My Fourth Day At Wigan Warriors

I came into todays training session aiming to aid my ability to take training drills. The day started as per usual where in which the gym were organised appropriately for the days resistance training. The U15 and U16 squad and coaches entered the gym, Ian gathered the athletes together and informed them that we was going to be indoors for the whole of todays session as the wheather wasnt appropriate for the session the coaches had in mind. Therefore we was going to utilise this opportunity to try out a new piece of equipment. The circuit played out as planned with the players this week showing significant improvements in lifting technique. Majority of players progressed from a box squat to a full squat, with a handful of individuals progressing further to a front squat. This was a real boost of confidence for myself as the individuals who progressed to front squat was the individuals who shown most willingness to listen to my feedback. Myself and Ian continued to look for training imperfections and focused on those who did progress wasnt overloading themselves too much as the last thing the club wants is more injuries.

During the circuit training session Ian explained to me what the next part of the session entailed. This gave me the opportunity to facilitate my improvement in confidence when taking sessions myself. Once the circuit had finished I got the players together and took a leadership role in explaining what we was going to do next.

We went into the sports hall were the players enabled the new digital timer to be utilisised for the first time since Wigan Warriors had purchased it. With the use of this new equipment the players focused on improving their cardio. The players had to complete two lengths of the sports hall in 15 seconds with a 15 second break and then continue this drill for aslong as possible. I was stood at the side encouraging the athletes to continue for aslong as they could. I was very surprised to hear the atheletes who had already dropped out to stay and cheer their fellow team mates on. The evidence of their maturity reinforced Wigan Warriors policy being professional and having the right attitude.

Upon reflection, I was very pleased with how the session went. I put myself out of my comfort zone and put myself in the spot light. The players shown great progression with some indiviuals even attempting front squats. This was very encouraging and in some way felt rewarding to see the progression from those who shown eagerness to listen to what feedback the coaches gave them. I left feeling excited to see what the next session would involve and to see if the progression of some players more than others would motivate the competitive nature these individuals to progress to the same standard. My aim for next week is to try and have more players attempting the front squat to box.

By Connor Franks

My Third Session With Wigan Warriors

As I was not aware that we would be conducting the same circuit training session as the previous two weeks I felt more confident in what was expected of me. I turned up at central park and got the squat racks ready, wrote the circuit on the board and basically get the gym prepared for the player’s arrival. I did this to prove to myself that I was becoming more familiar with the protocols.  Shortly after being set up, the coaches and players arrived and the resistance training session began.

In today’s session there was an odd number of players in the U16 group, I was asked if I was willing to join in and work one on one with this player who did not have a partner. This individual was one of the more reserved players who I hadn’t spoken much previously. I saw this as a great opportunity and I was able to give the player feedback on each different exercise. The player took on board the feedback I gave him and tried his best to improve his technique with each set.

The players then went outdoors to work on sprinting. Players were split into three groups, each coach worked on each station and the players were instructed which drill to move onto. I worked closely with Ian and shadowed him while he took the first group, as the second group came jogging over Ian told me to do exactly what he had done and take the drill. I instantly was nervous and started to panic. Fortunately, I felt slightly more comfortable around the players and chose not to think about it, just do it! I used demonstrated whilst explaining how to do the drill. It basically involved the players doing high knees and making foot ground contact with both feet in between each hurdle with a sprint finish (see picture below).

 

The initial first drill was always going to be the most nervous but now I had done that I felt like I had accomplished something and I felt like my confidence levels had grown dramatically.

Now that I have been at my placement for 3 weeks, I feel like I am beginning to get used to the protocols required of me. Therefore, I believe I can now start to effectively utilise Gibbs’ model of reflection to give myself a better overview of how I am doing so far. 

Feelings 

Ian and the coaches are beginning to give me more responsibility and the players are beginning to become more confortable me, this makes me feel more confident in my own abilities my role as a strength and conditionist.

