Episodic coaching

Episodic coaching is the idea that the session plan consists of a series of intentionally designed episodes, each episode with its learning objectives and an aligned coaching style. The session plan may consist of a series of episodes, with each episode using the same coaching style. For example, if a coach created a learning episode that had the objective of throwing at a target, they may use Practice Style with the target to throw at being a practice partner. The second episode could be a game-like activity in pairs where two athletes are to play ‘catch’. To demonstrate episodic coaching, this chapter examines a tactical or ‘game-based’ model coaching episode to identify the decisions being made between the coach and the players. This will allow the coaching episode to be placed on The Spectrum of Coaching Styles. The chapter then uses a Baseball training session to demonstrate episodic coaching as canopies of the coaching styles.