Comments on: Coaching Research Update: Study Reveals Coaches Can Have Success Coaching Kids to Better Performance

By: sunny

sunny — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:37:55 +0000

I like the article very much.
I’d like to know, do you make some differentiation between the coaching contract you do with grown ups and coaching with teens and children with coaching proficiencies.
What is the place of their parents and what is the contract there?
And last but not least, a question- who is the coach?
Is he/she a certified coach who studied coaching and has an experience in coaching, or is the person like teacher or student that somebody supervises him using some coaching tools.
I think these are very critical questions which influence the boundaries and heart of coaching as profession.
I am thinking a lot about that concept and I personaly believe that we can help children with coaching tools but can not really “coach” children.
Sunny

By: David Jessop

David Jessop — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:06:29 +0000

Fantastic to have ‘confirmed’ what many of us all ready know- that coaching and education go hand in hand. I have coached in schools within the UK for 6 years now and currently run group and individual sessions for cohorts ranging from 13-17 year olds as well as support staff,teachers, management tiers and various departments – the results have been fantastic at many levels including attendance, attainment, achievement, behaviour, progression to further education, well-being and personal development all with measurable results and proves the effectiveness of having two professional disciplines, teaching and coaching, working side by side towards a common aim

By: Renee Meggs

Renee Meggs — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:46:05 +0000

Although the study isn’t generalizable, I do think, as others have said, that it is really interesting. Several years ago I started an in-school mentoring program with a co-worker and saw first hand how powerful a positive role model can be in a child and teen’s life. There are so many possibilities for supporting kids to be successful. Thank you for sharing the research!!

By: Sandi Lindgren

Sandi Lindgren — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:15:50 +0000

I am a high school social worker in an inner city high school in South Minneapolis, MN. When I introduced ‘coaching’ to the students, it took a little while for them to ‘get it’. Coaching teens in high school seems especially productive as they are SO un-used to adults listening to them and asking them what they want. My best coaching with teens comes in 15-30 minute increments – “on the fly” as I like to call it. I will often do some group coaching in a particular class, have a extrovert volunteer to be coached in front on classmates on a particular issue – and then…WOW… they get it! The group coaching is much different from individual. We are in a small enough school where they mostly know each other and maybe are more brave in taking risks? Regardless, last year my ‘informal’ experiment of coaching our high school seniors (for the purposes of increasing our graduation rate) appears a success!
BTW- I am a PhD student at IUPS (International University of Professional Studies) and working towards my degree in Professional Coaching and Human Development. My hope is that my dissertation will be related to ‘best practices’ for coaching teens.
Please contact me if you are a coaching teens (or have), as I would love to include you in the research (it will be an online questionnaire).
Thanks!
Sandi Lindgren

By: Bob Lee

Bob Lee — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:34:01 +0000

Nice work, Natalie. You are taking coaching to new levels!

By: Natalie Loeb

Natalie Loeb — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:40:20 +0000

I knew it! My husband and I started a teen leadership group in our community. It has grown from 40 teens to nearly 400 in the past two years. We are constantly amazed at how much the teens can do when they have a the benefit of coaching. I have been exploring creating a “teen development center” so that more teens from any community can benefit from coaching and this article supports my thought process. I would love to offer this opportunity to communities with teens with lesser advantages than some. Our youth will take us into the future and we have to depend on them. Our contribution, for now, as adults, can be to give them our time and coaching so they can grap the reins with confidence and competence.

By: Dr. Sam Timbrook

Dr. Sam Timbrook — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:46:21 +0000

Wonderful article. This sounds much like the model guidance done in Missouri (USA) schools in elementary – secondary schools known as “Model Guidance”. As a school guidance counselor I would teach (coach) students each week in all classrooms and in small groups on learning about self and others, study skills, career. ect. I now know I was “coaching”.

By: Mark Joyella

Mark Joyella — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:20:42 +0000

Cedric and Sandi,

Great to hear from you. I’d love to know more about your personal experiences working with kids in a coaching environment, and whether there are lessons for coaches of all kinds!

Mark

By: Cedric

Cedric — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 07:24:42 +0000

Excellent !

I love the idea of associating personal development and education – It would be so beneficial to have childern grow up with an understanding of their emotions and personal success blocks – this would create lifelong learners.

Thanks for the great news !

By: Sandi Lindgren

Sandi Lindgren — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:54:48 +0000

OMG-I am SO excited to see this article!!!! I, along with many others who coach kids/teens/young adults KNOW that it works! How absolutely fantastic to see some research proving it!!! I would LOVE to get a copy of the report and will definitely be using it in my dissertation on ‘Coaching Youth’! THANK YOU for sharing this!!!!!
-Sandi Lindgren