

Yours in learning,

Gunny

Copy of 46 Sparks to Enliven Plans of Beginner & Veteran Coaches

Coming coach development sessions for March so far:

March 4, Alex Hills JAFC with, Simon Black and Nathan Clarke of Simon Black Academy

March 18. Brothers Rugby Union Club, Albion, for Gunny and supported by researchers and all monies raised going to Sierra Leone Rugby.

46 Sparks to Enliven Plans of Beginner & Veteran Coaches - by Craig Gunn (Coach Gunny)

Through a couple of decades, I’ve coached many sports, created varied content, and taught a multitude of learners. I’ve also used the following tools and tricks.  This is not an exhaustive list by any means!  Hopefully you find these 46 (for my 46 years on earth) worthy of consideration...

  1. Get to know your students. “Kids learn teachers NOT subjects,” said my favourite leading principal, Fr. Peter Daly (OMI).  Thus, make connection a priority. Learn their backgrounds and where they are coming from. MASLOW must always come before Bloom. Then after all of this, worry about the subject matter…

  2. Next, we need to know what they know, or, what the can DO!

  3. BUT well before this, plan your session’s operational behavioural pedagogy. How on earth will you get their attention for example? (Consult old school PE teaching gurus like Pangrazi, Launder, Siedentop for help)

  4. What routines would Judith Rink (1993) suggest you want to practice with them?

  5. Plan absolutely everything if you are a new coach. BECAUSE you can lose them in an instant! The one thing that any teacher knows is that you solely are in control of your actions!!!

  6. Plan for transitions: ‘Active Learning Time’ studies since the 70s show how much time gets wasted… Coach Educator Chris Cushion’s recent studies have shown that ‘elite’ coaches are some of the worst in this regard!

  7. Plan for grouping all athlete into teams of colours.

  8. Plan to never, EVER, simply point at kids and expect them to remember what team they are in. The exact same is true for adults in fact!!!

  9. Listen to this very carefully: kids thrive in structure!!! When you are a beginner, don’t listen to ‘elite’ coaches working with ‘elite’ players saying things like they don’t use cones… They have never worked at the Grassroots, and more than likely if they did, and used this ‘no boundaries’ practice, they’d be pulling their hair out when the kids went wild.

10. Consider the number of participants and have far more equipment than necessary (if your budget allows for it).

11. I use four colours of cones and sashes or bibs of the same colours.  

12. How about the white cones?  They are your goals!!!

13. Use a four grid system of 10m by 10m like I was taught at university (PE teaching ‘101’). This easily engages a full class.  If I work with 90 coaches or players, I repeat the same process three times.

14. Label all of your own gear with permanent markers.  Coaches/PE teachers are ‘thieves’ but great natured ones. I drove to the Australian Institute of SPORT (1400km in my ute) with all of my own gear just in case… I am being ‘deadset’ serious!!!

15. PE teachers know that the hall/gym can be ‘squirrelled away’ from you in an instant.  Be prepared with Plans ‘B-Z’ at all times.

16. If your budget allows for it, you need a ball between two at least. I’m so tired of seeing community coaches, AND, visiting ‘experts’ lining up kids in columns with a bag of balls unused and lonely off to the side. In Australian football (AFL) for example, Indeed, it’s a great day if you see ‘elite’ groups with a single ball between eight when they do their ‘custom’ of lanework!

17. However, if the budget doesn’t allow for it, use balls, any balls... I have used everything from milk crates to stuffed toys as implement! ‘Old’ PE books gathering dust in libraries talk of things like ice-cream lids for markers. Use them or anything, because four and five year olds in particular NEED all the spatial help they can get (BIG kids too)!

18. If you can afford them, use agility poles to stake out your ‘turf’ before any other coaches arrive.  Because you are so organised and use less space than them, they will appreciate the help!

19. Put your bag of varied balls in the middle of your area and encourage kids to grab one and play, whilst you are setting up.

20. Always get to the training paddock well before start time. If I’m working professionally, I start setting up 45 minutes before. At the start of an amateur season, it’s at least 30 minutes.

