LEVEL 2

COACH ACCREDITATION

MENTORING BOOKLET
For use by Coaches in consultation with their Mentors

Coach Name:

Mentor Name:

“Having thoughtful and experienced Mentors in your life is invaluable.

Mentors are people who help you grow by sharing insights, giving honest feedback and challenging your
thoughts & actions. They clearly care for and believe in you. They are genuine because they willingly give up their
precious time to help you become a better version of yourself. They do this regardless of whether you are thriving
or struggling in your life.
I’m so grateful for the mentors who have helped me in my journey. I’m a much wiser and balanced person
because of their influence. I can’t see how it is possible to fulfill your potential without them. They are a constant
source of inspiration and clarity.

In my search for personal and professional improvement mentors continue to play a pivotal role.”
Chris Fagan, Senior Coach, Brisbane Lions, AFL
Mentor Guidelines for the Coach and the Mentor
“Mentoring – developing insight to turn hindsight into foresight!”
Ann Rolfe, Mentoring Works

The Mentoring Philosophy

Mentoring is a gift that is shared. It is a relationship that enables purposeful conversation.
The conversation assists the mentoree to reflect on their own experience, make informed
decisions and act upon the ideas that are generated.
The purpose of mentoring is development. It is about learning not teaching and both
mentors and those mentored grow from the experience.
In mentoring, people develop a synergetic relationship through a conversation that enables
them to set and achieve goals, make decisions and solve problems.
Any person who has the skill to facilitate the mentoring process may be a mentor.
Mentoring is enriching and satisfying for both partners.

The Mentoring Process

The role of the mentor is to build rapport, ask questions, listen and elicit the coach’s own
wisdom. The mentor does not have to be older, wiser or have specialised knowledge in any
field. They need to be skilled in leading a mentoring conversation.
The mentoring conversation invites the coach to reflect on their own experience with a
situation, issue or problem, then gather information from a variety of sources (perhaps
including the mentor), sort through options and decide on a course action, plan and
implement it. Reviewing the results continues the learning cycle.
When mentoring is approached in this way, it is the mentor’s questioning skills that extend
and enhance the coach thinking processes. The coach does not become dependent; they
develop independent critical thinking. The coach is empowered, having come up with his or
her own answers. They also take responsibility for their actions. Having explored possible
consequences of actions, they are less vulnerable.
Mentors can play a wide variety of roles. Some of these include:
• Developing a coach’s knowledge and skills.
• Being a role model.
• Building the confidence of the coach they are working with.
• Being a resource – either sharing their own knowledge or directing coaches to other
sources of information.
• Enabling the coach to review and reflect on their current coaching practice.
• Providing introductions to other people who can help.

Qualities of a good mentor

Effective Mentors possess and demonstrate appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes.
Knowledge may include their understanding of technical coaching matters, understanding
people and what makes them tick, their understanding of the coaching process, their
political awareness etc. Mentoring Skills might include honesty, empathy, planning, goal
setting, time management, people and process management, and the ability to
communicate one to one with individuals.
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Attitudes might relate to the process of mentoring, their philosophy towards coaching,
their attitudes about the club or association they work within, as well as their general
outlook on life.
Some of the key qualities you might look for in potential mentors include:
• An ability to focus on the coaching process, rather than the footballer’s performance.
• A willingness to assist in another person’s (your) growth and development and create a
positive environment for learning.
• Good communication and feedback skills.
• Current technical coaching skills and experience.
• Being trustworthy and able to maintain confidences.
• Being flexible and open to new ideas.
• Having a strong network of contacts.
• Availability to commit to mentoring and being easily accessible.
• Capable of handling conflict.

Tips for the Mentor

• Allow the coach to take responsibility for ‘driving’ the relationship.
• Have reasonable expectations of the person you are mentoring – remember they are
still learning!
• Confidentiality is essential – respect the privacy of your discussions.
• Respect other people’s views of the world and work with them.
• Look for the best in others and offer encouragement.
• Don’t expect to be able to solve all the problems of the coach you are mentoring – be
prepared to refer them to someone else with appropriate expertise.
• Acknowledge the achievements of the coach you are mentoring.
• Avoid the coach becoming dependent on you.
• Display enthusiasm.