Evaluation/Analysis

The stand out good point/development for myself was taking the players independently through a sprint drill. I felt more confident in the feedback I was giving the players and my justification for giving that feedback. I feel more welcome and feel like I belong there rather than feeling out of my depth. I must admit however that although I am growing in confidence, I dont feel im anywhere near the standards of the other coaches and I therefore still have someway to grow. I dont expect to be near the same standard of the other coaches anytime soon as they have done this for years and have more knowledge, improvisation skills and full respect from the players that I am still looking to gain.

Conclusion

After todays session I feel like I would like to take more drills and put myself in positions where im not necessarily in my comfort zone with the aim to increase my own capabilities. I cannot allow confidence issues to hinder this learning experience, I feel I need to grasp this opportunity and make the most of it.

Action Plan

If I found myself taking a training drill again I would try and project my voice more and take other coaching qualities into consideration such as positioning. I would try and sound enthusiastic and motivational in order to enhance the athletes commitment to the drill.

By evaluating my day by the Gibbs’ model I can see that I have been improving in my role as a strength and conditioning coach. I have been gaining knowledge that will definitely help me in the future whilst making me more employable.

By Connor Franks

My Second Session At Wigan Warriors

My day started exactly as the previous week, I turned up early in case Ian wanted to take me through anything different. Once I met Ian and the coaching department we discussed the process of the next couple of hours. Ian took me into the gym prior to the session starting where we got all the equipment set up exactly how it was set up the week previous. To my relief, we was going to conduct the same circuit as the previous week which meant my research I conducted in preparation for this session would come into practise. When the athletes arrived, instead of feeling anxious and nervous I was focussing on trying to remember their names and trying to further build a coach athlete relationship.

I felt more confident today approaching the athletes with some of the coaching points I had previously researched and therefore was more vocal. However, I still felt there was a barrier between myself and some of the athletes based upon their interest in what I was about to say. I was aware the athletes had been doing this circuit for 4 week before I introduced myself; maybe the athletes thought they knew more than me about the specific drills. I therefore justified why I was giving them the specific coaching points and as the athletes worked in pairs of twos I got the other athlete to help. I pointed out the coaching points firstly to the athlete who was on their rest period. This meant that once I mentioned specific coaching points to the athlete conducting the exercise the one who was resting would naturally adopt a sort of coaching role and would back me up with my justification; e.g: when performing a back squat I would inform the participant if they arched there back, I informed them that by pushing out their back this would enable their back to adopt a more upright posture. The athlete on their rest period would then get involved and tell me if they thought their partner’s technique had improved. This enabled me to engage in conversations with the athletes and get to know them in more detail whilst gaining their trust and respect as they understood why I was giving the athlete the feedback I was.

Unfortunately, as I have undergone resistance training for four years I felt more confident when I was giving feedback on lifting techniques as appose to specific game situation feedback when outdoors on the astroturf. I only represented my school in rugby tournaments on a few occasions as my natural build was more suited for football meaning I favoured football more resulting in my knowledge of rugby drills being limited. As the training session progressed outdoors I found myself shadowing the coaches again looking at how they projected their voices, the positioning of the coaches and how they improvised for the injured athletes who couldn’t take part in certain drills. Additionally I shadowed the grabbling coaches and listen to how they conducted these sessions and everything about it was new to me.

Using Gibbs’ model to reflect on my first day last week really made me feel more comfortable and more confident as I felt I had confronted some of the areas for improvement. I tried to be more confident by getting my views and opinions across but at the same time respecting the order of the staff members. I still would like to interact more with the players and want to feel like the players understand why I am giving them feedback but I understand that this will come with time. For next week’s session my area to improve is my knowledge of the rugby game specific drills the coaches used in today’s session and engage more with the other members of staff in order to try and build connections.

 

By Connor Franks

My First Day At Wigan Warriors

My first day as strength and conditioning coach at Wigan Warriors was on Monday 13^th January. I arrived at Central Park (Wigan Warriors youth training facilities) at 5.00pm with the training session starting at 5.30pm. This gave me the opportunity to have a look around the facilities and meet some of the existing coaching staff I will be working alongside. I firstly saw Ian Bentley where we discussed the chronological events of the day and our roles and duties of the coaching department. Ian gave me a tour of the facilities as he was explaining these roles and duties. This was beneficial as I could visually interpretive how the training session was going to be lead which helped with my understanding of where my roles and duties come into practise.