21. Don’t EVER listen to anyone saying that kids shouldn’t kick around until warmed up etc… OR, that it looks untidy having them playing before the ‘official’ start. These people are clueless or narcissists. I have NEVER seen a kid ‘do’ a hamstring in cold weather or wet weather kicking before training. I suspect this wive’s tale was invented by the same parenting group in the 70s who told us all not to swim for 30 minutes after we ate lunch… Because of potential cramping!!!

22. Smile and say hello to every single adult you see near the field, as they could be parents or carers of ‘Little Josephine’. You need this potential contact up your sleeve if there is ever an issue. However, of course try to get out of the habit of waving and smiling at random mums at the shops. I haven’t mastered this yet…

23. Consider the difference in abilities of a group. Large balls or balloons are easy to catch. Round balls are easy to kick.

24. Think like a primary school teacher: the first many, many sessions should be focused on a safe environment for all, where kids and you relate well in intentional practice.

25. Play a game to begin your very first session (and every session).

26. Allow kids to kick, throw a javelin etc (within reason) first up with NO instruction!!! Then after, start the simplification process.

27. Watch for unique solutions that kids come up with in the above process.  For example, ‘Little Josephine’ putting the ball on the ground first before her kick.  Then, “Hey everyone! Let’s try…”

28. Once you’ve marked ‘the turf’ and organised all, start playing with kids. Sadly, many have been conditioned by school and other coaches and the like NOT to ‘play’.

29. Make sure that this early unofficial play has boundaries. That’s where the designated area above comes in.

30. Start at Greenwich Mean Time ‘on the dot’. If you bend here, adults will relax their travel time and it’s infectiously disruptive.

31. There is beauty in ‘chaos’. Plan for maximal movement that incorporates much functional movement and game skills. Then, finish your session 5-10 minutes ahead of time to talk to parents etc with no complaints due to the frenzied activity. 

32. Teach the kids how to help you set up. Practice this and ‘time them’ here and in pack-up with a watch. They love it!!!

33. Kids with attentional deficit issues need to keep moving but love structure too. They can be your best gear stewards and also the most creative game inventors too!

34. Plan for NO ‘lines, laps, or, lectures’!

35. Record yourself often on film. There is no better PD than this if you are prepared to watch with an open, curious heart

36. Get youth players to use smartphones and peer teach.

37. Hand-draw all activities . You'll be surprised how much clarity is gained from scratching the papyrus.

Sorry kids… Nothing beats a plan written on paper by hand!

Sorry kids… Nothing beats a plan written on paper by hand!

38. Join a coaching group like ‘Grassroots Coaching and Consulting’ (Facebook group not the page of the same name) for research based, crosscode/multi-contextual support, and, inspiration. https://www.facebook.com/groups/147501649318126/?ref=bookmarks

39. Commit something to memory about every single one of your athletes for life.  Then, bring it up every year you coach them, and then, every time you see them well into their athletic retirement…  I am currently coaching four or five learners I taught or coached over a decade ago!

40. Constantly research for creativity and then journal all insights (my personality means that my ideas are everywhere but you may prefer strict organisation) . I use my calendar year diaries for this purpose: if I have quiet days that are sparse of notations, I brain dump often!!! BUT, always make sure you review often and design a contents/index list for the front.

41. If you ignore the advice within this selection of ‘46’ and forget to plan - turn off the radio on the the drive to training and pray HARD. It’s surprising how much a decade of the Rosary comes to the rescue when desperate.

42. Make your learning intentions explicit for all activities, sessions, and phases within the season.

43. At least once a day, during a half hour walk or drive, turn off the radio or take headphones out.  Have a notebook handy (or nowdays use a phone ‘app’) to record innovative ideas that come from nowhere.  My best coaching/teaching problem solving would come running through bushland! When I could run of course AND two achilles’ surgeries prior...   

44. Focus on all of the ‘w’ type questions: ‘What is a game problem encountered? What does it look like? Why is it happening? What does it need to look like to make you happy? How can you design a task to assist players in this regard!!!

