England Athletics East Region is working alongside Tom McNab to develop a support resource for club coaches working with young children entering the club environment for the first time.
The coaches technical templates and support resources will aim to provide a syllabus of work or teaching materials for coaches to ensure young children are given a rounded introduction and experience of athletics (Run, Jump and Throw) activities that are structured and progressive.
It is hoped that Superskills will be embraced by athletics clubs across the region as the norm. Other sports have developed similar programmes that have been embraced by community clubs and this has helped to retain young children in the sport, offering consistency in what a child can expect to experience when they join a club as early as 9 years of age. Superskills aims to provide support to clubs dealing with 9-13 in this first instance.
The Superskills programme is very much in its infancy in development and at present Tom McNab is writing materials and piloting some of the ideas behind Superskills, to coaches from across the clubs in our region to see how it can be developed.
It is hoped that the pilot phase of Superskills will be finalised by the Autumn with resources being reviewed and produced for a broader roll out in 2008.
For further information please speak to Chris Jones chrisjones@englandathletics.org or view the Superskills Question & Answer section that follows
SUPERSKILLS: Some initial thoughts to consider.......
by Tom McNab
Q What are we trying to achieve in SUPERSKILLS?
A It’s probably best summarised in the phrase “ the roots of competence produce the flower of participation.” By this I mean that children are rarely interested in pursuing any sport until they have achieved some degree of competence in it. That doesn’t mean that they excel, only that they can do it well enough to enjoy it. And I believe that any child can achieve competence in any athletic event. That belief lies at the heart of SUPERSKILLS..
Q And what ages does it cover?
A Nine to thirteen years of age.
Q Why nine?
A It’s not rocket science, but we reckon that nine is about the age when children begin to grasp the nature of athletics and are able to master many of its core skills. This is what the educationist Piaget calls “the age of readiness”, which applies to both physical and mental skills. Of course, the wide variation in developmental ages means that there will be some quite “ready” kids of eight, and some of ten who are not quite “ready”, but it’s a question of drawing a line somewhere. The age of nine also corresponds with the age that many clubs accept children into membership.
Q Is it really the job of our clubs to cater for children as early as the age of nine?
A That’s a moot point, for the return in adult membership to clubs at that age is virtually nil. Indeed, even at the age of eleven, it is probably only around 2%. Over the last twenty years, the balance between adults (over 17) and children has radically changed in many of our clubs, which were previously essentially adult in nature. As example, even leading women’s clubs are often primarily composed of children and a handful of veterans, with few women in the 17-30 age-group. There is undoubtedly a strong case for this pre-competitive (9-11) group to be dealt with by local authorities, with the help of UKA club coaches, who will feed them into clubs.
Q But whoever takes responsibility, they would have to operate to SUPERSKILLS programmes?
A I would hope so. Our aim is to provide a uniform means of entry to the sport, so that any child who has experienced SUPERSKILLS will have achieved competencies in a range of events.
At this age (9-11), we don’t offer formal competition to children, so the main service which clubs provide is coaching. It’s our task to ensure that this first (and often only) formal experience of club athletics is a good one.
Q Will clubs have to be organised differently?
A Yes, in a more formal manner. By this I mean that every club should have a member appointed to greet children and parents, take down their details, given basic information about what will be on offer and direct them towards a suitable coach. Similarly, we need a Programme Director out on the track to make sure that groups are deployed effectively round the various facilities during the lesson.
Q This would bring athletics into line with other sports such as swimming and gymnastics, where it’s all pretty cut and dried, very tightly structured.
A Yes, and it tells our parents from the git-go that we really mean business. That we are well—organised, with a clear programme of work. I hate using business-jargon, but the plain fact is that we must improve the product that we offer.
Q Do we need to programme these sessions away from the training-times for competitive athletes?
A Yes. My feeling is that we should have children on SUPERSKILLS
in at, say, 630-730 , before the sessions for more mature athletes. This keeps them well away from flying hammers and athletes powering down the straight at 30km. an hour.
Q How many sessions per week?
A It really all depends on the manpower a club has at its disposal. Twice a week for both groups, and if there is insufficient manpower, twice for the eleven plus group and once for the 9-11 group. At worst, if there are too few coaches, the 9-11 group should be scrapped, if only because the returns are so low.
Q And in winter?
A Once a month Sports Hall Athletics for both groups, more if you have the manpower. What is important is that everything that we offer is an experience of quality, at least the equal of any other sport.
Q What about an enthusiastic and gifted 12 year old who wants to keep working during the winter?
A No problems there, just as long as the emphasis is still on all-round athletics.
