International Journal of Arts and Sciences 3(8): 143 - 152 (2010)

CD-ROM. ISSN: 1944-6934 © InternationalJournal.org

A Themed Multi-Activity Approach to Coaching Transferable Skills in Sport - Dr. Palmer’s Canoe Poling Clinic – Interactive Teaching and Learning Resource on DVD Clive Palmer, University of Central Lancashire, UK Tim Stott, Liverpool John Moores University, UK

Abstract: Usually coaching videos in sport display the perfect example – what to copy –

performed by an expert (Rock, 2005a, 2005b). The learning process is often not recorded so

is not available to the student to observe; a useful element in the learning process we think.

This resource deliberately incorporates an unusual skill acquisition, that of canoe poling and

develops the skill and coaching expertise of canoe poling through a series of related, mainly

land-based exercises. It also allows for focus upon the coaching of soft skills, for example,

feedback, encouragement, calming and focussing. The DVD aims to provide access to areas

of coaching expertise that are rarely captured for others to learn from. These „soft‟ skills are

often stressed as the important aspects of coaching once hard skills are mastered.

Keywords: Core stability, skill acquisition, themed and transferable skills

Introduction

Preamble

Poling a canoe is a very effective method of navigating rivers in low water conditions

allowing exploration without the need for time-consuming shuttles. The idea is to simply pole

upstream as far as you wish to go and then pole back to your car; simple on the practicalities.

Those who have encountered canoe poling will also testify that it‟s a pretty considerable

work-out mentally and physically. However, with practice the rewards are immense. As

confidence develops the poler tackles more difficult manoeuvres or ascends steeper rapids. It

was the sense of physical challenge and awareness of the core skills supporting the action of

poling that interested me to develop a project to support our teaching in the UK. In the USA

the sport of canoe poling is very well established (Beletz, Beletz, and Beletz, 1974; Beletz,

Beletz and Beletz, 2003; Conover, 1991) compared to UK where it is simply another skill

which appears on the syllabus of the Governing Body Award scheme in canoeing.

The DVD as a teaching resource

The DVD is divided into eight sections; most are more than five but under ten minutes long

and so may lend themselves well for use in the lecture/workshop setting. The intention

behind this short-clip structure was that it was felt to be more convenient and user friendly for

use in the classroom to supplement teaching, in whatever way the teacher may choose. As

this resource is directed towards teaching in sport we felt that having footage of competitive

canoe poling was important. That is, canoe poling is not just a convenient novelty to get our

point across, it is a serious sport on the national competition calendar in the USA.

Consequently the DVD includes clips of the authors who competed as the first ever British

entrants in the US National Canoe Poling Championships, 2008, at Times Beach on the

Meramec River in Missouri. A clip of the competition shows world Canoe Poling Champions

Chip Cochrane and Harry Rock in action (Palmer and Stott, 2008).

A pedagogical challenge confronted in this resource is how might we teach others to become

innovative with their stock of knowledge and experience in sport, whatever that sport might

be. The focus is to copy the idea of multi-skills training which is visibly demonstrated to the

viewer. Then to consider the transferable core skills (for example, balance, core stability, co-

ordination etc.) that could be devised in their own sporting context, such as, football or

badminton: attack / defence / passing / goal keeping. The viewer having considered what the

core skills of their sport might be, is then encouraged to devise their own coaching plan to

develop them.

In compiling this resource we have deliberately not overlaid a commentary to explain or

justify our actions in a given activity which might restrict how the footage can be usefully

interpreted in teaching (Stott and Huddart, 2005). Notwithstanding the explanations given

here it is left to the viewer to make these connections However, it is worth listing what we

regard as being transferable skills that may be useful to acquiring skilful movement in sport,

for example:

Balance: dynamic and responsive

Posture: adaptive and strong

Co-ordination

Efficiency of action

Weight bearing and weight transference

Awareness and anticipation

Risk taking and judgement

Physical conditioning and core stability

A sense of fun, a sense of challenge

Learning fine and gross motor control

Admittedly, these “transferable skills” are not the usual suspects of the “3 Ss” (strength,

stamina and suppleness), but collectively they may serve to broaden the scope of what may

be regarded as transferable skills in sport and become worthy of pedagogical attention in our

teaching and coaching (Jeffreys, 2002; Kibler, Press and Sciascia, 2006).

