From October 4, 2019 to November 16, 2019, Dr. Richard Light of University of Canterbury in New Zealand, who visited the Graduate School of Sport Sciences, taught an autumn intensive course titled “Athlete-centered Coaching for Team Sports.” Below is a report from Dr. Light who lectured the course.
This course, students learned active learning, problem-solving, reaction and dialogue methodologies through by playing basketball, soccer, rugby, Australian football, and Ultimate Frisbee in practice to understand the content of the lecture.
The last day of the class, after student’s presentations and debate, the content of the presentation was evaluated with Dr. Light. The valuable dialogue between students and Dr. Light is not only learning expertise, also greatly improved their English conversation skill.
Course description from the syllabus
This introduces students to recent developments in coaching referred to as athlete-centered coaching with a focus on team sports. It challenges traditional coach centered approaches that use direct instruction and focus on the repetition of skill and technique with a focus on active learning, problem solving, reflection and dialogue used by the New Zealand All Blacks and by former Japan rugby coach Eddie Jones. It will question your beliefs and ideas about coaching and ask you to consider the possibilities of this approach through reflection on your experience. Each week has a lecture and a two-hour practical workshop that are both important aspects of learning. Lectures and workshops are integrated to make them mutually informing and this is reflected in the assessment tasks.
