Tag Archives: mental health

Top Five Tips When Looking For a Coach

Article by Chesslife Chess Coach Alex Jury

As children grow up many of them will seek out and participate in competition sport. This is both a natural and healthy development that should be encouraged. Competition sport boosts our self-esteem, improves our confidence and develops our ability to work in a team. Many schools recognise the value of sport and offer their children a variety of sporting opportunities.

Children, however, require guidance. In almost every school and sporting club, there is a team coach, their job being to teach and to train the players in their team. The importance of this position cannot be understated. Children are dependent on their coaches. They look to them for direction and instruction. It is therefore imperative that the coach for your children be the right man or woman for the job, as your child’s experience in sport will be largely influenced, for better or for worse, by their decisions and treatment of their teams.

So, what do you look for when looking for a coach? How do you pick the good coaches from the bad? There are many things to consider. Some of the most important of these have been compiled just below.

 

Number One: What Is Your Coach Trying To Accomplish?  

Each coach has a different coaching method and personal style; no two are exactly the same. Most coaches, however, can be characterized by how they answer this very simple question: How do you define success?

The coaches who would answer that success is defined by their team winning are often referred to as Transactional Coaches.

The most common traits found in a Transactional Coach include:

  • Making success the prime motivating factor, with their treatment of the players, parents and game reflecting this;
  • Focusing their efforts in increasing the skill level and performance of individual players;
  • Making team related decisions based on what will enhance the team’s likelihood of victory; and
  • Training children to win. How this is achieved is often a secondary concern.

Transactional coaches are often seen as ‘good’ coaches, because they are able to produce visible results, these usually taking the form of success on the field, winning streaks, trophies and medals.

“Each coach has their own personal style”

There is, however, another popular style of coaching, in which the coach does not see winning or even the sport itself as their primary concern. They see sport as a vehicle for children, not simply to have fun, but to also learn invaluable life lessons and skills. For these coaches, it is more important to inspire change in the player and not simply turn them into better players, but also better people. These coaches are referred to as Transformative Coaches.

The most common traits found in Transformative Coaches include:

  • Developing the players to become better people;
  • Wanting their players to improve in all aspects of life, on and off the field;
  • Offering the team a role model, in him or herself;
  • Building a team;
  • Encouraging Teamwork;
  • Treating players with respect and dignity, regardless of the outcome of a game; and
  • Teaching life lessons – how to be humble in victory, courteous in defeat and the value of good sportsmanship.

Transformative Coaches have something of a mixed reputation. While they usually share a good rapport with their team and work hard on fostering a positive environment for their players, they do not always deliver the win that is expected of a ‘good’ coach. In fact, many Transformative Coaches downplay the importance of winning, especially in comparison to things like learning, participating and having fun. As such, Transformative Coaches are sometimes considered to be ‘bad’ coaches because their results do not always translate into wins on the field.


Finding out what your coach values is very important. On the surface, the Transactional Coaches seem ideal, because they promise and can deliver obvious results. However, as we shall find, these may not be the results children are looking for, or even need.

Number Two: What Do Your Children Want Out Of Sport?  

When coaching children, we must remember why the child is there in the first place. Whatever our feelings towards competition sport, we must remember that this is ultimately about the children themselves. Why do they engage in sport? What do they hope to get out of it?

A study, conducted by George Washington University, sought to answer this very question. A youth soccer group were posed a series of questions about their participation in competition sport. When asked why they decided to engage in sport, 90% responded that they played sport to have fun. This is, however, a very broad term, and the children were further asked to provide explanations of what they considered ‘fun’ to be. They returned with 81 explanations, which were ranked in order of importance.

