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Joe’s story - In at the deep end: Part 1

Joe Keenan, the Community Engagement Manager at the Tony Blair Sports Foundation, recently started a Level 1 Coaching Course. Here he explains how he is progressing.

Having joined the Foundation in November as a staff member, I thought it was really important that I got to grips with all that we do as soon as possible. So when it was suggested to me that I undertake a Level 1 coaching course to understand the basics I knew exactly which sport I was going to focus on. I committed to doing a Level 1 Basketball Coaching Course.

My choice was simple because - of all the six sports that we cover - basketball is the one that I know the least about. My knowledge is really limited. Other than having messed around in a gym at school with a basketball 25 years ago and attended one Newcastle Eagles game as a guest of the Foundation, I know very little. I don’t even know the rules properly! I need to learn what a Level 1 coaching qualification involves and I am convinced that this is the best way to do it.

So I signed up with our course in Hartlepool last Friday. At first this was a little daunting. I started in a classroom with eleven other experienced basketball players, most of whom were associated with Hartlepool Heat Basketball Club and knew each other well. It wasn’t long before I got acquainted with them all though.

Our tutor for the day was Howard Leighton, who is a very experienced coach and he put us at ease straight away. After completing some paperwork related to CRB checks, we then spent some time on an icebreaking exercise – getting to know each other and getting to understand why we were there: to gain new skills, to develop the ability to be a mentor, to equip ourselves with the tools to teach others, to begin our journey towards becoming a coach!

We then progressed to the gym to start the practical side of the course. Before we could go through the different drills though, we needed to make sure that the Gym was safe. A lesson in health and safety followed so that we were able to recognise any pitfalls that could prevent us from taking a coaching session.

It was then time to learn the basic skills and more importantly, how we could teach them! So starting with a warm up exercise, we went through the basics. Balancing, dribbling, shooting, passing, receiving, performing a lay-up. I was learning new phrases like ‘triple threat’ and I was learning ways to remember how best to demonstrate the skills like BEEF for shooting (or make it fun - the Sunday dinner game as Howard was referring to it!).

Once we had got the basics sorted, we were then given an exercise to view a game and act as a coach. Giving feedback on this to Howard and the teams was a bit nerve racking but very good experience on recognising where we could improve the skills of players.

We ended the day as we had started back in the classroom and a short written test followed on what we had learned from the training. That was the end of day one. Day two is in April. That will consist of preparing my own coaching session and delivering it to a group of children. There is some homework to do before then though. If  I can successfully plan and deliver a coaching session that Howard will assess then I  will become a Level 1 coach. Watch this space!