A young coach once asked Dick Bate who is widely regarded as the finest coach educator England has ever produced, how many times he should intervene during a session? Someone had told him the answer was 20. Bate's response is one of the most important things any coach at any level will ever hear about coaching ⤵︎ 1️⃣ Bate's position was clear, there is no number. Not six, not ten, not twenty, not zero. The young coach wanted a target to hit. Bate told him the target does not exist. Coaches who count their interventions are solving the wrong problem. 2️⃣ His advice was to feel the session, watch the players and ask yourself constantly, how much do they actually understand right now? If a player is not making sense of what you are working on, go in and help them. If a player is close and you believe they will get there in the next few minutes, leave them alone. That judgement, when to step in and when to stay out, is what Bate called the art of coaching, and he was direct that you will not learn it on a course or find it in a book. 3️⃣ On questioning, Bate was equally direct. Do not ask questions for the sake of asking them. Know what answer you are guiding the player towards before you open your mouth. When a player gives you a good answer, use one word to go deeper: "and." And what does that do for us? And Why? And what happens next? And how does that affect you? Two or three uses of "and" takes you further inside a player's thinking than a dozen closed questions with nowhere to go. 4️⃣ On self-reflection after a session, Bate recommended asking yourself: • Did it flow? • Did I make the points I wanted to at the right time? • Did I get bogged down or was it smooth? • Did it lead to what I wanted to move on to? • Did I come across as certain, or did I say things I was not sure about? • Did the players interpret what I was working on to their advantage? 5️⃣ On developing this skill over time, Bate's advice was practical. Find a mentor who understands coaching, not just someone with an opinion. Record your sessions and watch yourself back, your body language, your timing, your language. Go and watch great coaches work whenever you can. Go and watch great teams play. Study the techniques of the best players in the world and make sure you understand them, because if you do not understand them you cannot teach them.

Mark Goldbridge is 100% right with this 👏