Viewing sequence and coaching explanations

1. Novice Canoe Poling - 1 minute 14 seconds

This clip is filmed on the River Irwell near Manchester, UK, and introduces the viewer to the

art of canoe poling as experienced by novices who are trying this activity for the first time

under the guidance of their bank based coach. The errors made may betypical of those new to

any complex skill in sport. The clip demonstrates how much is „going on‟ for the performer.

There are masses of sensory information to take in with the added threat of getting wet.

Almost to the point of sensory overload the performer is struggling to stay in control of his

boat. The boat is moving, the water is moving, there are shouts of instruction and

encouragement from the bank. Keeping balance, trimming of the boat (the position the keel

line in relation to the water – affected by the weight of the person and/or their kit) reading the

water and keeping contact with the river bed with the pole are a selection of the concerns

occurring simultaneously for the performer. One of the teaching points for this clip is to point

out the high degree to which the skills are broken down throughout the DVD. Until clip 8,

which is the National Championships in the USA, clip 1 is the only footage of canoe poling

which may indicate the extent to which the coaching process has been analysed and broken

down into micro-coaching sessions to create a linked and themed resource.

Poler: Andy Spruce, MPower Services

staff training.

Photo Clive Palmer.

2. Pool Poling Exercise - 7 minutes 56 seconds

In this sequence the coach (Clive Palmer) and novice (Tim Stott) take two open canoes into a

swimming pool. Coach and novice undertake a series of balance exercises - the theme for

students is one of „trying things out‟ and „experimenting with balance‟ and getting to „know

your limit‟. Akin to destructive testing we fall in a lot, but a great is learned from developing

a curiosity about our ability to balance in this context. The teaching point here is to encourage

experimentation to find the limits of our balance but a great deal more is actually being

learned by „crawling‟ around our boats in this clip. We are learning how the boats behave in

the water, how they find their balance and respond to our weights within them. We are

learning how the hull works in the water to create stability, that is, how the water reacts

against the hull to create drag and how it can slip through the water to create propulsion, for

example, gunwhale bobbing which is standing up in the boat and forcing the hull into the

water by squatting one‟s body weight - we find this propels us forward.

Clive and Tim, experimenting with balance,

in the swimming pool at I.M. Marsh

Campus, Liverpool John Moores

University.

Photo: David hardy

3. Gymnasium Balance Beams - 4 minutes 40 seconds

Here Clive Palmer and Tim Stott are in a gymnasium using canoe poles to experiment with as

aids/weights to affect balance, walking forwards and backwards along balance beams at

different heights. The aim is to develop familiarity with the canoe pole by holding it in

different positions and angles. This is a relatively short clip to watch but the experimentation

within it seems to capture the attention of the viewer. It is a quiet clip, a feature of the

filming, which seems to permit a degree of contemplation by the viewer. They are waiting for

Tim or Clive to fall off! The progressions here are easily followed. All the exercises are on

narrow beams which get higher over three stages. The first at 30cm, the second at 50cm, the

third at 75cm. Exactly the same tasks are performed at each height but the difficulty seems to

increase because of the height. The difficulty is psychological and concentrates the mind of

the performer. The task is just walking forward (and then backwards) with a pole, a simple

task with obvious inherent challenges. The position of the pole in the hands is altered on the

move and as the performer gets higher their visual reference points alter and they become

aware of having to devise a plan for “what if” they fall off. In terms of micro-coaching it

seems to be a useful strategy to strip away all the distractions of moving water and a moving

boat which appears to have been a problem for the performer in the first clip on the River

Irwell. Also, and not insignificantly in this balance exercise is the fact that this is a slow

walking action allowing the performer to over-emphasize the control they may have in the

task. They can demonstrate a degree of mastery which may lift their confidence to progress

on to more difficult things.

Tim using the pole to bance walking on the

high beam. Morrison Gymnasium,

Liverpool John Moores University.

Photo: Clive Palmer

4. Trampolining for Balance - 9 minutes 45 seconds

While this sequence seemingly has little direct bearing on the skill of canoe poling, i.e. its not

in the water and appears to have little to do with a canoe, we include it because we feel it

captures the learning process better than any of the other sections. The aim is to bounce on

one‟s back on a standard trampoline. Tim Stott, the novice, is filmed having difficulty after a

few minutes of trying. Following some intervention by the trampoline coach, Clive Palmer,

the realisation of what is required to be able to „back-bounce‟, is picked up by the novice and

the new skill is acquired. The „learning process‟ has been captured. The link to canoe poling

is that, like back bouncing, poling is a difficult skill to master at the start and novices pass

through a steep learning curve, as clip one on the River Irwell may demonstrate. This clip on

the trampoline shows the difficulty encountered in trying a new skill but also the success,

which is not so eveident in clip one! In teaching and learning in sport this is a valuable clip.