The top five answers were:

  1. Trying your best
  2. Being treated with respect by the coach
  3. Getting playing time
  4. Playing
  5. Getting along with their team
Children value enjoying the sport over winning

To these children, simply participating in the sport in a positive and encouraging environment was seen as the best part of a sporting experience. This isn’t to say that children didn’t at all value ‘winning’ or consider it a part of why they play sport. Winning was considered one part of what makes sport fun. The fact was, however, that ‘winning’ was rated at only 48 in terms of importance. Winning medals and trophies was rated at 67 and getting your picture taken was dead last at 81.

From this we can begin to understand that, for children at least, winning, and all that comes with it, is not a priority. Far from it, in fact. A coach needs to understand this and their treatment of the sport and the team needs to reflect this. If a coach is focused on winning, at the expense of things such as participation and a positive playing environment, then they run a serious risk of alienating their players from their sport.

 

Number Three: Does The Coach Engage Their Team?  

Recent studies are showing a worrying trend: that many children will eventually drop out of youth sport programs. By the age of 13, a massive 70% of children will have dropped out of their sporting programs, with the likelihood of dropping out increasing by a third every year the child remains with the sport. So what triggers this sudden disinterest? Studies have suggested that much of this attitude can be attributed to the coach and their practices. When the coach emphasises that winning is the most important thing about sport, it can promote anxiety and depression for children when they fail.

It is important for a coach to treat their team with respect

Remember, only one team can win in competition sport. If the coach is demanding victory from his kids in every game, the pressure to always win can drive children away. Who wants to work, let alone play, in such a demanding environment?

It isn’t just the pressure to win that drives children from sport, but also a lack of playing time. When a coach is interested in fielding the best team they can, they can neglect or exclude the kids with lesser sporting capabilities. The key motivation for children participating in an activity is that they actually enjoy themselves. This doesn’t mean that coaches should abandon rules or scoring. The kids want to play sport! They want to learn it and become better players. But they also want to do it in a positive and inclusive environment that lets them enjoy it.

In the George Washington study, the same children surveyed in what they wanted out of sport were also asked what they wanted out of a coach. Their top five answers were:

  1. Respect and encouragement
  2. Positive role model
  3. Clear, consistent communication
  4. Knowledge of sport
  5. Someone who listens

Take note that, while the children did want a coach that had knowledge of sport, they did not prioritise a coach that would ‘lead them to victory’. If a coach does not encompass these values, they will not engage the children.

A win-obsessed coach will distance and estrange their players from sport. Children may want to win, but it is not a priority. Having fun, being respected and enjoying your time with the team clearly is; and the attitude of the coach needs to reflect that. If a coach does not do this; their attrition rates can be high, with kids missing out on sporting opportunities as a consequence.

 

Number Four: Win At All Costs. What Is The Real Lesson?

Transactional coaches may put too much pressure on their players to win

Assuming that your child stands by the Transactional Coach, what can they expect to learn from them? The Transactional Coach acts to improve a child’s performance. In return, they expect the child to win games. This ‘win at all cost’ mentality may drive a child to improve their game, but it also promotes harmful behaviour. Dr Kim Taylor found that the coaches who pressure children to succeed can result in children seeking ‘shortcuts’ in order to improve as fast as possible. These shortcuts don’t simply undercut the merits of hard work, patience and perseverance, but they can delve into unethical and self harming practices.

This was the experience of former National Football League defensive lineman, Joe Ehrmann. A victim of multiple Transactional Coaches, he was often pressured into winning, sometimes using unethical practices. One such coach coerced Joe into knocking out an opponent with a basketball. Joe did as he was told and broke the opposing player’s nose. Though Joe felt ashamed of what he did, neither this nor the injury the other player sustained mattered at all to the coach. He boasted that this was the way the game was meant to be played. His team had won. In his eyes, the end had justified the means.

Dr Alan Goldberg has often spoken out against such coaching methods. In one such report, mention was made of a tennis program that was, outwardly at least, highly successful. The team enjoyed a high success rate and the program was considered one of the best in the nation. The coach was driven to making his team the best. He demanded triumph from his team and would become abusive towards his players if they were, in his eyes, ‘uncommitted’. He forced his team to play even when they were injured, unconcerned that this would make their injuries worse. He became verbally abusive if his players lost a game or questioned his conduct. His players were miserable. Many of them abandoned sport altogether. Those who stayed reported suffering from self-directed anger and anxiety. The coach had impressed upon them they had to win. The pressure to meet this unreasonable demand drove his players to their breaking point.

