Testing the CLU Model
Module 2.1. Intercultural communication under
Project MOVE/ Erasmus + Program – KA 2/
Project № 2015-1-IT01-KA202-004704
On June 21 and 22, 2017, at the National Sports Academy “Vassil Levski” was held a test training of a group of 15 trainees – future coaches on a module developed as part of the project training program, Intercultural Communication. The group of trainees included athletes trained for coaches in several types of sports – Volleyball, Basketball and Athletics. Trainees were aged 17 to 25 years. The group of trainers included project participants with experience in sports and coaching.
The trainees were acquainted with the context of their participation in the training. Irina Radevska presented the MOVE project within the framework of the EU education and training program Erasmus Plus. The main objectives and activities of the project were presented, as well as the objectives of the module, in which the trainees participated. An emphasis was placed on the expected contribution to the project from the participation of the future coaches. The participants presented their experience in sports and coaching, their motivation for inclusion in the training module and their expectations for the training activities.
The key aspects of the topic of Intercultural communication in sport were presented by assoc. prof. Vera Antonova and chief assistant Mariana Boroukova. Prior to the start of the training, the topic was explored, discussed and outlined as a framework by an expert group on the contents of the training and testing activities – Hristo Andonov, Natalia Stoyanova, Grigor Goutev, Vladimir Kotev and Miroslava Kolyandova.
Participants in the training became familiar with the main aspects of sports communication. Typical coaches’ mistakes, good practices, practical cases of communication in coaching – athletes relations and achieved results were presented. The learners showed interest in some specific aspects of communication such as non-verbal communication and communication in the team as a means of effectively integrating new players. Particular attention during the training was given to the communication coach – referee as a demonstration of good communication behavior in front of the athletes and as a means of quality conducting the competition. The theoretical part of the training was conducted in accordance with the project parameters.
On June 22, role games were performed as an integral part of the training of future coaches according to the project framework. The games were presented to the learners in their content, goals, organization, expected results. All participants were divided into “teams” with specific tasks being assigned. To these were identified “coaches” and “assessors” of the coaching methods of communication. The trainees have shown a keen interest in participating in role-playing games, enthusiastically embracing each of the assigned roles, and have done excellently with playing roles. After each of the games, the project team and the participants in the training conducted sessions for commenting and evaluating the impact of the role. All participants, without exception, expressed the view that their participation in the games made them look from a completely new point of view on communication between coaches and thletes in a teams. The participants shared their opinion that during the general discussions they came to an understanding of elements of their own behavior that they did not think about before. After completing the training activities – theory and role-playing games, the participants were given questionnaires to determine the degree of interest and the level of satisfaction with the training. All participants announced a high level of satisfaction (see the annex to this report).
At the end of the activity, several interviews were held with participants’ representatives to gather opinions and express their attitude towards the program contents. The interviews were conducted in English for the purposes of the project and contained issues to ensure comparability of opinions. All the interviewed participants expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the training. All of them said without hesitation that trainers’ training programs must necessarily contain a module for improving communication skills as well as a certainty that learning results acquired through the current training will be beneficial in their future work as coaches. The interviewed participants said they were interested in the entire program and would expect the full results of the program to be presented after the end of the project.
