Experience Journal: Connor Jay

I represented Canada at the FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup Championships and FIBA U18 Women’s Americas Championship as the Performance Analyst. I had the privilege to travel to Latvia, Belarus, and Mexico with these two teams. My role on staff as the Performance Analyst was to create video assignments with questions that tested each players’ knowledge of the game, prepare scouting reports of opponents, provide video clips of key points from each game, and calculate advanced statistics for the team. Aside from my formal tasks, I also provided my opinion and feedback to the athletes and coaches on various skills and game strategy.

The most rewarding part of the experience was learning about each team member (coach, player, support staff) at a deeper level. We discussed family history, playing career, past school/work year, and personal goals. By doing this, I was able to connect and build trust to ensure a positive experience for the both of us. Throughout my life experience and studies at the U of S, I have learned that having positive relationships with people is the foundation to being able to share knowledge. By having a positive relationship, open communication and honest feedback can be provided.

Since each head coach and assistant coach from the U17 and U18 teams had a background in teaching, I was able to observe how their experiences, along with the theory learned in class, were applied in a competitive and high performance setting. The coaches were consistently conscious of the physical and mental load of information that was being presented in each training session. The coaches worked to find the balance so that the players and team could operate at their optimal level during competition.

During off-court sessions, the coaches would lead with probing questions for the athletes in regards to the opponent’s key players, our strengths and weaknesses, and what alternative actions we could run during a play. These probing questions allowed the athletes to be involved in the process of finding a solution which ultimately led to the answer resonating with them as opposed to the coach telling them the correct answer. Allowing the players/students time to process information and discover answers will be a large aspect of my teaching philosophy.

This experience with Canada Basketball built on the foundation of knowledge that the College of Education established. Working with these two diverse teams gave me an understanding of how to effectively communicate information in multiple scenarios. I will be able to apply this knowledge and gain more as I move into my placement at Marion M. Graham Collegiate in Saskatoon in the fall semester. I look forward to sharing my experiences with my students this year.