 

Under these Transactional Coaches, respect, appreciation and esteem were conditional. To be appreciated you had to win. Nothing else mattered. It is hardly surprising that these coaches and their methods lead to high numbers of dissatisfied children, high mental stress and depression. Your children deserve better than this. A Transactional Coach may be able to make your child’s team the winning team, but the price to pay is simply too high.

Number Five: Lessons Above And Beyond The Field 

As we can see, the Transactional Coach, while successful on the field, is not the ideal coach for a growing child. Attention to the needs of the child and their personal development as people, not just as players, is essential and a Transactional Coach simply cannot deliver this.

A Transformational Coach is not an easy coach to find, but is well worth the search. While they may not always be able to deliver victory in competition sport, they can do something so much more important – they can teach children how to be healthier and happier people. By providing a positive environment to learn in and a positive role model to learn from, the Transformative Coach inspires and motivates children to not only develop their talents in sport, but to develop as human beings.

The best coaches foster personal growth as well as skill

Joe Ehrmann puts it best when he says, “Transformative coaches are other centred. They use their power and platform to nurture and transform players“. The sport itself is not the end goal. It is a vehicle for children to learn, develop and have fun.

As a parent, it can be difficult to find the right person for something as important as coaching your child. The important thing to remember is that the skill and quality of a coach should not be measured by their ability to deliver a win on the playing field. As the previous examples have demonstrated, the price to pay for the ‘winning’ coach can be all too high. It is better to aim for a coach who has their priorities on the betterment of their players, on and off the field and regardless of their individual ability. Those are the coaches that truly succeed.

 

So, what can you do? 

Is your child losing interest in sport? Are they becoming less motivated to attend practice and games? Do they want to drop out? While some children will leave sport for alternate reasons, for others it will be because of how their lessons are being coordinated. Ask your child what happens during practice and how the coach treats them. Ask them why they are leaving or becoming less motivated. Attend a few practices yourself. See how the players treat each other and how the coach treats their team. Above all else, avoid judging the quality of a coach by his or her ability to produce a win. A coach centred on improving the child is far more important. Their results last far longer than any sporting season and are more valuable than any trophy.

 

Some Final Thoughts!

Here at Chesslife, we believe very strongly in the power of Transformative Coaching. We certainly celebrate achievements and train our students how to play their very best game of chess, but our core values go well beyond what a Transactional Coach tries to achieve. We see chess as so much more than a simple game or a distraction. There is so much that chess can teach us; and we consider it a priority that our trainees get everything they can out of our coaching lessons. We do not simply teach children how to play the game or even how to play the game well, but we teach them how to be better people.        

 

 

 

The science behind those bulging chess brains

The most rewarding part of my job as a chess coach is seeing my students improve in so many ways, which I truly believe can be traced back to playing and learning chess.

 

One of the reasons I’m so confident that chess is ‘good’ for kids is that it brings in so many different parts of the brain. To truly ‘play’ chess, the brain has to work pretty hard (to put it mildly), and the best thing is that kids often don’t even realise how much they’re learning.

Not only does chess require kids to be creative, logical, solve problems and think spatially, but when they come to Chesslife classes, they also to have to be social, concentrate, and participate by reading, writing, counting, reasoning – and then communicating all of this to their fellow students and their coaches.

It’s no wonder chess has the power to transform young (and old!) lives. But don’t just take it from me. Here’s what researchers William Bart and Michael Atherton of the University of Minnesota discovered when they analysed the brains of amateur and professional chess players at work. This is from their paper ‘The Neuroscientific Basis of Chess Playing’.

