Thinking about recycling can assist coaches working with children
by Dr Phil Kearney
There is a lot happening within any coaching session, especially with young children. There is so much to observe, to communicate, so many opportunities to intervene. Good organisational skills can make it easier for a coach to manage large numbers, provide variety of experience, and make time for effective observation and intervention. One of the ways in which effective coaches may demonstrate this organisational skill is through recycling their set up; that is, using the same layout of cones and/or equipment to support multiple activities. In this article, I will outline a couple of examples of recycling, before posing some challenges for you to think about.
Some of my favourite activities make use of makeshift hurdles: two pieces of bamboo are stuck into the grass, and with the aid of two clothes pegs, a cross bar is laid at an appropriate height. We are ready to leap…and so much more.
The basic activity sees the children race over the hurdles; depending on age and space available to you, you might change the distance between the hurdles (I typically use variations from 4m to 8m). Certain distances will also fall more in line with an alternating pattern (i.e., leading with the left leg, then with the right leg) and others with the consistent use of one lead leg. We typically use some form of relay, with children leaping over the barriers on the way up, running back the outside, and they can end up covering considerable distance without realising it. Simple choices are also incorporated (“Do you want to run 3, 4 or 5 times each?”), and any child pausing to fix a knocked hurdle as they run back (character development; see the Cs of Youth Development) is dutifully praised.
The hurdles take a bit of time to set up, and while the children can easily enjoy them for 15 minutes, ideally, we want to recycle the set up if we can. So what other activities might we do?
The simplest variation is to remove the crossbar. Now the task is to run through the “gate” formed by the two remaining sticks, run backwards around one of the sticks, and then run forward through the gate again. For every “gate”, children thus practice decelerating and accelerating – an important skill to develop to facilitate both performance and to reduce injury risk across a range of sports.
A second variation requires swapping every second crossbar for a large hula hoop. Now we have an “over under” obstacle course, and we race, just like with hurdles.
Another variation engages children in some jumping. After an initial demonstration around one hurdle, 2-3 children are dispatched to the other hurdles. We start with the barriers nice and low: can you take off on two feet and land on two feet without knocking the barrier? If you all can, then increase the height of the crossbar by the width of three fingers. We can also use this task to work on dynamic balance: can you jump backwards over the barrier, taking off and landing on two feet? If you can, raise the height of the hurdle and try again? Can you jump from two feet but land on one foot? Can you jump from one foot and land on two feet? Your jumping challenges are limited only by your (and the children’s) imagination.
Consider another example: hula hoops laid in a large circle. We can do lots of jumping activities in this set up (e.g., use the hula hoop as a skipping rope for 10 jumps). Starting with one child standing in each hula hoop, we can do some agility activities: children on opposite points of the circle are given the same number. When their number is called, the children must race around the circle and back to their starting hoop, all the while weaving in and out between the other children. When the first runners are almost back to the start, call out the number of the next runners.
We can also use the equipment within the context of the broader space we find ourselves working in. With the aid of bibs tucked into the back of shorts, we can play foxes and rabbits. We start at the hula hoops (the rabbit burrows). We then run over to some distance part of the field. Children are divided into rabbits and hungry foxes; can the rabbits get back to the burrow before the foxes catch them? Repeat this activity 3-4 times with different foxes each time.
The important point is that the same set up of equipment can be used multiple times, within the same session, to develop multiple fundamental movement skills and physical fitness. Recycling the set up of equipment allows the coach more time to observe, decide, intervene, and ultimately enhances children’s engagement and learning.
Now it is your turn:
(1) Look at your last three session plans. How well did you recycle your equipment set up? Can you see any opportunities to further recycle?
(2) Can you come up with three activities, targeting a range of fundamental movement skills, from each of the following layouts?
Layout 1: a cross with a central circle
Activity 1:
Activity 2:
Activity 3:
Layout 2: four small squares around a central rectangle
Activity 1:
Activity 2:
Activity 3:
Phil Kearney is the Course Leader for the MSc Applied Sports Coaching at the University of Limerick. His teaching and research centres on the domain of skill acquisition, particularly as it relates to youth sport. Phil is a co-founder of Movement and Skill Acquisition Ireland and coaches athletics in a youth participation context.