How can I improve my coaching over the offseason?

Janet Coach, Australia

If you could find an experienced coach to watch and learn from or just to mentor you for a while it would be of enormous help to your skill development and confidence. If you coach for a club, they should be able to steer you in the right direction.  If you are on your own it is a little  more difficult to develop coaching skills but if you can get a hold of some basic coaching resources e.g. Netball Aust Coaches manuals Foundation & Development, books from the library etc and work through those that is a good start.  When coaching juniors/lower senior levels it is best not to focus on winning games as measurement of success.  Development of good skill sets and teamwork should be a coach's goal.  Try to be organised and plan your sessions suited to the level you are coaching.  Start with simple drills/games and build up to more complex as you and your team develop and maintain your sense of humour.  If you can laugh at your own and your team's mistakes and keep things light hearted it will make your sessions less stressful for all.

Lee-annes NetballCoach, Australia

All that Janet has said is invaluable for helping with coaching.  watching and listening to drills and ideas from other coaching is very important and doing relevant courses might help.  remember to coach to the level and type of team you have.  if you have a very social team that just want to get together and play, then being a strict and goal focussed coaching technique will drive you insane.  the opoosite will drive the kids insane.  so coach to the level and age and have good achievable goals.  also remember that sport is meant to be fun for all, but having clear boundaries with the kids then that will help them know what you expect of them each week.  as a coach the hardest part is gaining their attention and interest and keeping it. so make sure your training sessions are fun, interesting, and relevent.  you could even have some rewards for them for achieving their goals, like parents vs kids, or a training session at the beach, or a movie night.  something that will encourage team bonding, and something to look forward to and work towards.  hope you have a better year next year, but dont rate your ability as a coach as to where you come in the comp, as there is only ever one winner and generally 7 other teams that placed.  

have fun and good luck.

Netball CoachCoach

How far would u like to go with coaching and how can I start my own coaching lessons