I was firstly shown the gym where Ian gave me a brief demonstration of the circuit training exercises whilst showing me what equipment would be used with each exercise. I was astonished at first impressions the gym facilities Wigan Warriors provided for their youth team, all the equipment was state of art. Once Ian explained the circuit we were going to conduct I quickly realised the training focused on core strength. The gym had two power racks to facilitate these compound exercises with a total of 6 benches and two racks of weights ranging from 4kg to 40kg.

I was then shown the outdoor facilities (which consisted of astroturf with spot lights) where game skills, co-ordination and set piece drills were conducted. I was next shown the wrestling pit where the athletes underwent grabbling training.

As the athletes began to turn up I noticed I was getting more anxious about what was expected of me. The session started in the gym where I again familiarised myself with the drills and shadowed the coaches listening for coaching points the coaches were giving and the justification to the adolescent athletes in order to improve their knowledge also. I worked on gaining the athletes trust and respect by introducing myself and by explaining my purpose of being there.

Once circuit training had finished, I followed the athletes outdoors where skill drills involving hurdles and cones. In game situations were created where the athletes were allowed to challenge each other by touch only, this was to avoid injury. To finish the athletes went to the wrestling pit for grabbling training where I took a back seat and observed.

The athletes left and I spoke to the Ian about how I thought the session went and I spoke to him about what I picked up on. I reflected on how the facilities exceeded my expectations and I mentioned how impressed I was by the mature and professional attitude the athletes adopted, even when they were pushed out of their comfort zone. I realised I wasn’t as familiar with the drills as I hoped to be so in order to be more involved the following week I should conduct more research on what coaches should be looking out for in order to perfect the technique and to gain maximal benefits of the exercise.

Through using Gibbs’ reflective model I can see which aspects of my work are areas for improvement.

The following aspects are below:

· As the athletes turned up I felt anxious and began to doubt my own abilities. Therefore, the way I presented myself may have been affected. However, I did notice that as the the day went on I became more relaxed and comfortable around the coaching staff and athletes. This gave me hope that my confidence will grow as the placement continues.

· I believe I could have involved myself more with the players and management staff. However, with it being my first day it was difficult to approach the athletes as some of the athletes seemed to not give me their full attention and did not speak much.

However, with it only being my first day at Wigan Warriors and due to the fact I was still becoming familiar with the role that I’m entailed to do. I believe it was difficult to state exact areas for improvement as it is too early in my placement to make any concrete judgements. Additionally, it is still unknown whether my duties will change as the placement progresses.

Connor Franks

Self Reflection Blog

Each student undergoing placement work as part of the course module was advised to use reflective models in order to produce a blog which reveals what feelings you were experiencing before and after each placement session. When I researched these reflective models I understood the benefits of employing these models throughout my placement. The utilisation of these models will enable me to become aware of what were the good qualities I already possessed and the areas which needed improvement. In addition, as I was recording this blog throughout my placement I could look at how I have progressed throughout the 60 hours and set my targets for improvement with each session. 

There was three reflective models I employed until I realised which reflective model was suited most to me.

Gibbs reflective model (1988)

 

 Graham Gibbs developed his reflective cycle (Gibbs 1988). This model suggests how a full structured analysis of a situation could take place using prompt questions at each stage. As this model was based upon each stage of David A. Kolb’s experiential cycle, the next reflective model I utilised was Kolb’s learning cycle (1984).

Kolbs Learning Cycle (1984)

 

Kolb’s reflective model highlights the concept of experiential learning and focuses on developing information into knowledge. I would use this after the event has occurred where I would reflect on the experience, gaining a general understanding of the concepts encountered during the experience and then testing these general understandings on a new situation. In this way the knowledge that is gained from a situation is continuously applied and reapplied building on a practitioner’s prior experiences and knowledge.

 

Johns Model of reflection

 

 

 

 

John’s model is based on five cue questions which enable you to break down your experience and reflect on the process and outcomes. John (1995) used seminal work by Carper (1978) as the basis for his model exploring aesthetics, personal knowing, ethics and empirics and then encouraging the reflective practitioner to explore how this has changed and improved their practice.

