Continuous Personal Development (CPD)

Continuous Personal Development (CPD)

 “If we accept that well-intentioned coaching is not always better than no coaching we might examine our practice more carefully” (Rod Thorpe)

 As a coach you should endeavour to attend as many CPD events as possible to help improve your coaching. The ability of the players and the challenges from them are constantly changing, and in order to engage and develop them you should aim to be at a level above that of the needs of the players you are coaching. This requires continual updating of coaching practice and technical, tactical, physiological and psychological developments in the game. If you do not challenge and develop yourself you cannot expect to meet the needs of the players, and it is possible that if players are not challenged and developed they will not be around for long

CPD offers opportunity for the development of coaches in those areas where they identify they need further input, and this CPD can take many forms.

Formal

Formal CPD is the easiest to recognise and, indeed you may well have attended a CPD course in order to receive this document. It is usually organised through the RFU or endorsed by them. The Foundation courses, “Start Coaching – Tag”, and “Start Coaching – Rugby Ready” are further examples of CPD opportunities. These courses are facilitated by qualified deliverers, are specific to the needs of the coach and often certificated. The content may be specific to rugby (technical or tactical) or of a more generic nature (coaching delivery).

Some CPD may take the form of CB, Regional or National Coaching Conferences and seminars.

Informal

There is a wide range of informal CPD opportunities – some of which are easier to recognise and acknowledge than others.

• Individual – where the coach observes other coaches, participates in other coaching activities, reads rugby or coaching materials, or watches relevant DVDs etc. This may impact on the coach’s delivery and behaviours but is very difficult to measure.
• Club/School – where the club or school organises sessions for coaches in house. The senior coach, a coach with a particular expertise or a guest coach provides an opportunity for other club/school coaches to learn from them, usually involving technical content.
• CB – where the county organises an event, often involving high profile coaches (Academy, Premiership, International). These coaches usually deliver high level technical or tactical content.
• Regional – where the regional NGB officer, often working with the CB, responds to a locally assessed and specific need or a local opportunity. For example, there may be a drive to attract more coaches into the adult game on a local level, or an expert in coaching has taken a position at the local University.

Whatever CPD you are involved in you should be congratulated for working at developing and improving your coaching skills. We are confident that the course you have attended and the associated resource will assist you further in that development and in your and your players’ enjoyment.

CPD & Qualifications

“Success is the result of dedication to an ideal of working hard to correct weaknesses – working hard to understand what is required for success and working hard to achieve the goal of being perfect. There is no substitution for work” (Vince Lombardi)

The diagram below demonstrates a pathway that can be taken by the coach. However it is important to realise that it is not a race. The qualifications act as an endorsement of the Level at which you are already working, rather than something you must achieve as quickly as possible.

Once you have achieved a qualification you should take the time to explore it, to work hard and to be successful at that level. That success is measured by your ability to engage, challenge and develop your players. Winning may well be a by-product of this, but it is neither the focus or the measure – most especially if you are coaching young players. 

The pathway from the base to the summit is not a straight path, and it is clear that CPD mixed with practice (i.e. coaching application) will enhance your chances of becoming a better coach. It is also important to remember that striving to be the best that you can be, does not always equate to being the best that you want to be. Just as a large number of players want to play for their country very few can. However the player should continue to enjoy being the best player that they can be at the level at which they are playing – just as you can enjoy being the best coach you can be at whatever level of qualification you are operating at.

What is the right CPD for you?

You will see from the diagram on page 2 that coaching has been broken down into 5 areas.

• Coaching Process – How you coach – the style in which you deliver and the coaching tools that you use i.e. explanation, demonstrations, observation and analysis, feedback.
• Tactical – How your team plays, decision making, support methods, strategies, style of play etc.
• Technical – What the players must be able to do to best implement the tactics. Skills such as handling, evasion, contact, set piece, positioning etc.
• Psychological – this includes: mental preparation, motivation, goal setting, and leadership.
• Physical & Lifestyle – How players prepare physically – nutrition, diet, strength, injury prevention and rehabilitation.

This is quite straight forward and you will already see that there is a great deal of scope for CPD in all of these areas. What is less easy is to identify the level of knowledge that may be required by the players you coach.

In the past CPD has been delivered almost as a “catch all”. For example: a coaching seminar on line-out delivered by a Premiership Coach. This may have a good deal of benefit for coaches working with adults in, or just below, National League; it will be of less benefit for those working below that level but within the adult game, and there may be hardly any benefit for those working with Under 15s and almost no practical application for those coaches working within the mini age group.

This does not mean that these events are not valuable, and something can always be gained from attending such seminars in any of the above mentioned categories. However, in order to maximise the usefulness of CPD it is most important to make it relevant to the needs of the audience rather than have a random delivery of inappropriate knowledge.

As a consequence of this coaches have been attributed to, and CPD designed for, the following areas:

• Children’s Coach – working with children aged between 7 and 12 years of age.
• Youth Coach – working with young people aged 13 to 18 years of age
• Talent Development Coach – working with County and Regional age group squads, Schools of Rugby and England Rugby Academies.
• Adult Participation - working within the adult game, probably below level 5 of the playing structure.
• Adult Performance – working below National One, and or with Adult County sides.
• Elite Performance – National 1 and above, National age group coaches, National coaches.

Of course there is a good deal of cross over and coaches may be working across many of the areas described. Most importantly the coach can identify where s/he is working and choose the appropriate CPD from a range of courses specific to their needs.