Q I notice you used the word “lesson”.
A That’s really what it is at this early stage, and our “schools” are our clubs. We provide in SUPERSKILLS an athletic education. You see, at this point what we have is instruction, rather than coaching. You cannot really start to coach until a child can perform a skill to a reasonable level of competence
Q And with some degree of commitment.
A Exactly. The best analogy is probably the holiday ski-ing lesson, which is delivered, not by a coach, but by an instructor. His job is to get you down the slope in one piece, and to ensure that you have an enjoyable holiday. If, on the other hand, you choose to spend the next eleven months working out at a dry ski slope and develop a reasonable level of technique, then you may be ready to be coached on your return a year later to the slopes. Coaching doesn’t really start until a child wants to compete, wants to improve his performance and is willing to turn up regularly to be coached.
Q How is SUPERSKILLS different from previous methods of working with children at this age?
A Many coaches and teachers have used similar methods over the years. What SUPERSKILLS does is to pull together the best of these, give them a formality, a uniformity, a syllabus. Much of our method was embodied in the support-materials for the Five Star Scheme, the Ten Step Scheme and Sports Hall Athletics.
What has often been offered in our clubs has simply been watered- down adult drills and exercises, or a series of vague generic activities. Thus, in shot put, kids have been given standard shots, and the O’Brien technique. Impossible. Similarly, they have often been coached in a Fosbury technique in high jump, when the height of the bed itself was a personal best for them!
Q So it’s all geared to the nature of children?
A Yes. Someone once called children “the third sex”. For children are not simply little adults, and we have to devise programmes consistent with their physical, social and psychological development .In any group of twelve year olds, the range of ability will be vast, and it’s worthwhile taking a moment to examine the normal physical range. In 100m, it will stretch from 14seconds to 20seconds, in long jump from 2m.50 to 4m., while in 800m. it will go from 3minutes to close on 5 minutes. That’s the raw material with which we have to work, and everything we do must be geared to that reality.
Q Would it be true to say that the programme is geared to what children want?
A Yes, and what they need. I think that we can put their wants/needs under the following headings.
(1) They want to learn skills.
(2) They want to make friends.
(3) They want to enjoy the experience.
Q And our job is to create the conditions, the environment for that to happen?
A Yes. And central to that is what psychologists call “significant others” ( a terrible term) who recognise their efforts and praise them . And that ”significant other” is the coach. The job of the coach is to create the environment in which children will learn.
Q So what is the first step, when a child arrives with his parent at the club?
A First, the coach (or the Director) makes clear to parents what will be delivered over the period of the induction course (say ten lessons), in effect the guaranteed outcomes. He also outlines the responsibility of the parent, and makes clear that their help will be expected, in terms of timing, measuring, raking pits etc. I will go into that in more detail later.
At this early point, it’s worth taking the time to show children and parents around the track, showing them the various facilities and equipment. This is an essential part of the educational process. I well remember standing with a group of children and placing my hand on a steeplechase barrier. “Anybody any idea of what this is?” I asked. A little hand went up. “A javelin?” said its owner.
Q We often take too much for granted, don’t we?
A We do. Many senior athletes go through athletics without the slightest idea of what is essentially a series of separate sports which merely happen to take place in the same arena. No one has ever taken the trouble to inform them! Equally important, many arrive as children showing an immediate ability at one event, and never move out of it for the rest of their time in the sport. They have, quite simply, never been exposed to athletics in all its width and depth. SUPERSKILLS will go some way to address that issue.
Q So we’ve given them an idea of what we will deliver, and a rough snapshot what athletics is all about. What next?
A A standard lesson-plan. It consists of-
(1) Warm up.
(2) Game
(3) Three events( ten minutes each)
(4) Relay.
(5) Cool-down
Q Is this for the 9-11 group?
A Yes, and involves a 45 minute session.
Q And the 11 plus lesson?
A An hour. We simply move on to three 15 minute sessions on events or four by ten minutes. And/or add a competition before the relay. This builds it up to a full hour.
So the 11plus lesson could be-
(1) Warm up.
(2) Game
(3) Three events@ 15minutes
(4) Competition
(5) Relay
(6) Cool-down.
Q Of what should warm up consist?
A Have a look at kids at school when they are let out at playtime. They rush out like demons and dash up and down the playground after each other. No sign of any pulled muscles there!
Warm up is exactly that, a means of raising muscle-temperature, so that they work more efficiently. So it can simply be a jog round the outside of the track, formally led by one of the children (this can be made into a competition, but more of that later) followed by skipping, high knee pick-ups, etc. Little time should be spent on it.
