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COACHING CONFERENCE 2009.

Stratford-upon-Avon 18 - 19 October 2009

From Northern Ireland County Instructors Nicola Connor and Brenda Larmor found this to be a very worthwhile experience.
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The theme of the conference was preparation, both mental and physical, in the cause of progress. A number of the speakers were from other equestrian disciplines working with elite athletes and their experiences and goals can seem a world away from what most of us are doing. Each of them, however, demonstrated that the same set of basic coaching principles should underlie our work at whatever level we are.

The first speaker was Lizzel Winter (coach of the Junior British Eventing team) whose talk was entitled
'What makes you tick? Key elements of coaching philosophy' She described her philosophy as providing principles not answers, a framework for exploring the possible solutions in any given coaching situation.

We were asked to consider and discuss these questions in pursuit of our own coaching philosophies:

Why do I coach?

What makes a good coach? What makes an exceptional coach?

How often do I ask eye-popping questions? (Ones with answers that challenge you or your riders to push to a place not before considered)

Do you know how others perceive you?

What are your top 4 goals? Are they process driven ( such as teaching a skill) or outcome driven (such as training for a test)?

The questions do not have right or wrong answers but by considering them carefully the coach will be able to arrive at an assessment of his or her personal coaching style?
By asking these questions we are forcing ourselves to think about our strengths and weaknesses, how to use the skills we have to benefit our pupils and to be better coaches
Ms Winter's experience is of coaching at an elite level but her approach is applicable at any level and she emphasised the partnership relationship between the coach and the coached, summed up in the acronym Together Each Achieves More

Sara Smyth (RDAI) spoke on The Unseen Factors – Understanding the basic psychological skills to enhance performance at all levels. She identified the core mental skills necessary for progress as Commitment, Concentration, Confidence and Control and we discussed how riders would behave if they had good and poor skills in these areas. She also talked about what motivates our riders; intrinsic motivators such as wanting to do something well and do it better or extrinsic motivators such as wanting praise or to win prizes. She told us we can use goal setting to improve concentration, and achievement will assist confidence, commitment and control.

Ann Tezer (Chef d'Equipe, British Dressage team) spoke on Warm-up; what is it and why is it necessary? We discussed the benefits of warming up (improved performance; reduced risk of injury and reduced post-activity muscle stiffness). The purposes of proper physical warming up are:

To increase body temperature and heart rate

To increase blood flow to exercising muscles

To decrease muscle viscosity

To enhance the speed of transmission of nerve impulses

To increase blood saturation of muscles and connective tissues

To loosen the body by stretching muscles and tendons

The benefits of mental warm-up are:

To focus the mind

To quicken reactions and heighten senses

To adjust the emotional level (if required)

To acclimatize horse and rider to each other and to their surroundings

To establish communication between horse and rider.

We were advised to get to know our riders and their individual optimum arousal levels.

Attention was also given to the importance of warm down which aids the dissipation of waste products including lactic acid (trot gives optimum result for the horse); allows the heart rate to return to its resting rate; and gives the rider time to reflect on the work. It is the coach's responsibility to teach how to warm up and warm down effectively and to explain the reasons.

The most common mistake, at all levels, is warming up without a plan. The horse's warm up should consist of:

Several minutes of walking (about 12 minutes)

Actively moving forward in trot and canter

Suppling exercises (circles etc.)

Lateral work and transitions

Movements to suit the horse and/or level of competition

Things that the horse is good at to encourage a positive attitude

Discussing rider warm ups she talked about fitness, nutrition, hydration, sleep and the effects of over-training and while much of this seems permanently beyond the reach of many of our sessions, I think it is important always to be aspirational for our riders and to draw good practice lessons from elite coaches. We were left with the advice to use our EARS, EYES and MOUTH in that order; to give positive feedback, to encourage, re-focus and instill confidence.

In a practical session on horse welfare with Sue Adams-Wheeler we were again reminded of the importance of correct preparation of the horse. In warming up we should ask; is the horse tracking up? Is it carrying its back? Working at walk and trot and on 10 metre circles will encourage stepping under and engaging of the hindquarters. We should also pay great attention to the load bearing capacity of the horse and be careful not to exceed it. It is useful here to remind ourselves of a piece of research carried out by Helen Davies (Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Anatomy at the University of Melbourne) Her study showed that the degree of stress shown by a horse carrying a well-balanced endurance rider for 20 miles was equal to the degree of stress shown by the same horse carrying a slightly unbalanced rider for 1 mile, or a very unbalanced rider for ½ mile. Our ponies are working harder than we may think.

