Sports Coaching Pedagogy 2013 - a short reflection

Finally (and unfortunately) at the end of this strange, interesting and very satisfying unit!
I admit at the start of the year i didn't know what was going on, blogging as an assignment, slideshare, these are just a few of the things i was sceptical about, i thought they were very vague and this bothered me, because i usually like to know exactly what i need to do.
However, as the semester progressed i found once you really gave a lot of these aspects a go, they were more interesting and fulfilling then your general mid semester exam, essay kind of assessments, i think i have learnt more things that i can apply in a practical setting in this unit then the vast majority of the courses i have completed so far.

I particularly enjoyed blogging (when i remembered to do it, and could think of a good topic!) and the video and slideshare assignments, they were uncomfortable to do at first but after finally applying myself i feel like i have got a lot back from it and lectures, two that come to mind are on mentoring and sharing information.

i just want to say thanks for the semester to Keith Lyons, your help has been really appreciated.

Thanks for reading,

Sam

The mentors of sport in Australia

Reflecting back to our week 12 topic of mentors, i have been thinking lately about the quality of mentors in our sport today, who have the kids of this generation got to look up too?

I mean there are certainly role models in australian sport today, but compared to the role models of yesterday they seem few are far between.

My opinion is that if your getting paid a huge sum of money to play professionally in a sport you've dedicated much of your life to, the thought of binge drinking in public, using illicit substances etc. should not even pop into your mind, it's pure stupidity to throw your career away for a couple of hours of indulgence, the gain is so little when you compare what you potentially loose, this is why i believe the australian athletes have on the whole have become selfish, they want everything, money, fame, publicity and at the same time privacy, freedom, no responsibility; it can never work this way, when one aspect of your life gets bigger, all other aspects are affected in some way and with the addition of todays booming social media industry there is so much more chance of getting caught.

Athletes like todd carney, josh duggan, quade cooper, kurtley beale (sorry for all the rugby ones) have all had incidents such as alcohol, fighting even stealing in the last few years, but sure enough after the intial hype wears off they usually slip right back in, like it never happened, another example is the australian swimming team recently, found to be taking stillnox a recently banned substance by the Australian Olympic Commitee and causing a ruckus as part of a team bonding session, you would think they had more brains, throwing away your reputation for some stillnox, come on really? 

Anyway the thats my rant for today over, thanks for reading

QR codes, we have just skimmed the surface..

Hello all, i came across an interesting article after remembering something keith said a few weeks ago in the lecture about the possibilities of QR codes in sport...

I was not overly-familiar with the technology nor have i ever used it myself although i do understand the concept, but this article really put the potential of this technology into perspective for me.
Sporting organisations like the NBA are already using QR codes with amazing successes, the article goes on to state that  "During the All-Star game last season, QR codes were put on screens all around the arena. When someone scanned the code, a coupon was sent to his or her phone for a free gift from the team shop. Over 10% of attendees scanned the code and the supply of free gifts was exhausted"
now 10% may not seem like an overwhelmingly successful figure but we are talking about a stadium full of 100,000 people who are actively using this technology to connect with the sporting brand, the potential for QR codes goes way further than just advertising, universities, schools, sporting clubs could use QR technology to easily share important information to those who seek it.

Please have a read of this article if your curious

http://www.sporttechie.com/2012/11/27/qr-codes-5-reasons-why-sports-brands-should-use-them/

Thanks for reading 
Sam

Image retrieved from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rybolov/4272243153/