What characteristics did you see today that appear to defined teaching or coaching

There are different characteristics between coach and teaching.

The main characteristics when teaching are:

• Communication - this is the most important role as the teacher will need to make sure that the whole group have an understanding of the activity that is going to take place. 
• Variety - when teaching, variety is key, this is because the teacher will need to ensure that the activity is changed regularly to make sure that the group don't lose interest.
• Knowledge - knowledge is also a characteristic that is needed by teachers as they will need to know the types of exercises that would benefit the students. An example of a good session would be smaller team games so that all students are engaged. A poor example would be elimination games as it then means that the students with more expertise in the specific game type will always be active whereas the students that need to see more improvement will spend most of their time outside of the activity because they have been eliminated. Long queues should also be avoided during teaching as there will then be students that are just stood around during the exercise.

The main characteristics when coaching are:

• Knowledge - this is so the coach can make drills that aim specifically at a skill that needs improvement. They also need to be familiar with their coaching group so that the coach can identify weaknesses of each player so that the coach can structure a session around those weaknesses.
• Engagement - due to coaches usually having fewer people in a group, they will need to be able to engage more with each participant, this is so they can create a better coach to student bond which will keep the student much more active and willing.
• Awareness - a coach will need to recognize when an athlete is struggling so they know when to step in and help.