Getting your game sense

Recently I was asked what I meant when I spoke or wrote about coaching “GAME SENSE”. I said in reply that he was simply coaching how to play the “game”, no matter what the sport. I went on to say that my understanding of game sense was taught to me by observing children at play. Take a group of 20 children anywhere, street or field or whatever, and they have two balls between them. Whatever their interest, say maybe gaelic football, rugby or soccer, they’ll quickly divide into perhaps two games of five-a-side. Teams will have been quickly picked based on such things as physical structure, maturity, skill levels etc and a minimum number of rules, including scoring rules, set to make the game flow as well as possible. There will be a huge amount of trust involved with often no referee. The children will play away for hours, totally absorbed in what they are doing, losing track of time and the need for food. Day after day they will play the games, until each child has mastered their skill to their limit and the better players will start to add flair to their repertoire. Everyone has fun, and there is not a medal or cup in sight. For many children they live out the saying “the best learners are self taught”, a philosophy for me which produces no failures as everyone is trying to be the best they can be, set against their own standards. When an adult coach comes along to interact with the children, then “GAME SENSE” takes on a formal structure. In this instance, what is it this game sense? It is an approach to coaching and teaching which uses games as a learning tool to:

1. Increase motivation – people love to play games.
2. Develop tactical and strategic thinking.
3. Develop game-paced skills.

As a bonus this approach challenges players to think about WHAT they are doing and WHY. Games sense thus sees the coach as a facilitator and not a “direction giver”. Coaches, therefore, need to develop the art of teasing out the correct outcome with well-times and well worded communication (often questions). Coaches need to be able to design games that produce the desired outcome through experimental learning. Thus coaches need to ask themselves:

• What are the skills/tactics I want to emphasise?
• What will be the main challenge/problem?
• What are the rules/boundaries?
• What are some of the key questions I need to ask?
• How can I extend the game?
• How can I include all participants?

Questions asked will generally relate to a particular aspect of the game. Questions can relate to tactics as follows:

1. TIMING: When will you...?
2. SPACE: Where is...?
3. RISK: Which option...?

In games created, coaches often have to modify for exaggeration or emphasis of the skill being considered. Things to be modified might include playing area size; scoring areas; equipment used; number of passes used; number of players etc. Remember also technique is assumed as being already learnt allowing technique to be modified individually during game situations, and not ion group drill scenarios. In group drill, e.g. everyone learns the same element of a kick but in game situations players as individuals may be asked to use many forms of a kick to produce better tactics. Thus factors to consider here are: The fact that a learnt skill must be learnt to be used in actual games. This has implications for time involved in learning and the degree of player confidence. How does a Game Sense session differ from a traditional session? Judge for yourself:

Traditional Session

Warm-up, technique drills, skill learning, skill drills, game drills/learning, cool down.

Game Sense Session

Warm-up game, questions/challenges, return to game, questions/challenges, extension to the game, repeat above cycle, cool down.

Hopefully it all makes sense. If not, watch the children play their games. They always want to try something out; will question themselves how they did, what they achieve, and then play some more.