Rarely is the complete journey through the cognitive phase of learning captured for students

to learn from. As they watch the DVD my experience is that students can see and appreciate

the action being attempted and even point out what Tim needs to do to improve. If a coach

had access to trampolines they might go to experience the learning curve journey themselves.

That is, it is the learning curve sensation and experience through real-time physical challenge

that is important here, not necessarily the aquired skill of back bouncing. The clip also

features some body control exercises with the performer stood up on the trampoline. This in

itself is a progression as the centre of gravity of the performer is about a metre above their

centre of balance; their feet. They are stood up and therefore it is easier for them to fall over

in this complex skill. The actual risks have increased slightly compared to back bouncing

although to the layman this may not be so – it just looks like jumping about, but there is more

to it than that. By jumping and changing position about the quadrants on the trampoline the

performer has to anticipate where they are going by turning their head and looking to strike a

sight line which alters their balance and prepares for the next immediate jump. The arms are

used for balance and for protection should they fall. Clive manages to jump and change

position on every jump whilst Tim demonstrates the skill with an intermediate bounce before

each change of position/direction. Again this is the slower information processing and the

time needed to prepare by the novice in their cognitive learning phase compared to the more

practiced performer. Standing on the trampoline and bouncing on feet is also a step closer to

the poling senstation in a boat on the water in that there is a lot of kinesthetic feedback

received through the feet, the poler‟s only point of contact with his craft. Feedback through

the feet is telling the brain about what the boat is doing and how he might correct and direct

the hull. On the trampoline and in the boat these messages and decisions are being exchanged

through the feet many times a second, so this real-time simulation may be deemed to be good

practice.

Using the skill of back bouncing to demonstrate passing through the learning phases of a

complex action. Morrison Gymnasium, Liverpool John Moores University.

Photos: Clive Palmer

5. Land Boarding - 8 minutes 9 seconds

In this sequence Clive Palmer and Tim Stott visit Hales Superbole in UK, which is land

boarding centre in Cheshire but we use canoe poles to propel themselves up, down and across

the slopes. Gravity is the usual means of energy for this sport which is essentially

skateboarding on grass down a hill. However, it seemed to us that the dynamics of weight

transferance at a realistic speed for canoe poling are experiemented with in this clip. This

activity required anticipation of actions to control the board, preparation and practice with

balance to propel ourselves or block (snub) to slow down (going downhill) and to turn. Poling

uphill had similar pressure charachertistics to poling in a canoe, but without the water rushing

under the hull of the boat which is an added distraction for the novice learning poling. As a

progression in coaching strategy the removal of a major distracting feature may be useful to

master a physical motor-skill first. Then, the unpredictable nature of the distraction can be

introduced progressively (in the case of canoe poling, moving water) - an experiement with

“closed” and “open” skill learning perhaps?

Poler: Clive Palmer ascending the hill on a

landboard. At Hales Superbole, Harthill,

Cheshire, UK. Online: visit

http://www.halesuperbole.co.uk/

Photo: Tim Stott

6. Wobble Boards and Slack Line - 9 minutes 52 seconds

This sequence shows Clive Palmer demonstrating and Tim Stott learning balance skills on a

slack line – a length of material tape (25mm wide) strung horizontally (but not taught)

between two trees – with Tim Stott using a canoe pole to help him learn this new skill. In this

clip the degree of challenge to balance on the slack line is increased compared to standing in

a canoe to polarise the sensation of „movement in balance‟. A temporal equivilent to this may

be that of resistance training where the person trains with heavier weights than they will have

to use in competition. Similarly, moving and balancing on a much smaller more wobbly

object than a canoe may help when the canoeist transfers back to their boat. There are some

interesting coaching ideas which may be seen to emerge from this activity. Firstly is the idea

of giving support. It is very tempting as a coach to hold the person‟s hand, arm or shoulder to

steady them whilst they balance. The „temptation‟ may stem from the general coaching

responsibility that the coach is there to make other‟s more stable. In a sense this is true but

the performer must grasp the coach at the shoulder and not the other way around. The coach

cannot feel another person‟s balance which is an interesting metaphysical discusson beyond

the scope of this paper! Allowing the performer to use a shoulder for support if needed is the

strategy here. The decision for help is theirs, all the coach has to do is make sure their

shoulder is in reach. Developing trust and confidence may be the key to this exercise as it is

seemingly more psychologically demanding than physically demanding, unlike poling up

hill! (Mageau and Vallerand, 2003). Safety considerations are to clear the ground of any

obstacles which might be tripped on or fallen onto. Keep the slack line low and place feet

carefully – it is not an exercise to be rushed. A good tip for beginners is to flex both legs as

they step onto the slack line. Keeping legs flexed, cat-like, will allow them to step off the line

and recover themselves with growing confidence. Coaches beware – this activity can become

addictive!