  • Playing chess activates the occipital lobe, which is used for visual processing
  • Playing chess activates the parietal lobe, which is used for attentional control and spatial orientation
  • Playing chess at an amateur level activates the medial temporal love and the hippocampus, which are used for novel encoding and analysing chess board information
  • Expert chess players use their frontal lobes for higher-order reasoning and retrieving expert memory chunks.

In the right setting, chess has been proven to boost visual processing, concentration and attentional control, encoding of information (understanding), analysing information, reasoning and memory.

And the science proves shows what every chess coach and indeed, every chess player, already knows: chess is a workout for the whole brain.

As a Chesslife coach I consider it my responsibility and my greatest privilege to bring this incredible tool to the bright young minds of Australia.

Four Brain Training Tips!

David Koetsier is an international professional chess coach based in Adelaide, Australia. At the World Youth Chess Championships in 2016, he had plenty of practice keeping some of Australia’s most promising young players in the optimal brain state for sports performance.

In this blog edition he gives Chesslife blog readers tips on keeping their minds fresh, active and in the perfect ‘frame of mind’ for creative thinking on, and off, the chess board.

 

  1. Tune in to Music

 

Listening to music has been shown to provide drastic benefits to the brain. From alleviating depression and lowering cortisol, the body’s stress hormone, to enhancing long term memory.

Years of research have found that listening to Mozart in particular boosts brain function. Called ‘the Mozart effect’, scientists from Stanford University have found that there is a molecular reason for why listening to Mozart boosts performance on learning and memory tests. That sounds like a good enough reason to turn on Spotify!

Of course playing music is even better to activate multiple regions of the brain!

  1. Play video games!

 

While video games have been shown to reduce stress and improve decision making skills, it doesn’t develop the brain as well as chess does. So if you like to play video games, make sure you pick some with an educational aspect.

 

  1. Read! Even if it’s just a comic book.

 

There is a myriad of benefits when it comes to reading. From the basics: expanding your knowledge base, relaxation, expanding your vocabulary and strengthening your memory. There are also more surprising benefits: reading engages your brain in active function and studies have shown that spending your spare time reading could improve your chances of not developing Alzheimer’s by 2.5 times. Reading before bed regularly is also an important part of sleep health. A good book will tell your body it’s time to rest (but remember to be careful of the blue light from e-readers if you have trouble sleeping).

To receive the benefits of reading, you don’t have to be reading Lord of the Rings but choose something you enjoy: from Young Adult fiction to comic books, there is plenty of variety on a library shelf!

 

  1. Play chess (of course!)

 

This wouldn’t be a Chesslife blog post without mentioning chess! We often talk about the many benefits of chess, both social and educational. We see improvement in our students’ among other things in their memory and creativity as well as their decision making skills.  Perhaps most rewarding, we see our students’ confidence grow as they make their own decisions and share their games with peers. Our autism friendly classes have been particularly special as we have seen some students grow in truly wonderful ways.

 

 

There are lots of little things we can all be doing to keep our brain active.

For David, he loves to sit down with a comic book after a long day of playing chess and teaching young people to get their brains activated – and keep them that way!

 

How an Adelaide Hills Boy ‘Checkmated’ His Anxiety

by Chess Coach Mathew Drogemuller

Gabriel Cregan was six when he first picked up a chess piece. As a child diagnosed on the autism spectrum, his parents, Joanne and Andrew, had always encouraged him in pursuing activities he loved, like board games.

 

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When they saw a notice at his school for a chess club with Bridgewater-based Company Chesslife, they encouraged him to give it a go. However, because of his anxiety around new situations, Gabriel was hesitant to try it, and only agreed to go when his dad promised to attend the class with him.

 

While he had a school friend in the class, everything else about it was new. Only his dad’s presence kept his anxiety at bay.

