Counting down to freedom

Week One

And here it goes.  The final year of my degree.  The second last semester of my degree.  I am quite literally counting down the days (I only have 28 or so school days this semester) until I have the bragging rights of my first bachelor degree.

As we waited outside (the wrong classroom as it turned out) we were discussing our expectations of the new unit.  I must admit, I had to ask my dad what ‘pedagogy’ even meant.  As it turns out it’s just a fancy word for teaching and the unit used to be called advanced coaching studies..  That, I thought, was a pretty poignant comment on university as a whole.  Sometimes when the simple option will suffice perfectly, those in charge feel the need to make it just a whole lot more complicated !

The first tute began with Keith talking about teachable moments.  This is an interesting topic.  It got me thinking about  how a small moment in time can make a big big difference in a sequence of events.  I thought about what made particular skill click for me.  Why I flourished under particular types of coaches, namely the ones who were tough and pushed me to my limits and plateaued when I had coaches that were happy to let me cruise.  I tried to think about what it was that my coaches said differently on particular days to make skill patterns fall into place.

I really think it is important for coaches and teachers to have skill with words and analogies and to know their athletes on a personal level so that they can adapt and change their methods to fit.  As a coach you need to know if the athlete you are dealing with will react well under pressure and to a point criticism like me, or if they need to be constantly encouraged and gently shown the way to go.

In the lecture Keith discussed dis-play.  The idea of drugs in sport and other illegal activities.  I must admit that I was really disappointed when Lance Armstrong came clean about his drug use however I was not surprised.  Drug use in cycling seems to be so prevalent, I remember reading a story about a cyclist who had a heart attack and during his post mortem drug test they found 42, yes FORTY TWO illicit substances in his system.  It seems that the only way to win at cycling is to take better drugs than the other riders.  It is a shame however, because of his disease Lance really was an inspiration to many.  Hopefully in time the world can forgive him.

That will do for week 1

Over and out !