# CPD for Coaches: How to Document Your Development

If you hold a coaching qualification in almost any sport, you have encountered CPD requirements. Continuing Professional Development. The expectation that you are not just coaching but actively developing as a coach, and that you can prove it.

In principle, most coaches agree with CPD. Of course you should keep learning. Of course you should develop. Nobody gets into coaching thinking they have nothing left to learn.

In practice, the documentation is where it falls apart. The evidence gathering. The portfolio building. The forms. The summaries. The scramble before your licence renewal to pull together something that demonstrates you have been developing, when the honest truth is you have been so busy coaching that you have not had time to document anything.

I have been through this cycle myself, and I have spoken to hundreds of coaches who share the same frustration. The development is happening. The documentation is not.

This article is about closing that gap. Not by adding more work to your schedule, but by using something you should already be doing, reflecting on your coaching, to generate your CPD evidence automatically.

Key Takeaways

CPD documentation requirements exist across most sports governing bodies and are increasingly tied to licence renewal
The core of what CPD systems want is evidence that you are thinking about your coaching and actively trying to improve
Structured post-session reflection naturally generates exactly this evidence
Different CPD systems (hours-based, points-based, portfolio, competency) can all be satisfied through consistent reflection
Building reflection into your routine eliminates the annual CPD documentation scramble

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What CPD Actually Requires

Before solving the documentation problem, it is worth understanding what CPD systems are actually asking for. Strip away the specific forms and frameworks of your sport's governing body, and most CPD requirements come down to four things.

Evidence of learning. You have learned something new. This could be from a course, a book, a podcast, a conversation with a mentor, or your own experience. The source matters less than the fact that learning happened.

Reflection on practice. You have thought about your coaching, identified what works and what does not, and made deliberate adjustments. This is the heart of CPD. It is not about accumulating knowledge but about applying it and evaluating the results.

Development goals. You know where you want to improve and you have a plan, even a rough one, for how to get there. CPD systems want to see forward momentum, not just backward-looking documentation.

Evidence of time and engagement. You have invested time in your development. Dates, durations, and descriptions that show coaching development is an ongoing commitment, not a last-minute box-ticking exercise.

That is it. Most CPD systems, regardless of sport or country, are variations on these four elements. The specific format varies, but the substance is consistent.

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Why Coaches Struggle With CPD Documentation

The problem is rarely a lack of development. Most coaches are developing all the time. They try new session designs, adjust their communication, learn from matches, observe other coaches, and think constantly about how to improve.

The problem is that none of this gets written down.

Time pressure. After training, there is kit to pack, players to speak with, parents to update. Nobody is sitting in the car park thinking about CPD documentation.

Documentation feels separate from coaching. It feels like admin, not coaching. A bureaucratic requirement imposed from above, disconnected from the actual work of helping players improve.

The annual scramble. Because documentation happens sporadically (or not at all), licence renewal becomes a frantic exercise in trying to remember twelve months of development activity. Details are lost. Evidence is thin. The portfolio feels manufactured rather than genuine.

Uncertainty about what counts. Many coaches are not sure what qualifies as CPD. Does watching a coaching video on YouTube count? Does a conversation with another coach count? Does trying a new session design count? The ambiguity leads to paralysis.

Perfectionism. Some coaches feel their CPD evidence needs to be polished and impressive. So they put it off until they have time to do it properly. That time never comes.

The result is a gap between development (which is happening) and documentation (which is not). CPD becomes a source of stress rather than a support for growth.

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Why Reflection Is the Answer

Think about what a structured post-session reflection contains:

The date and type of session (training, match, tournament)
What you planned and what actually happened
What worked well and why
What did not work and what you learned from it
Specific observations about players and coaching moments
What you will change, try, or focus on next time

Now compare that to what CPD documentation requires:

Evidence of learning (what worked, what did not, what you discovered)
Reflection on practice (what happened and what you make of it)
Development goals (what you will focus on next)
Evidence of time and engagement (dates, session details)

The overlap is almost complete. A well-written post-session reflection is CPD evidence. A season of reflections is a CPD portfolio. You are not doing two separate activities. You are doing one activity that serves both purposes.