In a talk on The important elements in the coaching session with Karen Glasgow from the Drumnadrochit Group the main focus was on structured planning of sessions and record keeping as required by the UKCC scheme. The record forms provoked a great deal of mostly negative discussion centered on the opaque language used in them and which distracted attention away from the undoubted value of the exercise. We are asked to encourage group instructors to adopt these or similar forms. The benefits of written down plans include:

The aims, immediate and future, are clear to the coach the rider and the helpers

Helping to make adjustments to the original plan, in the light of experience, without losing focus

Shows what is working and what is not working

Allows feedback from helpers

Fosters a sense of common purpose

Allows another instructor to take over if necessary

Shows a history of progress which is especially valuable when riders return after a gap

Suzanne Genery is Head of Coaching Development at the BEF but came from a karate background where she is a former European champion and current coach. She described how her recent experience of learning to ride taught her look at the learning process from the pupil perspective and to re-evaluate her own coaching practice. When you know how to do something, it is easy to forget how it felt when you didn't know. Perhaps we should all take up a new skill this winter!

We discussed some questions about why we warm up and what barriers there were to warming up (time constraints, lack of knowledge about the benefits, lack of adequate information on our riders) and shared suggestions about ways to improve this aspect of our sessions (with games, equipment, better briefing of helpers, better liaison with carers). Lynne Munroe put us all through a workout to music which was much appreciated on a cold morning and definitely made us more alert.
Two Master Coaching Classes followed, one for riding, one for carriage driving, which gave a practical demonstration of the value of long-term and short-term goal setting and co-operation between rider and coach in planning these goals.
We were left in no doubt that attention to detail and improvements in the area of preparation would greatly enhance the progress of pupils, and that we must not allow ourselves to get away with providing mere pony rides.

Nicola Conner 25 October 2009

JILL LINDSAY STEPS DOWN AS CHAIRMAN.

The Riding for the Disabled Association of Northern Ireland has recently bid farewell to its long serving Regional Chairman Jill Lindsay as she stepped down after 7 loyal years in the position. Jill has been a part of the charity since its conception in Northern Ireland and has been involved at all levels, from Organiser of her local group in Downpatrick, to County Chairman for Belfast and County Down.

During her time as Regional Chairman Jill was responsible for many events and perhaps most memorable of all was when she oversaw our 40th anniversary year. To celebrate the RDA NI hosted a 2 day national conference during which there were riding displays at Laurelview Stud and Templepatrick, workshops and guest speakers, followed by a dinner at the Ramada hotel. The Northern Ireland members were particularly delighted that the RDA President Princess Anne was able to attend.

A large party was held recently to celebrate the time which Jill has spent as Chairman, with approximately 100 people attending incoming Chairman Julie Jordan’s home for some grub courtesy of her local chip van. Killyleagh group “Full of Sheugh” provided some lively entertainment and Jill was presented with a Horse's Head sculpture, commissioned for her by local artist Claire Sampson.

Taking on her position as Regional Chairman will be Julie Jordan, who has been involved with the Riding for the Disabled for 25 years. Beginning as a helper with the Moy group Julie was soon asked to start up a local group in the Banbridge area. This group would later become the Banbridge and Moira group. Julie has been on the Regional Committee for the last ten years and was Acting County Chairman for Belfast and County Down for two years.

With her vast involvement with the charity it is little wonder that Julie has been nominated into this position and her enthusiasm for the work done by the charity will no doubt help to build on all that Jill Lindsay has achieved. Julie will certainly have her work cut out for her as she aims to increase the size of the charity with both new riders and volunteers.

Julie says “I am looking forward to visiting the groups when we resume riding in September. Coming up we have the World's biggest riding lesson on 30th September in which we hope to qualify for the Guinness book of Records and in the spring we will be co hosting a joint North/South conference with RDA Ireland. It is an exciting time for the charity and I am happy to be taking up this position.”