Q You mentioned turning it into a competition.
A Yes. If we start with a mass, multi-group warm-up I divide the children into groups, ( say three groups of eight),and appoint one child as leader of each group. Their task is to have their group run slowly and evenly in tandem together round the track. Marks out of a hundred are given, in terms of even pace, keeping the group together, appropriate slowness of pace, etc. This can add a “fun” element to the warm-up.
Q And the games?
A A list of games will be provided on page1. These are roughly graded relative to age, and there is a bibliography of books of other suitable games. This “game” section can, like warm-up, be conducted on a mass basis, before the break-up into lessons. These athletic games are no soft option, but are conducted vigorously and are an essential part of the programme.
Q And the relays?
A Again, a varied list of relays is provided on page 2. And again these can be “mass” activities, bringing the whole squad back together before the end of the session.
Q You have laid great emphasis on athletic competencies and a structured, planned programme. Also that the club has to create a formality to the
whole process, as in gymnastics and swimming. I’ll buy that. But what other aims do we have?
A To provide an athletic education. You’ll see that with every event I have included some background notes. The coach can deploy these as he pleases, feeding information in at appropriate moments during his sessions. I’ve also included some brief notes on more general topics, such as the Olympic Games. All of this means that the coach has a good source of background knowledge by which he can enrich his lessons.
Q And what about fun?
A I’m not mad about the word “fun”, and would rather use the term “enjoyment”. No question, our aim is to teach athletics to children in an enjoyable manner, but enjoyment can often be secured in a purposeless way, and that’s not the business we are in. Children learn who they are by what they do, and get great pleasure in achievement. That’s something we can absolutely guarantee with tape and stopwatch. But the aim must be to instruct in a rich, skill-based environment to which each child looks forward every week. We must never forget that children are skill-hungry animals. It’s our job to feed that hunger.
Q Will we have to modify our facilities for the SUPERSKILLS approach?
A Yes. If we are to secure a high volume of repetitions, then we must adopt, where possible, a “mass” approach. As an example, in frontal shot put, it is perfectly safe for all children to put at once, to a whistle signal; the same is true in a standing javelin throw. And we need roped, calibrated areas, so that we have maximum safety and children can see how far they are throwing. In long and triple jump, we can often attack the pit from the side, allowing 2/3 children to jump at once, or in tight stream. And if that is not possible, then a big pit can be built to make it so. This will also serve for “scissor” high jumping. We have to constantly adapt what are essentially competitive facilities to the needs of children, just as we have done with equipment.
Q And competition?
A Again, we must go back to “readiness”. The Football Association has banned 11 a side football until the age of twelve, while full 15 a side rugby does not occur until secondary school. Instead, we have in football small-sided team games and in rugby we have the mini-version. This corresponds directly with the way children develop. At a certain point, they start to conceptualise team-play and as a consequence begin to combine, and that’s when they are “ready”.
The same applies in athletics, albeit not for the same reasons. The aim at the pre-competitive stage must be to provide a broad range of athletic experience. I say “athletic” rather than athletics, for many of the activities will be non-standard events ( standing long jump, turbo javelin throw, three spring jumps, etc), and competitions will be of a much less formal nature.
A So we don’t avoid competition?
Q No, but much of the competition should be against oneself, with the coach giving praise for effort and improvement. It’s not about “winning”. After all, differences in development can be massive, so all that we would be testing in such competitions is variations in growth –patterns. And by supplementing this effort-based approach by holding competitions for technique we get at the very basis of our work. We are in the business of helping children achieve.
Q Technique competitions?
A Yes. Let me provide an example. “The aim is to run fast, hit your target area, jump high and land soft with heels in line.” This is the basis for a competition in long jump for ten year-olds, at the end of a lesson. It is, in effect, a test of how much they have learnt. I give marks out of ten, Strictly Come Dancing style, for each jump.
In such a competition, a non-athletic child can compete on even terms with more gifted children. She goes home to her mum saying that she has just won an apple for winning the long jump. It doesn’t matter tuppence to mum whether it was for technique or distance. All she cares about is that her daughter enjoys jumping, and seems to be having a great time down at the athletics club.
Q So we can still have competition, even at this age?
A Of course. It’s simply a matter of how we frame it. Children don’t take long to work out who can run the fastest and jump the furthest. Our task is to make sure that every child learns and grows and gets something out of each lesson. That means that we must constantly play around with the components of competition to ensure that they do. Let me give you another example of how this can be done.
