Roger

Many thanks for this link. I wasn't aware of these videos.

Paul

These videos are ideal for the trainee coach in providing ideas and the basics from which to develop. And this is the key. Any coach needs to move beyond the basics and find their own path.

I don't profess or ever will do to have all the answers. I enjoy learning and find it terribly frustrating that there are so few coaches to learn from re on court performance. The basics act as a good reminder as it's so easy to get caught up in the development of fancier ways to do simple things, all for the sake of trying to bring something new into the game. Often I've stopped myself and questioned whether what I do is the right thing for the players. The good news is I get to test with players and their feedback is always the great leveller.

To push boundaries as coaches we need to be inquisitive. I'm always saying there's a better way, but I just haven't found it yet. I look to other sports, teachers in other sports to find what works for them. I then try to adapt for badminton…not always easy. At the moment I'm talking to a jumping coach and a fencing coach and hope to develop my relationship with both to find how they have discovered/learnt what they have and the overall conclusions they have made through their own experiences.

Whenever I run a residential weekend I have so many fights with myself regarding which topics to leave in and what to leave out because it's impossible to cover everything in a weekend in any depth. The less is more phrase has not quite been fully embraced yet, because I want to ensure players have such amazing value for money. But I am slowly coming around to the fact that the development in say 5 areas is more important than 12. Hence the reason why there is this constant evolution.

It would be interesting to see BWF create videos for Level 2 coaches and possibly Level 3. However, the Level  3 award appears to focus on organisation rather than high level development of the coach. This I find very unsettling. Whilst I understand the need to organise, surely the basis of a higher level coach should be to develop those skills on court in respect of feeding, development of routines, questioning and player communication. After all, a Level 3 coach should be coaching highly advanced players of county and international standard.

Paul