People want to know you care before they care what you know

'The most important element in sport is the people involved, whether they are taking part, volunteering, coaching, or paid employees. The success of sport, in terms of helping people achieve their potential, making the most of existing talent, and attracting new people to sport relies on putting people - their safety, wellbeing and welfare - at the centre of what sport does.'  - Duty of Care in Sport, Independent Report to [UK] Government, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE, DL I was fortunate last year to hear Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson speak at a conference. She was, as you would expect when you understand a little of her background, practical, empathetic, and purposeful. And she made 'Duty of Care' sound like not only an important topic for discussion for everyone in sport, but an imperative we must all be driven by. Now, I don't usually need any encouragement to say we can spend a lot of time in coaching and coach development talking about 'safety'. But duty of care, as I am beginning to understand it, is much broader than 'safety' for athletes or players. Coaches, officials, administrators, scorers, groundspeople, the tuck shop staff   - the whole of sport - need to be 'cared for' too. As the quote above suggests, duty of care speaks to the heart of what sport should be about: enjoyable, self-affirming, an agent for personal growth, and ultimately a domain for powerful positive experiences for all. Sadly, this not always what happens, as two well-publicised cases involving a US doctor and a British football coach, respectively, have recently highlighted. Make no mistake, when 'we' in sport get duty of care wrong, it can have life-long (and very occasionally, life-ending) consequences for the participants and their families. For your convenience, the link to the 2017 report by Baroness Grey-Thompson is provided below. I encourage you to read the report (yes, I know it's a Government Report). Moreover, I encourage you to reflect on what duty of care means to you in your sporting context.https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/duty-of-care-in-sport-review Ngá mihi Brett Reid, Community Coaching ConsultantQuote of the month'Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement' - Will RogersWhat's in this issue? Pressure on young footballers; why do kids like sport?; how adults influence kids sport; the decay of knowledge; a video of an 'active' baseball practice for kids; leaders, leaders, everywhere; the dope on dopamine, motivation, and learning; how do coaches learn?; a constraints-led approach to coaching; what should we   read? (apart from NZ Coach Mag, obviously).The pressure on youth footballers Does being earmarked as a 'future star' help or hinder our youth footballers?  [blog.innerdrive.co.uk]   Why do you like sports? [Video: 1min]Have adults ruined kids sport? Children's participation in sport is falling, leading to concerns about their health. But are the adults doing much of the worrying at least partly to blame? [BBC]Half life: The decay of knowledge and what to do about it Understanding the concept of a half-life will change what you read and how you invest your time.  [Farnham Street]   Coaching youth baseball: Running an active practice [Video: 3min]   Leading without leading It is estimated there were about 10 million books published in the world last year. [wgcoaching]   The role of dopamine in motivation and learning If you've ever felt lackadaisical to start a new project, focus on imagining the joy of completing it, say University of Michigan researchers. [Neuroscience News.Com]   How do coaches learn? [Video: 1 minute] [WG Coaching]   What is a 'constraints-led approach'?A constraints led approach is a teaching/coaching method based on the  principles of non-linear pedagogy.

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