ACE Model for Coaching Children
One of the most common questions asked at coaching courses is:
How do we cater to kids of different abilities?
How do we make it tougher for the good players and make it easier for the weaker players at the same time?
Hopefully, this will help…
Assist the 20% who struggle with the activity
Challenge the 20% who are more advanced
Engage the 60% in the middle with a meaningful activity..
Assist:
Don’t ignore the 20% who struggle.
Provide a helping hand or a modification that makes the activity more accessible.
A child’s success isn’t measured by how they compare to others. It’s how far they’ve progressed based on their own abilities.
Challenge:
The 20% who are more advanced need to be engaged.
Challenge them in a way that keeps them interested.
Boredom is the enemy of progress.
Allow the advanced kids to solve more difficult problems or explore their creativity with the activity.
Engage:
The 60% in the middle want to be involved.
Provide meaningful instructions and feedback to help them progress.
Involvement and feeling satisfied with the activity is the key to keeping them engaged.
An ACE Coach:
• Treats every child as an individual
• Provides feedback and support
• Encourages experimentation
• Remains adaptable to each child’s varying abilities
With the ACE Coaching Model, you can inspire children of all abilities to take part, learn, and have fun.
Who is it for?
All coaches working with children’s sports teams at a non elite level, primarily the 5-11 age group. It is for coaches who are in the developmental stage of introducing new skills & tasks to a group or a team.
How do we use it?
We use it as a method of designing and selecting activities for skill development in the training session. Coaches are encouraged and empowered through the ACE Model to ensure each player, in every training session is getting the adequate attention. The focus is not solely going to the strongest (20%) or weakest (20%) players, but also catering for everybody in between (60%).
When to use it?
Every single training session with children between approx 5 and 11. As you know, we are advocates of Games Based Coaching but a lot of the time, we play the games but don’t coach.
Coaching within games is hugely important for all the players.
Let’s use this simple game of No Man’s Land in Football with a bunch of 8 year olds as an example.
Assist: The weakest players in the group need your help. For some, it might be simple coaching cues, other more instruction.
So, let’s say a weaker child is struggling to kick the ball from their hands. A quick 20 seconds of your time to ASSIST them might fix some common errors.
Challenge: Just kicking the ball aimlessly might be too “boring” for the advanced child. So maybe challenge them to:
▶️Kick from further back in the area
▶️Kick with non dominant foot
▶️Get 10 clean catches
▶️Kick with a hook kick motion
Etc etc
Engage:The majority of players are engaged in the activity & the skills being challenged. If these players are struggling to execute the skills, then the activity is too advanced. Similarly,if they can all do it comfortably, the activity needs to be advanced to the next level
If you would like to know more about the ACE coaching model, then get in touch.
Gaamecoaching.com 