Learning To Be an “Ecological” Coach: Developing Attuned & Adaptable Coaching Skills Paperback – October 6, 2024

Practical examples. Reminders about a set of priorities and the way of thinking being used. Advice for commun problems you may face. Great tool for Jiu-Jitsu.

Rob Gray is an absolute GIANT in this field.

I “know” these topics well. Or I *thought* I did. I bought this book not intending to learn NEW things myself, but simply to get more/better ideas to help develop coaches, trainers, experts I work with as they grapple with a non-linear approach.Not only did this book exceed my already-high expectations on what I wanted from it, but I DID gain new, useful skills for MY own context design.I strongly suggest starting with his other two books — in order— BEFORE this one. Consider all three as one big book💁‍♀️. But THIS book felt to me like a special reward for putting in the work studying non-linear pedagogy, ecological psychology, CLA, etc. This book is full of not just research findings (which he explains in accessible ways) but valuable, inspiring, practical, useful ideas I was able to start implementing the next day.Even as a long-time listener of the Perception-Action podcast, and relentless reader of textbooks and academic papers on all things Eco D, I leveled up from this third book in unexpected ways.I bought it the moment it was released on Audible so I could listen, and my husband (a golf coach) is also listening with me. Before we were half-way through, he had a breakthrough on designing constraints for two of the most annoyingly persistent problems his client learners had been struggling with. (Hint: the concept of “converging constraints” was a lightbulb for him). Thanks again Rob.

I came at Learning to Be an Ecological Coach from the perspective of an experienced volleyball coach interested in implementation of the concepts of ecological dynamics (ED) and the constraints led approach (CLA), as well as someone very involved in coach education and development. While you don't need to have read Gray's earlier books, having at least a decent grasp of ED and CLA concepts is useful, as this is not a book where they are explained in depth.I think this book does a good job presenting practical ways for coaches to apply ED/CLA in real-world settings, which has been something of a challenge with regards to the prior literature. It's structured to guide coaches through designing practices and shaping learning environments. Gray includes specific examples and exercises that I found especially helpful, showing how to adjust tasks and scenarios to suit different skill levels and learning stages. I used the highlighter A LOT!There are two reasons I'm not giving the book a full 5 stars. First, it needed another round of edits. I came across a lot of typos. Second, Gray's academic background comes through in his language. I'm not suggesting it's a major issue. Just that it requires a bit of work in places.