This is the shift that transforms CPD from a burden into a by-product. You reflect because it makes you a better coach. The documentation happens as a consequence.

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How to Turn Reflections Into CPD Documentation

Capture consistently

The most important thing is not the quality of any individual reflection but the consistency of the habit. A brief reflection after every session is more valuable for CPD than a detailed analysis once a month.

Aim for five to ten minutes after each session. Answer a few structured questions. Write in your natural voice. Do not try to make it sound formal or impressive. Honest, specific observations are exactly what CPD reviewers want to see.

Flag development moments

When something in your session connects to your development, note it explicitly. You do not need a separate log.

"Tried the constraint-led approach from the coaching course last weekend. The shooting drill worked well with the added defender, but the build-up play activity was too complex. Need to simplify next time."

That single entry is evidence of learning (the course), application (trying the approach), reflection (evaluating the result), and a development goal (simplify for next time). Four CPD elements in three sentences.

Connect learning sources to practice

Whenever you try something you learned from an external source, mention it. "Read an article about questioning technique. Instead of telling players what to do in the tactical session, I asked them what they noticed. Much better engagement. Player G gave an answer I had not considered."

This creates a documented link between your learning and your practice, which is precisely what CPD systems are designed to capture.

Review periodically

Once a month, spend fifteen minutes reviewing your reflections from the past four weeks. Note the themes emerging. Are you developing in the areas you intended? Are there patterns in what works and what does not?

This monthly review is itself a CPD activity. It demonstrates ongoing self-assessment and strategic thinking about your development.

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Meeting Specific CPD Requirements

Different sports and governing bodies use different CPD frameworks. Here is how reflection-based documentation maps to the most common formats.

Hours-based systems

Many governing bodies require a set number of CPD hours per year or per licence cycle. "Complete 20 hours of CPD annually."

Each reflection represents time spent in deliberate developmental activity. A ninety-minute training session followed by ten minutes of structured reflection equals one hundred minutes of development-related engagement. Over a season of forty sessions, that is over sixty-five hours of documented coaching and reflection time.

Add in any courses, workshops, webinars, or self-study you did, and the hours accumulate quickly. The key is having dated evidence, which consistent reflection provides.

Points-based systems

Some systems award points across categories. "Earn 30 points: 10 from formal learning, 10 from practice-based, 10 from self-directed."

Reflections fall naturally into the practice-based and self-directed categories. Formal learning points come from courses and workshops, which you can also reference in your reflections when you apply what you learned.

Tag your reflections by type occasionally. "Applied learning from the goalkeeping webinar" connects practice-based reflection to formal learning, potentially earning points in multiple categories.

Portfolio systems

"Maintain a portfolio demonstrating ongoing professional development."

Your reflections are your portfolio. Export or compile them with a summary that highlights key themes, development areas, and how your coaching has evolved across the period. Add any course certificates, workshop notes, or mentor feedback you have collected.

A portfolio built from genuine, timestamped reflections is more convincing than one assembled retrospectively. Reviewers can see the development happening in real time, not reconstructed after the fact.

Competency-based systems

"Demonstrate development across specified competency areas: session design, athlete welfare, communication, tactical knowledge, etc."

Review your reflections for evidence of each competency. Pull out specific entries where you demonstrated or developed in each area.

"Redesigned the warm-up to include decision-making under fatigue. Much better engagement than the traditional format." That is session design competency.

"Noticed Player H seemed withdrawn. Spoke to them after training. Home situation is difficult at the moment. Agreed to check in weekly." That is athlete welfare competency.

Your reflections naturally touch on multiple competency areas because coaching itself involves all of them. The evidence is there. You just need to categorise it.

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Common CPD Mistakes and How Reflection Avoids Them

Listing attendance without demonstrating learning

"Attended the Level 2 coaching award." This tells a CPD reviewer that you were physically present at a course. It tells them nothing about what you learned, what you applied, or how it changed your coaching.

