Coaching Observation Activity
Category: Sport Skills · 2-page printable PDF · Ages 7-8, 9-10 · Free for ConnectedPE members
An observation framework for analysing a coach in action across four dimensions: communication, feedback, organisation and athlete engagement. Students watch a real session — a school coach, a community club, or filmed footage — record structured observations against the criteria, and write a brief evaluative summary of what made the coaching effective or not.
Structured observation is the skill being taught: watching with categories transforms "the coach was good" into "the coach delivered specific feedback within seconds and kept transitions under a minute." Students build a vocabulary for coaching quality they can then apply to their own peer-coaching and leadership.
Two pages, Years 7–10. Use it within a coaching or leadership unit alongside its siblings — Coaching Styles Role Play, Practical Coaching Activity and Profile a Coach — as the observation layer of a complete coaching-education sequence: watch it, name it, try it, reflect on it.
What students learn
Students observe a coach in action, record structured observations across communication, feedback, organisation, and engagement, and evaluate coaching effectiveness.
Topics: Coaching, Observation, Analysis, Feedback, Critical Thinking
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