We have a standing long jump competition. Big David wins it with 2.00m, little Julie is last with 1.60. “We’re now having another competition. The winner is the one who makes the biggest improvement.” David jumps 2.01, but Julie clears 1.66, and is therefore the winner. There are almost infinite ways by which we can vary competition to make it enjoyable for every child.
Q What about handicaps?
A Great. We time the children over 30m. Big David runs 5.8,
little Julie 7.0, the others times in between. In the handicap race, David runs off scratch, Julie off 6m., and suddenly we’ve got ourselves one helluva race. The children finish in close formation, handicaps are adjusted and the concluding race is “the 2012 Olympic final”.
This type of “fantasy athletics” appeals to children. David is beaten, but he goes home to tell his parents that he had to give everyone else a start and that even then he was only beaten by inches by Julie in “the Olympic final”.
Q But what about the technical content?
A At this early point, the technical parameters are relatively narrow, and thes are outlined in the notes. What is essential is the “three R’s”. Repetition, repetition, repetition .Take a look at a beginner’s tennis lesson. The coach serves ball after ball to the child, often a foam ball or one with a low tension, so that it doesn’t bounce too high. Some of the child’s returns land in the next county, some balls he can’t even hit, others he hits cleanly. The coach stresses what the child has achieved in the successful contacts and the number of failures gradually decreases. A model, a shape, starts to emerge over time in the child’s movements, and though they are still crude, they become competent. That’s what will happen in SUPERSKILLS.
Q Where does Sports hall Athletics fit in?
A Sports Hall is a marvellous programme. There is really no place for under 12s (and even for many in the 11-14 age group) on frozen winter tracks, and Sports Hall is an ideal vehicle by which enthusiasm and interest can be maintained during the winter months. Many counties have Sports hall programmes, but if yours has not, you can easily link up with other clubs and start one. This being said, you will find elements of Sportshall in SUPERSKILLS .Always remember the C.A.S.E method.
Q C.A.S.E.?
A As I said earlier, SUPERSKILLS brings together many elements of what we have done, albeit with less formality, in the past.
Q You spoke earlier about the deployment of parents.
A Thirty children, all brought by car by their parents, what a terrific labour force. There are at least two possible ways of dealing with this. The first is the Draconic Method, where each parent is required to sign up to helping, as part of the “contract” drawn up by the club. The second is to simply ask them if they would like to help. My instinct is towards the Draconic, if only to stress the formal nature of the SUPERSKILLS programme, and the need for parents to buy into it and see what it does.
Many of these parents will find that they enjoy the experience, that athletics is not as complicated as they had thought, and may take a level 1 qualification , and work within the club for the period of their child’s involvement. Some may have qualifications in disciplines such as finance, marketing and fund-raising, and can help the club in these areas.
Q So it all goes way beyond SUPERSKILLS ?
A Yes it does. The actual return, in terms of senior club- membership, from the under 13s is tiny, probably not much better than 2% in some cases. The energy put into it is not, so it’s essential that clubs deploy their often limited coaching staff to best advantage. The engagement of parents at induction-level takes off some of the strain, and may also offer a set of other skills, ( even if only temporarily), to the club.
Now all of this undoubtedly requires leadership and organisation, but without radical changes to our methods of delivery we cannot offer children a rich early experience and rank athletics with the sports with which it is competing for their attention.
Q But few of these parent-coaches will go forward to coach at a higher level?
A Very few, but our main aim is to put to good use their energy and skills during the time that they are with us. That being said, SUPERSKILLS provides a model of planned structured coaching which can be carried forward,( albeit less prescriptively), to more advanced levels of coaching.
Q What if some parents say that they pay £30 for club-membership, it’s up to the club to do the work?
A That’s a valid point. My answer to them would be that £30 constitutes only 60p a week. If they go to a local authority tennis course, it will cost them about £3 for a single group lesson. Karate, swimming and football costs are roughly the same, while the fees for recreational gymnastics can be anything up to £400 a year and “serious” gymnastics £1600 per annum. If we charged sessionally like tennis, club-fees would ( even with only a May-August and Sportshall programme) be anything up to £120 per annum. Our problem has been that our harrier-roots have produced a culture where we have given away our expertise for free. That, combined with lack of formal induction programmes, has made it difficult to sell ourselves. This has now changed, and we are offering parents in SUPERSKILLS a structured programme, with guaranteed, clearly-defined outcomes, for their children.
Q So we have to educate the parents?
A Yes. But once they see what is on offer, the word will soon get around.
The above Q and A summary was written by Tom McNab and are based on his early thoughts. This work will develop of course during the pilot process.
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