This is the planning I did when coaching a coaching peer of mine (whose team went on to win the State flag)… Notice the pen and paper with the ‘w’ processes?

This is the planning I did when coaching a coaching peer of mine (whose team went on to win the State flag)… Notice the pen and paper with the ‘w’ processes?

45. The great Dr. Ken Edwards (PE ‘guru’) taught us (and I have passed on in kind) to have three learning intentions: a major, a minor and an incidental one that will easily allow you to cover and map curriculum sequence.

46. Even if you can’t create a solution to a problem faced in a session, return to the previous session to reimagine and improve something through the ‘Change-It’ philosophy (Australian Sports Commission). This is because the learning is fresh in your players.  Many coaches are too hasty in trying the new gadgetry or novelties...

47. (Don’t say I NEVER give you anything) Keep your session plan on a clipboard (phone/Ipad) and ensure that it’s well explained ‘on paper’. Refer to it via an odd glance throughout open activity.  At NO POINT refer to it in front of athletes like you’re reading a manuscript. If you do, they’ll think you’re a muppet!!!


For Reflective Practice!

What is new or inventive from above? Try one and see how it suits.

Which of these classics have worked in past? What can you add to this list of 1000s?


Gunny’s Golden Rule for any Coaches I’ve Led and Learned With:

If we appear organised, parents and THEN players believe in us above most other coaches!

Yours in learning,


Gunny


Email: coachgunny@craiggunn.org

Web: www.craiggunn.org

Facebook, Linkedin Twitter etc too

ENGAGEMENT - Practical Development Workshops for Community AFL Clubs

NEWS: Upcoming learning opportunities in South East Queensland - by, Craig Gunn (Coach Gunny), in collaboration with Simon Black Academy

Recruiting and retaining junior and youth Australian football (AFL) players at community clubs is challenging....

For one thing, you have to accept that kids aren't as excited about kicking a ball around in this fast-paced, modern world.

You also have to find ways of engaging and maintaining volunteers to run 'grassroots' clubs, and when you do, you are just as well to find many lose motivation because of workload.

Plus, there’s the challenge of the 'churn and burn' of our volunteer coaches crucially supporting our young players' development. Importantly, they cry out for help in supporting our young people.

As a result, maintaining growth or survival of your community AFL club is harder than most stakeholders ever dreamed of.

Fortunately, there’s a better way...

Introducing the ENGAGEMENT series, a joint venture between Coach Gunny Grassroots Consulting and Simon Black Academy. ENGAGEMENT provides your AFL club with an all-inclusive Coach/ Adult/ Player development program...so you can relax, knowing you’ve left the teaching that supports the recruitment and retention of your young people to the experts.

With the ENGAGEMENT program, we’ll educate and tailor development services to your club's needs on the 'what', 'why' and the all-important 'how' of supporting your 'unique', individual young learners, so that your organisation is continuously sought-out by players and stakeholders. Indeed you can thrive as the 'go to' club around your locality of any sporting code.

And we’ll provide a digital copy of our learning activities delivered at your club, so you don’t have to worry about anything outside of enjoying, engaging and sharing in the session. This also makes coaching and supporting attendees easier, resulting in a neat scaffolding document, to support your existing, or, yet to be established coaching manual. Plus, because we want to engage deeply with a minority of clubs throughout South-East Queensland, we will allow you to film and distribute our teaching expertise among your coaches and volunteers. This way, you can easily establish a practically referable and easy to understand program that aligns with your club's development focus.

And because we believe so strongly in those that work with us, you’ll never have to worry about disengaged coaches throughout 2019, as we will help you establish and provide ongoing support toward a professional learning community that we will be active members of. This is a special interest of mine as can be seen in this group of worldwide and ‘grassroots’ experts and novices below that is free to join and is all about supporting our young learners:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/147501649318126/?ref=group_header

But perhaps the best thing of all is that we we offer a service that is heavily below market rate for our combined experience. We care about the future of football and will provide absolute 'bang for buck' so that your young people are your key focus.