 

Despite the challenges, Gabriel took to the game very quickly, and was soon thriving. After starting in Term 4, he’d already completed the first book of Chesslife’s Dutch-origin chess curriculum. His father scoured the local library for books on chess, and Gabriel spent the summer holidays with his nose in them.

 

“He was just spotting things so quickly,” his father Andrew said. “Thriving on the puzzles. You could see he was miles ahead of the kids his own age.”

Gabriel and his dad Andrew
Gabriel and his dad Andrew

Gabriel lives with Autism Spectrum Disorder, formerly known as Aspergers Syndrome, and has co-morbid anxiety. Because of his autism, Gabriel perceives the world in a more intrusive way than people who are lower on the autism spectrum. His brain reacts intensely to even mundane stimuli, so sounds, lights and touch can be distressing.

 

He also has trouble dealing with new situations, and has “real anxiety around changes, [and] is very rigid, and easily annoyed and distracted by things,” according to father Andrew.

 

I talk to Andrew outside the Campbelltown library chess club where Gabriel is now a regular. Gabriel, with his fiery red hair and ‘out-there’ personality, is a particularly recognisable member of the Chesslife class. Andrew describes how even now Gabriel is challenged by his participation in the world’s oldest game.

 

“Last night we were playing in an individual tournament at the Chess Centre. Gabriel was clearly irritated by the music next door, but it’s good for him to adapt and be challenged,” he said.

 

Gabriel with chess coach David proudly showing his winnings in the Chess Centre
Gabriel with chess coach David proudly showing his winnings in the Chess Centre

Gabriel started out playing in the Adelaide Hills school team, then later moved to the Chess Centre in Adelaide. He has now participated in the National Championships twice, finishing in the top 10 in 2014, as well as playing in the Young Masters and the Doeberl Cup at the Australian National University in Canberra.

 

His results are a testament not only to his natural talent, but to his perseverance in the face of challenging and new situations. At his very first National Championship he defeated the top ranked player in his division.

 

Gabriel at the National Junior Championships in Canberra in 2015
Gabriel at the National Junior Championships in Canberra in 2015

 

 

Gabriel’s confidence has improved as a result of his participation in a sport that is increasingly being recognised for its academic and cognitive benefits.

 

Andrew describes the first time he noticed the changes taking place in his son, “It was in a chess club in Hahndorf. David asked Gabriel to talk about one of his games in front of the class.” David, Chesslife’s energetic head coach, is also on the autism spectrum and has particular insight into teaching kids with differing abilities a passion for chess.

 

“Gabriel was excited and engaged. He’d started playing 18 months before that, and going to the Hahndorf club for six months.

 

“It was something I wasn’t expecting, a pleasure to see,”Andrew said.

Gabriel excitingly participating at the Hahndorf chess club
Gabriel excitingly participating at the Hahndorf chess club

 

Andrew has had the chance to see other kids with similar problems to Gabriel benefiting from the hands-on coaching approach taken by Chesslife, including kids who have struggled to make friends, who have been bullied at school and who have struggled academically.

 

“Suddenly [they’re] interacting with other people.” Andrew says. “Just like Gabriel, and the friendships he’s made. David’s brilliant [at helping kids fit in].”

 

bridge-between-two-worlds

 

One of Chesslife’s goals is to provide an inclusive educational service that is not only fun and available to every child, regards of skill or ability, but to cater to the co-morbidities that go along with autism spectrum disorder.

 

autism friendly image

 

Gabriel’s mother Joanne, who works with families living with disabilities to access the National Disability Insurance Scheme, has said that one of the hardest aspects her son has had to overcome is his anxiety.

 

“I have heard many parents say that their child’s anxiety, not the Autism Spectrum Disorder is what impacts most on their day-to-day life.”

 

lifelong-pathways

 

 

The Cregans have been delighted at Gabriel’s skill at the game. In an email to me, Gabriel said, “I picked up chess very quickly compared to the other kids at school [and] most of them were older than me.”

 

For his birthday, his parents arranged an at home chess lesson where Gabriel “focused for an hour and a half, just on chess.”