Selecting a mentor
Factors to consider when selecting your mentor include:
• Their experience in and knowledge of the sport
• Their understanding of coaching pedagogy (i.e. how to teach people to coach)
• Their ability to communicate with you one-on-one.
• Their willingness to be involved as a mentor – they must be motivated to help you to
improve.
• Their ability to commit sufficient time to the mentoring process – as you will see in the
next section, the commitment for the AFL Level 2 Coach Accreditation is not onerous!

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Level 2 Mentoring Requirements
Whilst mentoring is an ongoing process, for the requirements of the Level 2 Coach
Accreditation, you need to (a) engage a Mentor (could be more than one) and (b)
document four conversations throughout the season as follows:
A. Pre-season when planning – to assist with the development of the Season Coaching Plan
B. In season – after a training session (where the mentor observes the coach) to reflect on
coaching practise (Mentor completes the Observation Training Session Template)
C. In season – after a match (where the mentor observes the coach) to reflect on matchday
coaching (Mentor completes the Observation Matchday Coaching Template)
D. Post season - to review how the season went and key areas to improve and/or develop
for the following season

Remember, your Mentor/s could be another coach, someone your respect around the Club
and/or a friend who has good interpersonal and communication skills. They don’t have to
be a more experienced or a higher accredited coach!

Whilst each conversation will be guided by you as Coach and your identified goals and
Coaching Plan, the following four templates provide some guidelines and reflection
questions for you to complete and submit following your post-season conversation with
your mentor.
The two Mentor Observation Templates mentioned above are available to download from
the CoachAFL Level 2 Portal (together with this booklet). You can then email or print the
templates for your Mentor so that they can complete them during the training and
matchday observation sessions.
The completed booklet and Observation Templates MUST be signed by you and your
Mentor Coach and then uploaded to CoachAFL for sign-off by the State Coaching Manager.

Refer also to Appendix 1: Questions to Guide the Mentor: Coach Reflection Process – before
each mentor observation and reflection session.

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A. Pre-Season Conversation with your mentor – Developing the Season Coaching Plan
NB: Use the Season Plan Template provided at the face to face course component as a reference and seek advice
from your Mentor to assist with its completion before submitting via CoachAFL.

1. List 2-3 coaching strengths that you want to maintain and demonstrate this season?

2. Outline 2-3 areas you would like to further develop in your coaching this season?

3. What measures have been put in place with your Mentor to address and monitor both 1
and 2 above?

4. Looking at your Season Coaching Plan, outline two initiatives that you will commit to
from any of the six Coaching Competencies that are new and will enhance your
coaching?

Signed:
Mentor Coach
Date:

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B. In-Season Conversation with your mentor – after observing a training session

1. Outline the key focus for the session that you asked your Mentor to observe and help
you to reflect on?

2. What went well in achieving your goals and why?

3. What did not go so well in achieving your goals and why?

4. Objective information offered by your mentor coach to assist your reflection and
analysis?

5. What will you now go away and work on and how will you achieve this?

Signed:
Mentor Coach
Date:

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C. In-Season Conversation with your mentor – after observing you coaching on game day

1. Outline the key focus of your coaching that you asked your Mentor to observe and help
you to reflect on?

2. What aspects of your game-day coaching went well & why?

3. What aspects of your game-day coaching did not go so well and why?

4. Objective information offered by your mentor coach to assist your reflection and
analysis?

5. What will you now go away and work on and how will you achieve this?

Signed:
Mentor Coach
Date:

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D. Post-Season Conversation with your mentor – Season in Review

Use your Season Coaching Plan to reflect on how you went according to your key focus
areas and actions for the season.

1. KEEP - What worked well in your coaching this season and you will keep doing?

2. STOP - What didn’t work so well in your coaching and should be stopped?

3. START - What could be included or improved in your coaching practise (training and
game day) to enhance the development and performance of your players?