Clive Palmer guiding Tim Stott on the slack line.

Harthill Forest, Cheshire, UK.

Photo: Clive Palmer

Clive Godfrey balancing and manoevering on the

wobbleboard. Hales Superbole Landboarding

Centre, Harthill Cheshire, UK. Online: visit

http://www.halesuperbole.co.uk/

Photo: Tim Stott

7. Athletics Pole Vault - 10 minutes 24 seconds

At this visit to an athletics track, Clive Palmer and Tim Stott perform some exercises with a

pole vault pole, practicing handling the pole and its interaction with their body. Balance

senstations are experimented with by coordinating the stresses on hands and feet and

transfering body weight principally with the arms. Again the experiments with the pole vault

allowed a greater range of movement experiences than the canoe poler might have in their

sport. Devising a practice which facilitates the performer going beyond their boundaries in

this related manner are worthwhile for increased physical and mental challenge and enhanced

feedback opportunities for the coach. A main coaching point of the pole vaulting/athletic

experience is that the performer will learn how much force the pole can generate against

them. For the canoe poler this will be a valuable experience as it relates to how they position

themselves to apply a force to the pole and what bodily position they might have to be in to

take advantage of that force. Contrary to popular opinion pole vault poles do not flick or

launch the vaulter akin to getting a ride at a fairground perhaps. It is not a „free ride‟ or a

„catapult‟, energy in equates to energy out and if the body management of positions and

weight transferance are not efficient then the energy will be wasted and lost. The footage at

the athletics track draws to a close as a basic vault onto the mats is made. At this point, i.e.

when the feet leave the ground the pole vault action as a linked and themed idea for poling

ceases to be as relevant. This may be a lesson in itself, for the coach to judge when a strategy

for cross-training ceases to be effective towards their aim. The clip of underwater pole

vaulting at the end of this section of footage might also stimulate some exciting coaching

ideas for skill breakdown and supporting the body whilst learning complex actions. The water

is seen to offer several advantages for the performer and coach. The pole vault action is

slowed down, water being more viscious than air, to permit slow motion technique analysis.

The body is also supported by the water through natural buoyancy to experience a range of

actions and positions that might not be possible under muscle power alone (in the air). The

underwater pole vaulting lesson may also be more inclusive allowing a wider range of

performers to have a go at this unusual athletic event. Clearly one safety precaution is to

make sure all participants can swim and are water

confident.

Pole Vaulter: Clive Palmer applying pressure to

the pole (action-reaction) to co-ordinate balance

and pressure through arms and feet. Wavertree

Athletics Stadium, Liverpool.

Photo Tim Stott

8. USA National Champs 2008 - 8 minutes 27 seconds

This sequence of footage shows the culmination of their „training‟ when Clive Palmer and

Tim Stott fly to Missouri to compete in the US National Canoe poling Championships on the

Meramec River in 2008. They compete alongside world canoe poling champions Chip

Cochrane and Harry Rock along with up to 20 other competitors. It was important to us to

have some evidence of competitive canoe poling, not only to be able to show competitors at

the height of their game but also to re-affirm that our coaching ideas in this DVD related to a

formal sport. An exercise in sporting credibility perhaps, this seemed important if we were to

encourage the viewer/coach to use this DVD as a model to develop their own linked and

themed coaching plan of training activities in their own sports. In competitive canoe poling

there are two main disciplines, the wild water racing and slalom. Wild water racing is the

fastest person around a set course propelling their boat upstream, downstream and across the

current. Slalom is to negotiate between 10-15 gates with buoys as markers comprising of

upstream and downstream gates and reverse gates. A feature of the slalom event is that the

poler has to “tie the knot” as the phrase goes. This means when the poler exits a gate he/she

has to cross the path of approach to the gate thereby making a „knot‟. This forces the

performer to make some very tight turns indeed, healing the boat over and using the

resistance of their pole to pry and thrust from the river bed. (To “pry” is to use the pole like a