To learn how the ENGAGEMENT collaboration can make club development paramount for your junior and youth players, speak to Craig Gunn (Coach Gunny) today by visiting www.craiggunn.org, or, by calling 0431311070.

The ‘official’ LAUNCH is less than a month away at Wilston Grange AFC, 26 February, 2019, 6pm sponsored by the club for Gorillas’ adult family. However, all are welcome (any club/sport) for a fee.

We are soon to announce club launch sites of Brisbane south, Moreton, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Darling Downs regions. Keep alert and submit your club’s eligibility for ENGAGEMENT opportunity by, Tuesday, February 5th.

Yours in learning,

Gunny (Craig Gunn, B.Ed. (PE); M.Ed. (Sports Coaching))

Brisbane Rugby League U/7s UproaR Because they CAN’T Practise Like This

Hello fellow adult learners and peers. I generally do not show footage of players I have not been given permission to share.  However, this has had 1 million plus views! AND was posted publicly (see below). 

Now, recently there has been angst from my fellow rugby league people. Most suggest: ‘kids must learn the correct technique first’ etc as justification on why the proposal to remove tackling at u/7s is wrong. I personally think this video shows that what most of the League fraternity is missing, is the need for education!

Can somebody watch the vision and please prove me wrong? 

I am a little surprised at the uproar to be honest. The highlights show a dominant player that other kids look at to score tries. That’s a problem but there are many others… Sure I counted 50 missed tackles but FAR more concerning was how I counted on one hand the amount of tackles with ‘good technique’ that is preached loudly!

Nowadays slinging etc are banned for good reason. But from the public backlash it appears most junior league coaches are not aware of the push to protect the head. I am not going to labour the point here but please check out my previous three part blogs on concussion in AFL which also is a real concern. There is new evidence out of Ireland (the Irish Rugby Board (IRB) paid for it) that now shows the green zone (nipple line to belly button. It goes against everything that senior rugby league coaches teach including my own current coaching, where I did a session on wrestling levers. In the end though, these junior players look to go chest on chest in the vision which is VERY, VERY unsafe. This is because the comprehensive IRB work showed that almost all players concussed were tacklers!

Now, I do not know many staff members from the NRL but I have seen jobs advertised recently around this education and ‘coach development’ for the U/7s program in 2019, Thus, I will not steal their thunder. Yet I will say, that having taught, coached for decades in all three Australian mainstream contact sports, throughout all contexts too, the missing ingredient that will retain and attract players is coach development.

For example, I have lectured at university around processes like ‘task simplification’. It is PE teaching ‘101’. As such, the NRL is to be applauded for simplifying the task of tackling. I believe they should go even further but will say no more on that… However, I must state, that unlike the awkward and unsafe examples of head positioning/awareness, body height, feet positioning, framing, shape and tracking on show in this above U/6 vision, I’m guessing that the NRL hopes that players and coaches will learn that tackling ‘technique’ will happen much more safely and naturally with ‘tags’.

Once again I am in full support of this no tackling movement as it will be a far better learning environment. Unfortunately you see, the research indicates that junior and youth sport is littered with sports losing out because they forget that LEARNERS learn but rarely/sometimes do coaches help (Chris Cushion, 2017, GAA Conference Accessed today in ‘Coach Logic’). Usually, the adults stick with how things have always been done.

For a contrast on what is always done against what players need, please see my AFL example below. Here (this year) when I was working with Queensland U/15 girls about 12 minutes in. They had never trained like this before and called it ‘Gunny Madness’. They train in line-up drills etc because that’s the way that it’s always been done! I would suggest that these girls were far more engaged in my activity.

Finally, for more depth of discussion and sharing, please feel free to join my Facebook learning group below featuring nearly 500 coaches and learners,

Yours in learning and happy to share,

Gunny (senior League coach with skills) - B.Ed. (PE); M. Ed. (Coaching)

0431311070 OR email: coachgunny@craiggunn.org

JOIN: ‘Grassroots Coaching and Consulting Group', featuring inspiring teachers from all around the world. Below is the link to the group which features practitioners and researchers from all sports!!! Feel free to join! But, we must remain curious...

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