I am Jack Rolfe, Founder of The Coaching Lab, and every day I get to live the dream of supporting teachers and coaches to be skilful and adaptive problem-setters and maximise their interactions. When you travel the world and visit the best coaches from across the globe, you notice two things: content and connection. These two things are in a sports leader’s control, if you care to think about them.
The unfortunate thing about sport is that good coaching and teaching is a postcode lottery. I am hoping we can play a small part in changing that forever with The Coaching Lab MatchPlay Cards.
A few months ago, I had the opportunity to chat with a senior AFL coach, someone who had spent years at the highest level of the game. I asked him a simple question: “What are you trying to get better at?” His answer stuck with me: “Being a better teacher, and playing more games.”
This response resonated deeply, not just because of the simplicity of the answer, but because it highlighted a shift in coaching and teaching – moving from drills and isolated skill work, to learning through the game itself. This philosophy is at the heart of The Coaching Lab’s MatchPlay Cards, a powerful tool for Physical Education teachers and sports coaches who want to engage students, develop understanding, and create a more dynamic learning environment. Packed with team and player challenges, MatchPlay Cards provide a toolkit for teachers to play more games with purpose. To get better at the game, you need to play it.
Starting Lessons with Games
Too often, PE lessons (and training sessions) begin with long-winded explanations, static warm-ups, or drills that have zero connection to the experience or learning theme. What if we flipped tradition and started every lesson with games?
Playing games at the start is the curtain raiser that sets the scenes of the lesson. Use The Coaching Lab MatchPlay Cards instantly and pick out multiple team challenges from the deck to introduce the lesson theme. There are 100+ challenge cards to explore in the MatchPlay Cards series. It’s as easy as: pick them, add them, play them.
Why Start with Games?
Playing Games with Purpose:
Playing games doesn’t mean pupils are learning. You have to be the problem setter and not the problem solver, like tradition says. I reflect on the question: “What is the game asking players?” I watch countless sessions across the world and look for what players are learning and getting better at. By embedding learning objectives directly into the game and not just playing a game because students are asking, teachers shift from telling students what to do, to guiding them to figure it out. You are creating opportunities for students to experiment, adapt, and find solutions independently. This has many benefits, including:
For example, in an AFL lesson, rather than running a separate handballing drill (I think of the A building yard when I hear that word!) where players stand 5 steps apart, you could play out a mini-game where:
Remember, what is the game asking players?
If you’re serious about playing games and developing pupils experience of sport, grab a deck of The Coaching Lab MatchPlay Cards: here.
They’re multi-sport, and made from credit card plastic, because we know the life of a teacher! Want me to deliver a session to your staff? Contact me directly on 0468 934 145 or info@thecoachinglab.org.
The Senior AFL coach I spoke to was right—being a better teacher and playing more games is the future of great coaching and teaching.
That team might even be in with a shout of playing finals in September this year!
With The Coaching Lab MatchPlay Cards, PE teachers have a powerful tool to bring more purposeful play into their lessons, making learning more engaging, inclusive, and effective. By starting with games, playing with purpose, and designing challenges that engage all ability levels, we create an environment where students learn by doing, make decisions under pressure, and most importantly, love playing
sport.