His mother said, “I loved seeing his eyes light up and just soak up all that he could.”

Gabriel was soon playing in tournaments and while at first he didn’t want to interact with the other children, he now has plenty of connections with other chess players. Gabriel says, “I have made heaps of friends. I like having friends at chess because it means friendship and it feels lovely.”

 

Game analysis during a tournament
Game analysis during a tournament

Making friends is only one of the many benefits chess has brought to Gabriel’s life. Only a few years ago, Gabriel was incapable of presenting at show and tell in front of a class of his fellow students, finding the attention “overwhelming”. According to Joanne, he now does so with ease, and it was presenting his chess games at the Campbelltown club that has helped him gain confidence. Gabriel, like many of Chesslife’s students, had little experience with team sports before becoming involved in chess.

 

According to Gabriel’s counsellor, Mark le Messurier, chess is an “engaging opportunity to build a child’s confidence, relationships [and] develop positive problem solving skills.”

 

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Gabriel now travels over an hour to Campbelltown library to have chess lessons with Chesslife. His mother says, “He gets a lot out of the Campbelltown sessions, it makes for a long evening but it is worth it.”

Gabriel seems to agree; “I find it a great time to learn chess and spend time with my friends.”

Australian Researcher on Why Pokemon Go and Chess Benefit Autistic Youth

What do Pokemon Go, Chess and Autism have in common?

By now, unless you’ve been living under a rock (or a Geodude), you’ve probably heard of the global phenomenon that is Pokemon Go. The creator of Pokemon, Satoshi Tajiri, an autistic man himself, developed the game out of his passion for video games.

pokemon

If you’ve been following our blog, you’ll already know that it’s mental health benefits are now recognised alongside those of playing chess.

At Chesslife we support things that benefits young minds, particularly those with special learning styles such as autism.

By all accounts, Pokemon Go is doing exactly that.

The so-called ‘augmented reality’ game is increasingly being recognised by educators as beneficial to those who live with behavioural disabilities such as ASD.

The reason? It gets them out of the house, it gets them socialising, and it gets them doing things they wouldn’t otherwise have a reason to do.

 

PhD researcher Craig Smith in an interview with ABC described Pokemon Go as an “unheralded” opportunity for children on the autism spectrum to discover new social opportunities.

The visual nature of the game, combined with its ‘active mindset’ makes it the perfect conduit for making friends.

pokemon go

Photo courtesy of ABC: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-22/regional-pokemon-go-players-hard-catch-them-all/7652050

Autism and chess

From a very young age those on the autism spectrum often display a proclivity for games, enjoying an immersion in them at times unreachable by those untouched by the learning disability.

People living with autism often excel at visual, systematic tasks, such as chess and Pokemon Go.

In fact, many well known chess players are acknowledged or are rumoured to be on the autism spectrum. It’s even been speculated that the great Bobby Fischer himself was on the autism spectrum!

Fisher

Our qualified chess coaches are experienced at engaging with special learning styles. We highly recommend chess as a tool for improving the social skills of those with autism, as well as for the academic and cognitive benefits it provides. Chesslife is also part of the Autism Friendly Charter coordinated by Autism SA, you can read more about this HERE.

autism friendly image

Click HERE to find out more about how you or your child can get involved in chess!

Want a Mental Health Boost? Play Games!

It’s well known that playing chess makes you smart, but did you know it also makes you happy?

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After criticisms that the recent Pokemon Go craze has led some keen players into dangerous situations, a lecturer at the University of Melbourne emerged in support of the trend.

pokemon logi

 

His research has shown what our chess coaches have always known: playing games is an excellent way to relax and get your brain working in a positive way. If approached correctly, chess can bring the same mental health rewards.

As these Sydney players have discovered, it’s also a great way to get yourself out of the house and interacting with others.

So what are you waiting for? Get those pieces moving! 

Here’s something to get you started:

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