Which reflective model did I find most useful

Out of the three reflective models I looked at employing throughout my placement I found Gibbs model of reflection the best for utilisation as Gibbs incorporates short specific questions without over complicating the reflection process. Therefore when reflecting I will be describing what happened, how I felt throughout the placement and whether or not I thought it was a good or bad experience. I will then make sense of the situation and consider what else I could have done and plan how I could include this into my next session.

References

 Carper B (1978) Fundamental patterns of knowing in nursing. Advances in Nursing Science. 1, 1, 13-23.

Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by Doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Oxford: Further Education Unit, Oxford Brookes University.

Johns C (1995) Framing learning through reflection within Carper’s fundamental ways of knowing in nursing. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 22, 2, 226-234

Sheilds R.W., D. Aaron, and S. Wall (2001). What is Kolb's model of experiential education, and where does it come from?, Questions and Answers on Adult Education, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

Introduction to Blog

            I am currently a third year student at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). Throughout my three years at this university I have constantly been reminded that experience is vital in order to differentiate myself from other students. When choosing my modules for my final year I discovered the module 'Careers in Sport' which entails an individual to undergo 60 hours placement work. This seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to gain vital work experience that will make me more employable when I graduate.

            I ultimately want to pursue a career working within a professional sports club as a sport scientist or strength and conditioning coach. As football is the main sport I am interested in pursuing this career I thought it made sense to apply for placement work within professional football clubs as I believe that to be the best at something you have to genuinely enjoy what profession you are in. This way you’re more enthusiastic, motivated and eager to progress and better yourself. I applied at Rochdale AFC, Blackpool FC and Burnley FC as the university was told they were interested in employing students for extra support. Unfortunately, I did not hear anything back in reply to my application, and with other professional clubs within travelling distance stating they do not care for interns or student support.

            Dr Steve Atkins (the division leader for my course), explained very clearly that work experience would still be as beneficial even within other sports as it is within that field of expertise.  I was therefore instructed to apply for similar intern roles within other sporting clubs such as; rugby, American football or even cricket. Once this was proposed i focused on trying a different approach with Rugby Clubs. I emailed Ian Bentley who works with the U15, U16 & U19 Wigan Warriors (WW) youth academy, as a strength and conditioning coach who told me they may have an slot available for me. I discovered that WW is the most successful club in the history of British rugby league, having won 20 League Championships (including 3 Super League Grand Finals), 19 Challenge Cups and 3 World Club Challenge trophies. Once i understood the great opportunity in front of me I expressed my eagerness and rationale for why I thought this was an appropriate placement for me. Fortunately I was successful meaning Ian organised a date and time for me to start.

            I began to conduct specific research on the roles of an S&C coach with elite athletes. I was informed S&C coaches have two primary goals. The first is to improve athletic performance, which usually means improving athletes’ speed, strength, and power (although specifics vary according to athlete and sport). Conditioning coaches develop systematic training programs for both teams and individual athletes, often working in close association with coaches. This usually includes teaching proper lifting techniques, supervising and motivating athletes as they work out, and assessing their performance before and after the program.

            I was quick to realise that majority of the research I was conducting was mainly aimed at fully grown adults and not adolescents. Therefore, I knew the key to gaining the most from this placement was to examine how the coaches approached the adolescents, how resistance training was implemented with athletes still growing and how they dealt with unexpected situations.

            Ian emailed me informing me I had been successful with my intern application and with a date to begin my placement. I became very anxious in what Ian was expecting of me and what this placement would entail of me. This left me feeling anxious and unsure in my abilities to conduct a session when I initially started my placement. Fortunately, Ian informed me I would be mainly shadowing coaches and introducing myself to the young athletes for the first few initial sessions.

The purpose of this placement is to gain as much knowledge as I can through working with a range of different ages and abilities. Over the course of this placement I aim to:

·         Improve my knowledge of the drills elite rugby clubs incorporate

·         Observe which qualities and skills the existing coaches have which I would be required to learn in order to become successful within the sporting industry.

·         Improve my confidence in leading drills and circuits

·         Gain tips on dealing with unexpected circumstances