League level (15)

It’s basketball - but not as you know it. We play to escape this overly  controlled world where everyone seems to get upset at the slightest  inconvenience and the smallest rule break. And play to 'be kind' - to  share a creative dance of connection and flow - to get a result before  the uncontrollable gets out of hand. And We laugh. It’s a different way  to improve, compete, and play in teams that we call Games Coaching.

• 9pm to 10pm 
• It is at Longdean Sports Centre. https://goo.gl/maps/fuLVP231RfcRCvXo6 The entrance is not via Longdean school.  There is a separate entrance  that you can only find by just putting the post code in - HP3 8JH - off  Hill Common. The easiest way is to use “What3Words” and they are ///guard.forks.fries
• 16+ - Mixed - League Level - club and no club players are welcome. 
• The easiest way to pay us using the app which you can get by going to  your phone's app store, search for wix.com app called Spaces. Download.  And then enter this code QTKFDS
• Don't let a lack of money stop you from coming. We have free tickets.  Contact jon.thorne@LifeSkills21.club you don't need to explain - He will  just give you the code.

Any questions contact the help centre

Benefits

• Players compete to encourage each other to progress.
• Players progress by trying different ways - going with the flow - and seeing where it takes everyone.
• Players grow fluid thinking - to avoid being stuck in a way of thinking - that stops them from progressing.

Games Coaching is a progressive way to play sports

We are open to all abilities. From 8 to 80+. Good for those on the  Autistic Spectrum. Good for mental health. No trials. No squads. No  leagues. Pay as you go. Play for the joy of improving. There are 3 things that make Games Coaching progressive...

1. We have moved on from thinking competition is about winning a battle for control and superiority to seeing competition as a process for everyone to push each other to progress. Those who progress the most in a game - win the game. Winning follows progress.
2. We have moved on from thinking progress is making fewer mistakes to seeing progress as a movement away from where we are now.
3. We have moved on from thinking coachable players are those who follow instructions to encouraging everyone to try different ways - go with the flow - and seeing where it takes us all.

Our progressive thinking means Games Coaching provides a different  way to improve, a different way to compete, in a different type of  team.

A different way to improve

Games Coaching is a different way to improve - because it's about  getting a result in the uncontrollable parts of a game - and not about  improving the ability to control the controllable - which is commonly  done by many sports coaches.

• The important parts of life happen in the uncontrollable.
• Competitive games are won by how we deal with the uncontrollable parts of the game.

This  is why it's a good idea to play games with a Games Coach and  learn to  be less anxious when we can't control what is happening and  relax into  agile, fluid, creative, joyful, entertaining, flowing  thinkers and  movers who find different ways to get different results -  before the  uncontrollable gets out of hand.

A different way to compete

Competition  is not victory. it's a way to progress. A journey of  progress always comes before winning. We don't set our minds on the  outcome of winning because it triggers both FEAR and HOPE in most of us.  FEAR we will fail and HOPE we will win. FEAR stops us try different  ways and HOPE makes us give up when we don't get what we want. We become  motionless - both fearing and hoping for change. We want to avoid this.  We play games to create a journey of improvement - a sense of moving  away from where we are now. A feeling of flow. It's left foot, right  foot, lift ourselves out of the details - see the bigger picture - see  space between obstacles - and left foot, right foot, through that space.  Breathe and repeat.

A different type of team

Games Coaching creates fluid thinking teams that ripple. As the first  player moves, the next player takes into account what the first player  did and moves, the 3rd player does the same, and so on through the team  in a constantly flowing rippling of movement that opens and closes space  to flow through. It is beautiful to watch. Even when we stumble, fall,  backtrack and all the evidence tells us we are failing - we are always  moving forward. Teams that are set up to control the controllable move  at the same time - as planned - everyone expecting each other to be in a  certain place at a certain time. It’s more attritional than beautiful.  These rigid teams win when they have enough athletic dominance to  control a game and lose if they don't. Often boring to watch.

How Games Coaching works

Games Coaches generate a dynamic set of obstacles that impact what  players want to do. Players are stopped from trying to control the  obstacles - and helped to lift themselves out of the detail - to see the  wider context - the bigger picture of what is going on around them. To  see how the obstacles relate to each other. To flow through the space  between obstacles to discover different ways to get different results  when nobody knows what is going happen - before the uncontrollable gets  out of hand.

The one guiding principle - be kind

The principle of 'being kind' lowers any anxiety we have about not  being in control of what is happening which makes it easier to relax  into being agile, fluid, creative, joyful, entertaining, flowing  thinkers and movers able to get a result in the uncontrollable before  the uncontrollable gets out of hand.

There are 3 ways many of us try to control others, which Games Coaching stops.

1. We use superior knowledge of the details to make others do as we say.

2. We control who is seen to be the weakest by deflecting blame onto others.

3. We use the fact we are bigger, stronger, and faster to make others do what we want them to do.

Only those who always seek to control are excluded. We are diverse, not inclusive.

What the players say

"They are fun. They are stress free. Jon - has a way of teaching  that I don't feel I am are being told what to do. I am encouraged to  make my own choices and then supported with the decisions I make. There  is no wrong decision. Only learning opportunities. Jon always finds a  way to make feedback constructive and positive to help me make my own  evaluations about my performance and how I can improve. He is supportive  while pushing you to always be better and reach maximum potential".

Any questions contact the help centre