This week I speak with Dave Reynolds who is in charge of Coach Development in the South Australian National Football League. Dave was recommended to me from Professor Shane Pill as an absolutely brilliant coach development practitioner and he has not let me down. Dave is a passionate coach developer aiming to implement and improve coaching on a number of levels in his beloved sport of Australian Rules Football. He has a passion for developing female coaching talent in the state and is also a part of the newly formed AFLW Port Adelaide coaching staff. Dave talks about how he provides feedback to coaches in a constructive and effective manner and we discuss the three P’s of coaching – Pedagogy, playing and the people. We discuss the 6 big rocks Dave feels need to be improved in community coaching and chat about the differences in the developmental needs of beginner, intermediate and advanced coaches.
For me the conversation about the need for junior AFL coaches to move their mindset from winning only and using tactics for success that do not necessarily develop players to one that is more focused on player development is a pertinent one that I believe a lot of sports are dealing with. The end goal for development coaches should be just that development. It’s an interesting topic that I am sure would create a lot of debate. I love Dave’s idea about developing communities of coaches where you can bounce ideas off other coaches & share thoughts, views and opinions on trends in coaching. As we say to the kids sharing is caring and if we really care about the future of our sports we need to embrace sharing. We can also learn a lot from other coaches in other sports and having mentors outside of your own sport is something that could help you grow as a coach. If you’d like to contact Dave he is active on LinkedIn under his name Dave Reynolds or via Twitter under @Dave_Reno516.