lever against the side of the boat to alter the boat‟s direction rapidy and sometimes violently –

beware!) Some relevant inside information from this footage is to consider the physiology of

the two American national champions and how they use their energies to negotiate the

courses. Chip is a strong and stocky person with a long history as a competitive downhill

skier whilst Harry Rock is of a more slender build, more suited to cross-country skiing. The

net result seems to be a demonstration of poling with power from Chip which is awsome, and

poling with finess from Harry which is graceful. Both are extremely efficient styles which

have proved to be rewarding for these individuals. The key coaching point here is that Harry

and Chip might only be able to perform the poling skills in their way, it is a style that is

suited to them, it is their style. What works for one may not work for the other and after 20 or

so years of competing against each other Harry and Chip have dominated the sport with

approximately fifteen National titles each, shared over the years. It seems an important

message to coaches viewing the DVD that this point is emphasized, that personal techniques

are just that; personalised and adapted to suit the individual and that standard governing body

ways of performing skills can be tailored to the perfomer‟s advantage. It is up to the coach to

fathom how to do this. It is hoped that viewing this DVD resource might put them on a path

to discovering what that might be for them.

Poler: Chip Cochrane, racing towards first

place in the Wildwater competition - Open

Class at the US National Canoe Poling

Championships, 2008, at Times Beach,

Eureka, Missouri.

Photo: Mena Schmid

Suggestions for using this DVD We consider this DVD to work at many levels in teaching and learning and numerous links

may be made by the viewer to wider coaching concepts in sport. However, here are a few

ideas which may be useful:

Show clips and encourage students to copy the concept of linked themed coaching

practices in their own sport and to experiment with them.

Show clips and copy the exercises for balance and kinesthic development.

Ask students to devise and try out their „new‟ coaching ideas on peers, to actively

experiement and redesign in the light of practice.

How might exercises (in the DVD and/or the ones you develop) be made easier for

novices or adapted for more challenge?

How might the coach recognise novice attempts at a complex skill and perhaps more

importantly, how might the coach talk the novice through to having another go?

When do we give praise, what kind of feedback is useful, when and why?

In focusing upon these core and transferable skills for improved physical action,

where does it leave the “can do proficiency” awards of the National Governing

Bodies of Sport skills specific qualifications?

Are we physically educating the person or „just‟ coaching them in sport?

How might the coach intervene (if at all?) during the cognitive phase of skill learning?

Brainstorm – what are the skills being developed in these clips?

What is interesting about watching people trying to balance? What do we admire?

What do we hope for?

What is the value of watching a novice attempt a new a skill?

Use as a blended learning resource which might lead others to become innovative

with their own stock of knowledge in sport

The idea underpinning this resource is to demonstrate visibly a range of transferable skills

across different activities which complement each other and might therefore be categorised as

„core skills‟ such as balance, co-ordination, stability posture etc. The rationale for using this

resource in teaching is that by using the relatively obscure sport of canoe poling as an

example of combining activities, it is hoped that the student/coach might generate their own

ideas about linking activities in their own sporting context, knowledge and experience. The

„take home‟ message is not, necessarily, to copy me and become a canoe poler but rather to

copy the idea of combining activities to teach the core skills of sporting action.

Conclusion/Summary One possible [unproductive] outcome from this resource may be that it will be shown that

genuinely transferable skills are unfeasible and unattainable to most coaches due to a lack of

specialism in other sports – i.e. transferable skills may be a pipe dream (or illusion) due to the

practical difficulties of doing other sports well enough to gain a benefit towards the main

purpose. This may be the worst kind of tokenism in multi-skills coaching. One possible

[productive] outcome will be that, regardless of the event specialisms, students might follow

the ideas and see the value in the exercises which they design and can justify in terms of their

own practice/experience how they relate to each other. A sense of ownership and personal

investment in a coaching plan may help towards motivation from the coach and the

performer.

As a teaching tool, the focus of the resource is to help students consider how they might

break down complex skills and create coaching experiences for others. What student‟s might

produce in response to this DVD is their own sport related coaching theories which are

grounded in transferable skills and core conditioning for their sport (for example see Prior

and Palmer, 2008; McCombs and Palmer, 2008). This resource may help to teach other‟s to

become innovative with their stock of sporting knowledge. In doing so they might also give

consideration to the ethical issues for coaching in certain ways and the challenges of

presenting innovative teaching methods in sport and in Physical Education; given that the

demands, freedoms and expectations of the two may be very different.

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