The Symposium has started and I will do my best to get the presentations (lectures and field sessions posted) on this blogspot. This has been a great experience, especially from the Instructor standpoint. Using a translator is very challenging, especially since it is not simultaneous. You speak, then you have to wait for the translator to speak, this process take time to establish a rhythm as you also need to have some chemistry with the translator. If you say too much, the information gets lost; if you say too little, there are too many pauses. Plus, not all English words or phrases, translate into Chinese word for word. Then you have to consider the cultural differences, in your sessions--it is quite alright for coaches to answer phone calls and having discussions with their neighbors about what you are talking about is a good thing. Respect here is also very important. Thus, drawing out opinion is very challenging...you don't want to put anyone on the spot and they won't do that to you either. As we all get more comfortable, this will improve as the coaches get to know us more...and we get to know them.
After intros this morning, I delivered a presentation on "Trends in World Futbal and Coaching Methodology." Here we looked at some changes in our sport (thanks to our TD back at VYSA for this info), looked at the Role of Guided Discovery in Coaching and the US Soccer Coaching Toolkit. The afternoon had Coach Erwan Le Crom (Richmond Strikers) deliver a field session on Small Sided Activities, here he showed different ways to use 4 goal games and decision making (we will make sure to post later). The last lecture was an Open Panel Player Development session with Dr. Brendan Dwyer (VCU) moderating. I need to personally thank him for putting myself and Erwan on the spot with questions about Playing Up; Coaching Philosophy and Development; How to build a team identity?; Dealing with age group differences. And others... THANKS Dr. DWYER for no softball questions!
Quality dinner after with hosts and looking forward to more tomorrow.
Cheers,
Paul
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