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BirdBox Learn
My portfolio
Log in with the email address you bought your course with, and your portfolio opens here.
BirdBox Learn
My portfolio
Your course tasks, saved to your account, grouped by course and unit. Come back to them any time, update them as you grow, and download a copy whenever you like.
Self-perception spider diagram
How you see yourself as a coach, next to how a colleague and your athletes see you.
Open →Ten coaching traits — spider diagram
Rate yourself on the ten traits to strive towards as a coach, and optionally ask a colleague and an athlete.
Open →Concern for the athlete or the task?
Where you think you sit as a coach, next to what your answers to the quiz show.
Open →My reactions in coaching
What your members do that annoys, pleases or saddens you — how you react, and how you would rather respond.
Open →Personality test — the four colours
Red, yellow, green or blue? Find your mix, and how to coach people who are different to you.
Open →Video review — non-verbal communication
Review a video of your coaching area by area, make a plan for your weakest one, then film again and compare.
Open →Listening skills test
14 questions on your listening habits (Weinberg & Gould, 2019), with the habits to work on first.
Open →What makes athletes anxious?
What could make you or someone else anxious before and during training — and whether it is in the head or the body.
Open →Four-way coaching model reflective report
Reflect on recent sessions with Hersey and Blanchard's four styles: telling, selling, participating and delegating.
Open →The athletes I coach
Create character names for the different people you coach — their traits, what makes them different, and what they need from you.
Open →My facility values
5–10 key values for your facility and your coaching — what they mean and how they show up in your sessions.
Open →Who I am as a coach
Five minutes on who you are as a coach and what you stand for — so you can explain it to someone else.
Open →Multidimensional Model of Leadership — reflective report
Your end-of-unit reflection: what you learned and how you will use it in your coaching.
Open →My bank of coaching metaphors
Movements, the intended task, and the metaphors that make it click — a bank you keep adding to for your whole coaching career.
Open →My coaching philosophy
Five steps — values, objectives, mission statement, standards and leadership style — built up across the course.
Open →Coaching observation report
Watch 15 minutes of your coaching and rate communication, teamwork, judgement, decision making and observation — with humility and vulnerability in mind.
Open →Coaching observational checklist
Film 5–10 minutes of your coaching, then rate communication, teamwork, judgement, decision making and observation.
Open →Dependent, independent or interdependent?
A 12-question quiz on how your athletes relate to your coaching — and what to change.
Open →Pre-learning reflective report — learning physical skills
Your starting point: how you think people learn physical skills and how you teach them now.
Open →Reflection checkpoint — learning physical skills
What you have learned in this unit, compared with your pre-learning answers, and your plan to apply it.
Open →Imagery exercise
A guided imagery exercise with an audio guide, then rate how vivid each sense was.
Open →Reflection checkpoint — self-confidence, PST & growth mindset
What you have learned in this unit and how you will use it with yourself and your athletes.
Open →My standards audit
Where your members are on their journey, the standards you hold for each stage, and why athletes may be staying at beginner level.
Open →Maximum motor potential calculator
Enter an athlete's lifts to see whether technical mastery or strength is holding back their weightlifting.
Open →Muscle explorer — origins & insertions
Tap a muscle on the body map to see where it starts, where it attaches and what it does — then test yourself.
Open →Reflective practice cycle
Your first deliberate reflection: thinking about practice, planning and doing, then reflecting after you coach.
Open →Significant event reflections
Use any time something stands out in your coaching — six stages from description to action plan (Gibbs, 1988).
Open →← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Methodology
Self-perception spider diagram
A simple way to see where your view of your coaching matches how others experience it — and where it does not.
My qualities and ratings
| Quality | Me | Colleague | Athletes |
|---|
Biggest differences
- Add your qualities and ratings to see where the views differ.
My reflections
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Methodology
Concern for the athlete or the task?
Find out whether your everyday coaching leans towards your athletes or towards getting the task done — and whether that matches what you think.
Step 1 — Where do you think you sit?
Before the quiz: on a scale of 1 to 10, how athlete- or task-centred are you? 1 = highly athlete-focused, 10 = highly task-focused.
Step 2 — The quiz
Answer for your average coaching week — what you really do, not what you think you should do.
My result
Answers that pulled you towards the task
My reflections
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Knowing Yourself
My reactions in coaching
Reactions are fast and often automatic. Behaviours are chosen. This task helps you see which is which in your coaching.
What I want to change
My reflections
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Knowing Yourself
Personality test — the four colours
For each line, pick the one word or phrase that best describes you. Go with your first instinct — there are no right or wrong answers. It takes about 5 minutes.
My colours
Most people are a mix. Your main colour shows how you tend to think and act — especially under pressure — not everything you are.
About my main colour
Coaching the four colours
Every class has all four. The colours that are lowest for you are the athletes you will find hardest to read — plan for them.
My reflections
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Communication
Video review — non-verbal communication
You cannot expect instant changes. This task builds new habits over 2–4 weeks — film, review, practise one thing, then film again.
Video 1 — my starting point
My action plan
Video 2 — after 2–4 weeks
Once you have practised your action plan for 2–4 weeks, film your coaching again and review it here.