Reflection fixes this naturally. When you try something from a course and reflect on how it went, you automatically document the learning application, not just the attendance.

Being too vague

"Improved my communication skills this season." This is a claim without evidence. There is nothing a reviewer can assess.

Reflections generate specific evidence: "Shortened my instructions to under twenty seconds today. Noticeable difference in player attention. The session flowed much better than last week when I over-explained the pressing trigger."

Specificity comes naturally from reflecting on real sessions because you are writing about something that just happened, not trying to summarise months of vague development.

No forward focus

CPD documentation that only looks backward misses a key requirement. Governing bodies want to see that you are planning your continued development, not just logging what already happened.

Post-session reflections naturally include forward-looking elements. "Next time I will..." and "I need to work on..." are standard parts of honest reflection. Every reflection that identifies a next step or a development area is evidence of forward planning.

The annual scramble

Trying to reconstruct a year of development in a single sitting is the most common CPD mistake. Details are lost. Evidence is thin. The portfolio feels rushed and unconvincing.

Consistent reflection eliminates this entirely. When your CPD documentation deadline arrives, you do not need to remember anything. You need to compile and summarise what you have already captured throughout the year.

Treating CPD as separate from coaching

The biggest mistake of all. When CPD feels like a separate administrative task, it becomes a chore you resent and avoid.

Reflection-based CPD is not separate from your coaching. It is part of your coaching. The reflection serves your development first. The documentation is a by-product.

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Building CPD Into Your Routine

The best CPD system is one you actually follow. Here is a sustainable rhythm.

After every session (5-10 minutes): Reflect on what happened. Write down your key observations, what worked, what did not, and what you will focus on next. This is your primary CPD activity and it costs you less time than checking social media on the way home.

Monthly (15-20 minutes): Review your reflections from the past month. Note the themes. Are you making progress on your development priorities? Are new areas emerging that need attention? Write a brief monthly summary.

Quarterly (30 minutes): Check your reflections against any specific CPD requirements you need to meet. Identify gaps. Are there competency areas you have not touched? Are there types of CPD activity (formal learning, peer observation) that you need to add?

Annually (1-2 hours): Compile your full CPD portfolio. Review your development across the year. Write a summary that connects your reflections to your development goals. Set goals for the coming year. Submit to your governing body or keep on file.

This rhythm turns CPD from an annual panic into a background process. Each step is short. The workload is distributed. And the quality of your evidence is incomparably better than anything produced in a last-minute scramble.

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What Counts as CPD (More Than You Think)

If you are unsure whether something counts as CPD, it probably does. Here is a non-exhaustive list:

Post-session reflection (obviously)
Attending coaching courses and workshops
Watching webinars or coaching videos
Reading coaching books, articles, or research
Observing other coaches (in any sport)
Mentoring conversations (giving or receiving)
Peer discussion about coaching approaches
Trying a new session design or coaching method
Analysing match footage
Attending conferences or networking events
Self-directed study on a specific topic

The key is not what you did but what you learned from it and how it influenced your coaching. A thirty-minute podcast that changes how you approach questioning is more valuable CPD than a two-day course where you learned nothing new.

Document the learning, not just the activity. Your reflections are the ideal place to do this.

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Start Now, Not at Renewal Time

The worst time to start thinking about CPD documentation is when your licence is up for renewal. The best time is now.

Begin reflecting after your sessions. Capture your observations, your learning, your adjustments. Build the habit. Let the CPD evidence accumulate naturally.

When renewal time comes, you will not be scrambling. You will be selecting the best evidence from a rich collection of genuine, timestamped development documentation.

Your development is already happening. All you need to do is capture it.

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Coach Reflection makes CPD documentation effortless. Reflect after your sessions, and the app tracks your development themes, learning applications, and coaching growth over time. Export your CPD portfolio when you need it. Try it free at [coachreflection.com](https://coachreflection.com).

CPD for Coaches: How to Document Your Development