Signed:
Mentor Coach
Date:

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APPENDIX 1: Questions to Guide the Mentor: Coach Reflection Process

The following prompt questions will provide a useful way of helping you self-analyse and
reflect in general or specific situations.

Please provide a copy to your Mentor/s to guide your discussions.

General prompt questions to aid reflection:

1 What was I trying to achieve?
2 What was the reason I intervened when coaching?
3 How did I feel as it was happening? How did the players feel about the
experience as it was happening? How do I know how they felt?
4 What internal factors influenced my decision (i.e. related to my feelings, style,
personality)? What external factors influenced my decision? What should have
influenced my decision?
5 How could I have dealt better with that situation? What other choices did I have?
What would be the consequences of those choices?
6 How do I feel now about the experience? What have I learnt? How will it affect
my future practice - what will I do differently next time?

Prompt questions related to planning, management and organisation:

1 How and when do I plan my coaching sessions? To what extent do I have clear
goals for my players as well as myself?
2 How smoothly do my sessions run? How often do they begin and end on time?
How quick are the transitions between units? How well do I use standard ways to
do things, so players respond quickly?
3 How do I gain the players’ attention? Does it work? How frequently do I have to
shout or talk over the top of them? Do I wait until they are focused?
4 How disciplined are my players? Who starts warming up as soon as they arrive or
who waits for me? Do I need to discipline my players? When and why? How do I
do it? Do I put them down or do I manage to focus on their behaviour rather than
the person? Was I right to discipline at the time and publicly or should I have
taken the player aside or waited until the end?
5 How well do I delegate some of the organisation? Who is responsible for
equipment? Should it be the players or me?
6 Am I sufficiently aware of safety? How often do I make the necessary checks
before the session (field of play, proximity of groups/players during drills,
equipment, first aid provision, telephone)? How aware am I of overuse injuries?

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 Prompt questions related to communication:
1 What impression do I give? What sort of role model am I? Does it match my
philosophy? What is my style? Am I loud and bossy? Am I gentle but assertive?
Am I too formal or too informal? How well do they respond to me? How
approachable am I? Do I use their names? How much do I know about each
player?
2 What non-verbal communication do I use? Is there too much? How is it helpful or
is it distracting? Does it match my verbal communication?
3 How do I communicate? Do I do a lot of telling? Do I talk more than I listen? If
so, what is the reason? Are my instructions always helpful? When are they
helpful and when less helpful? Do I use questions? Are they open or closed? Do
I wait for an answer? How well do I really listen? Are my instructions clear? How
often do I check the players have understood my instructions and explanations?
4 Do I offer more praise than criticism? When? Under what circumstances? How
often do I give appropriate and informative feedback? How effective was it?

Prompt questions related to teaching:

1 How often and how well do I plan the way I will coach the session (whether a skill
based or game sense approach)? Does it follow a logical pattern? Do I provide the
right amount of information, too much or too little? How often do I limit myself
to one or two coaching points, or am I tempted to tell them everything?
2 How clear and effective are my demonstrations? Are they visible to all? Do I use
players to demonstrate whenever possible? Do I focus their attention? Is it on the
correct things? Was the demonstration appropriate? How effective as it? What
else might I have used?
3 How effective are my practices? When are they ineffective? How do I know? Do I
design them to achieve a specific purpose or do I simply take them from my
repertoire? Do I give players enough time to practise before I intervene? How
effectively and appropriately do my practices challenge every player? How much
do I focus on the most talented and ignore the less able? How do I assess
whether or not each practice has been effective? Do I use decision making drills?
4 Does every player gain sufficient and appropriate feedback to help them
improve? When and why do I give feedback? Do I encourage them to analyse
their own skills and use all the available feedback? How much do they rely on me
to tell them? Does every player gain personalised feedback? Do you always need
to give feedback? How much should I give? How often?
5 How well do I use questioning as a teaching style? How well do I use it to raise
their awareness? How well do I use it challenge their thinking and encourage
them to make decisions and take responsibility? Do I always wait for answers,
listen and then value their response?

NB: Permission & excerpts taken from “Mentoring Demystified”, Ann Rolfe, Mentoring Works
www.mentoring-works.com

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