Before and after
| Area | Video 1 | Video 2 |
|---|
My reflections
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Communication
Listening skills test
A 14-point personal perception listening skills test (Weinberg & Gould, 2019). For each statement, choose how often it is true of you. Be honest — nobody else sees your answers.
My result
Listening habits to work on
My reflections
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Motivation
What makes athletes anxious?
Spend 10 minutes answering two questions. Think about yourself and about the athletes you coach.
What my answers show
My reflections
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Leadership
Four-way coaching model reflective report
Think about some of your recent coaching sessions. Using the four-way coaching model — Hersey and Blanchard's (1977) four leadership styles — reflect on the style you used, the situation you were in, and whether it was the right fit.
The four styles
Top row: high relationship (supportive). Bottom row: low relationship. The numbers show how often you used each style in the situations below.
Coaching and being coached
For each style, can you think of a time you coached this way — and a time you were coached this way? How did it feel to be on the receiving end?
My reflections
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Multidimensional Model of Sport Leadership
The athletes I coach
Spend 10–15 minutes reflecting on the different people you coach regularly. Give each type a character name, note the traits you have seen, and what makes them different. Aim for 5–10 characters of your own.
What makes my athletes different
How often each factor came up across your characters.
My reflections
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Multidimensional Model of Sport Leadership
My facility values
Spend 10–15 minutes outlining 5–10 key values for your facility, and therefore your coaching practice. If you already have written values, review each one with what you have learned so far.
My values at a glance
My reflections
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Multidimensional Model of Sport Leadership
Who I am as a coach
Spend 5 minutes considering who you are as a coach and the values you hold. Write down the key points that would help you explain to someone else who you are, and what you are about when you coach.
My key points
In one sentence
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course ·
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Transformational Coaching
My bank of coaching metaphors
For each movement, write the intended task — what you want the athlete to do — and a metaphor that helps them feel it. Start with the movements below, then add your own and build a bank for your coaching career.
My reflections
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Transformational Coaching
My coaching philosophy
We have structured building your coaching philosophy into 5 key steps. You may need to think back to topics we have already covered. We will make a start now but not rush to finish — the aim is a complete, personal and solid coaching philosophy by the end of this learning journey.
My coaching philosophy so far
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Transformational Coaching
Coaching observation report
Record the room from 5 minutes before your session begins until 10 minutes in. Watch the 15-minute clip and complete this report, making a clear effort to spot humility and vulnerability.
For each area, rate each aspect from 1 (low) to 10 (high), then note in the comments what led you to that conclusion.
My scores
My reflections
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Standards, Mastery & Maximum Motor Potential
My standards audit
The standard is the minimum acceptable quality — the lowest common denominator, the point at which anything lower becomes unacceptable. It is not the highest target, and it is not Rx. Use this task to reflect on your standards and the current ability of the members in your gym.
1. Where are your members?
Estimate the percentage of your members at each stage of learning, based on their movement quality — not how long they have trained.
2. My standards at each stage
Pick movements you coach often. For each, write the minimum acceptable quality you hold for a beginner, an intermediate and an advanced athlete. Remember: the standard is the execution of the movement, not just the movement Rx.
3. Why might members stay at beginner or intermediate level?
Be honest. Tick any that apply to your gym, and note what you see.
4. One standard I will raise
My reflections
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Standards, Mastery & Maximum Motor Potential
Maximum motor potential calculator
Enter an athlete's best lifts. The calculator compares them with the suggested ratios (Roman, 1986 — give or take 2–3%) to show whether their technical mastery is holding back their strength, or whether their motor potential (strength) now needs to rise.
Leave a lift blank if the athlete has not tested it — the ratios that use it are skipped.
Ratios
What to work on
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Understanding Biomechanics
Muscle explorer
Tap a muscle on the body map, or pick one from the list, to see its origin, its insertion, what it does, and why it matters when you coach. When you are ready, test yourself with the quiz.
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Reflection & Observation
Reflective practice cycle
Your first deliberate reflection using the RP cycle. Be as thorough as you can — this is a skill you will keep developing through the course.
My reflection so far
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Reflection & Observation
Significant event reflections
When something stands out in your coaching — positive or negative — and you feel it is worth investigating, reflect on it here using the six stages of the significant event framework (Rea & Oakley, 2009; Gibbs, 1988). Keeping a record shows who you were, who you are and who you want to become.
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Dependence, Independence & Interdependence
Dependent, independent or interdependent?
Answer for how you really coach most of the time, not how you would like to. The quiz shows whether your coaching tends to create athletes who depend on you, athletes who are left to it alone, or an interdependent relationship: independent athletes who still work closely with you.
My result
What to work on
My reflections
← My portfolio · The Coaches Course · Self-Confidence, Psychological Skills Training & Growth Mindset
Imagery exercise
Sit or lie in a comfortable, relaxed position. Take some deep breaths and close your eyes. Press play and let the audio guide read the exercise to you — or ask someone to read it aloud.
1. The exercise
2. How vivid was it?
Rate each sense from 1 to 10.