This week, two members from AFL Victoria came down to run a clinic for the inner west council group and the Melton council group.
Firstly, Matt took us out onto Whitten Oval to work on training drills with us, this was the physical aspect of the session. We mainly worked on handballing drills, but this didn’t stop most from taking two steps back and kicking the footy as well.
Afterwards, Matt took us inside so that we could be walked through the theoretical side of the session by Nish. Nish explained to us that tonight’s session was about coaching and that the drills Matt ran us through can be interchanged with other sports.
He then explained to us the AFL’s four values; play to win, play with passion, play fair and play as one team.
The last section of the theoretical part was mainly about coaching, not just coaching footy but coaching all sports. We were taught different ways to prevent young athletes from leaving the game, including making the sport fun or by helping athletes embrace failure.
Nish also put an acronym up on the screen; SPIR. This stands for show, practice, instruct and reward. This acronym was created for coaches to help properly improve the skills of young athletes. Nish finally told us the golden rule for coaches, be yourself.
Nish said that you shouldn’t be acting like a robot and that you shouldn’t try to act like someone else, find your own style of coaching and work it!
This concluded the visit from Matt and Nish, but the night wasn’t over. We concluded the night with a group activity. Groups built a bridge out of resources that were provided, plastic cups and straws. We all bonded over the activity. In the final few minutes of this night’s session, people with the same community issue, once again, branched off to brainstorm and to set out goals.
I took plenty away from tonight’s session. I learnt new coaching techniques for my basketball team, I learnt new values created by the AFL and I bonded with people over a fun group activity. Overall, tonight was an amazing night!
For more information on the Western Bulldogs Leadership Project click here.
