Over the years, we have spend much of our time in developing strategies to coach our referees, and we are pretty good at it. As referee coaches we participate in constant training, update courses and reviews, all designed to improve the on and off field performance of our referees. But what about coach development? What feedback do coaches receive about their performance? How can we do this better?
I know that across NSW Country, simply because of resourcing, referee coaches are often appointed to games at a particular venue and they are there for the day, generally as the only coach at that venue. They might work with 2-3-4 referees across the day, watching games, collecting data, analysing performance, giving feedback, writing reports …. But how do they (and we) manage their performance? How can we further improve our own coaching techniques.
Just as referees like to get feedback on their games, forming an important part of their development, coaches too value feedback from their peers.
In club rugby, in smaller Associations, that is often difficult on a weekly basis. During Gala Days, carnivals, championships etc, it becomes a little easier simply because there may be more coaches appointed to the venue on that day(s).
In NSW Country, we have been very lucky for many years to have had some wonderful senior coaches dedicated to improving the quality of coaching across our Zones. At our championship carnivals, we have regularly had one of these senior coaches mentoring others, doing ‘Coach The Coach’ sessions, sitting in on feedback sessions to referees, providing feedback to coaches on the strategies and techniques. We continue to do this wherever possible.
However what we’ve done, while generally quite formalised, has never reached the structures of what we do in coaching our referees.
In an attempt to bring our coaching of referees and coaches closer, I have developed a ‘Coach The Coach’ Feedback form. One of the features of coaching our referees is that they get written feedback on their performance via RefLIVE, and previously through Sideline. This is used by the referee as part of their review and development. I’m hoping that the ‘Coach The Coach’ Feedback form can do likewise for our referee coaches.
The concept behind the form is simple, a coach mentor sits with the appointed referee coach, they watch the referee coach across various aspects of his/her coaching, collect information through notetaking, provide feedback on those areas and then complete a written feedback form for the referee coach.
I have include an image of the form I developed. It covers:
- Game details,
- Pre game,
- During the game,
- Post game, and
- Report writing.
By providing our referee coaches with feedback across these areas we can address all of the key areas that coaches should be looking at to support their referees. Of course, this will always vary depending on the level of referee and referee coach that the coach mentor is working with on that day but what is written and how each component is addressed can be tailored to that, just as we do with RefReview reports for referees.
I hope it helps.