I have been a high school football coach for closing in on nearly two decades. I have had the good fortune to have great mentors who have taught me quite a bit along the way. However, none of them have ever engaged in one of the new hot trends in coach development. Some of us do it naturally, but reflexive journaling has become an empirically backed way to develop ourselves as coaches.
Like many of you, I was initially skeptical. Questions swirled: Is this worth my time? Where do I begin? How do I even do this? But this past football season, I embraced reflexive journaling, and it's transformed my coaching. Spending just five minutes each evening after practice to reflect on the day's events—ideas, issues, interactions—yielded remarkable results. My experience echoes the findings of Da Silva et al. (2022), whose study on online reflective practices in coach development confirms its effectiveness.
Da Silva et al. (2022) found reflective practices can be beneficial for coaches, ultimately leading to higher levels of critical thinking and self-improvement. Though that is one study, I have found others, but more importantly, I experienced firsthand the power of reflexive journaling in my coaching this past fall. With lacrosse season on the horizon, I look forward to continuing to hone my skills with reflexive journaling. At the minimum, you should give it a try.
References
Da Silva, E. J., Mallett, C. J., Sánchez-Oliva, D., Dias, A., & Palmeira, A. (2022). A coach development program: A guided online reflective practice intervention study. Journal of Sports Sciences, 40(9), 1042-1054.
Downloads
Comments