Digging the position out of positive

This just may be the most reflective blog I'll ever write. It's about a male university student, aged 20, who has only just discovered the real benefits of self review. 15 odd years of improvement opportunity wasted, and it's left him thinking how much better could he be? He's played numerous sports, both team and individual, and whilst he's often thought about his previous performance, he's only ever truly considered the negative ones, the games or efforts where things just didn't happen for him. When considering this, lets imagine it's a 50-50 split of good games to bad games. Thats a lot of opportunity lost for this poor soul to make himself a little richer. He's only just considering his position surrounding positive performances. 

Whilst he listened to his coaches and absorbed any praise and positive acclamation he had worked his ass off to deserve, he simply left it at that. No further thought, lets just go again next weekend. If this had been a poorly executed game, it would have been harsh consideration for the remainder of the week, with chats and emails to try and find the root of this performance. But, whilst he was happy to simply soak praise and smile after a positive game, he really should have been giving the same depth of thought to a positive one. There is just as much there to learn, just in a slightly more sun drenched light. What did I do right? What was the process of this? Where was I better? How else can I apply this good work? 

The fish that really slapped him with this lightbulb thought occurred on Monday the 26th of March, 2012, at approximately 11:00am. He was driving home after a frustrating skills session, where things weren't going well for him. He thought, ok, what was I doing that made this work for me? And then it twigged. It had been there all along, he'd never just grasped it. A simple trick that made the skill work, consistently and under pressure. Whilst this did occur after a negative training session, it should have happened two weeks ago after a positive game. Two weeks can be the difference between participating in this 20 year olds dream, or missing out due to a singular skill not working week after week. 

He also now realises that this concept can be applied to all of life. Further, he realises some of his similarly aged counterparts may have thought of this long ago, but there isn't much he can do. Apart from try and dig the positives out from it, as this is considered a 'positive' performance.

He also realises that this can also applied to coaching. By planting the seed of this thought in others, it may just grow into a seedling form of revision tree. As it matures, the athlete can coach themselves, just with some further observation from the coach to lay the revision into a more concrete form. Not stone, but at least something malleable and able to be developed. 

The 20 year old was me. The skill was the 'throw in' that the Boundary Umpire must do to restart play in an AFL game. The dream is running throughout the finals series. Here's hoping that this small realisation may be one of the tools in the grey matter named the brain that can lead me to it. 

A pedagogic understands. 

Principal Skinner

Principle Skinner, a character from the TV show named "The Simpsons', is in principle, a principal. Even if it was not in his name, with a reasonable knowledge of the characters of the show, any person would be able to place that he is indeed the principle of the school, Springfield Elementary. There is no distinct need to intimately understand the show to develop this nugget of understanding.

In principle, this can be applied to coaching. Whilst we may not know everything there is to know about the sport, with some knowledge of the key principals, we can apply the principals and become successful coaches. By understanding the roles of certain characters in the soap opera that is sport, we can understand what motivates them, and hence have a glimspe through the window of how to manipulate them. We are coaches, and surely we have a competitive streak, no?

How can this be applied to coaching then? Pick up a Sherrin, the official ball of Australian Rules Football, and quite an ingrained image of the sport itself. On no part of the ball does it say kick me here, or to pass me with your hands you have to punch me with one hand whilst cupping me with the other. But, with a reasonable understanding of the game, this knowledge has been achieved.

Further, the aim of the game is to kick the ball between two big sticks to achieve 6 points, and because AFL was created by such nice blokes even if you miss they'll still give you a singular point if you get it between the smaller sticks. By simply knowing this principle, and with some applied thought, a game plan can be developed Kick to W, leave X open, move through Y and lead to Z. Finish it off with A. Go. It may not be the strongest game plan such as the shifting zone the Geelong Cats played during 2009, but it is none the less a game plan and you, by instructing the team in the details of this, are indeed a coach.

Sure, knowledge of the rules is also essential. but as an umpire myself I have read the AFL rule book many a time. It's not that hard of a read, and in fact would be very useful for many players and coaches to read. It's not very thick, and nor is it entirely theoretical. It's fact. Whilst there may be some meaning to what is being displayed out in front of you, it is largely black and white.

This shows that by simply knowing some simple principles, some rules, and some concepts of the game, you too can become the principal of your school.

A pedagogic understands.

Coachology

The iPhone, to the current generation and many more to come, has become much more a tool for achieving many other things than a simple phone call and SMS. Even the iPhone (and now the iPad with it's latest release) have poked fun at their own abilities with "Siri". Go on, ask Siri "What is the meaning of life". Aside the expected response of "42", the more pressing answer is "Isn't there an app for that?".

Indeed. Considering that the app store has just crossed over 25 billion downloads, one can only imagine how many apps are actually available. And in amongst all the brightness 25 billion downloads, surely there are some the shine brighter than others. Angry Birds is one that immediately springs to mind. Who would have thought that sling-shotting birds at pigs would lead to soft toy, clothing and other real life apparel lines.

The application (excuse the pun) of this to coaching is vast. Where coaches previously required thousands of dollars of software programs to analyse the biomechanical movements, angles and speeds of a certain movement, much of this can be done on a handheld device. By doing this in front of the athlete, feedback is immediate and accurate. Figures are hard to argue. Comparisons of one piece of footage to another can be made, and the changes can be shown immediately.

All of this leads to more accurate coaching, and with proper application this leads to better results. Thanks to a device with a 99 cent app installed on an iThing. Win-win I say.

And the next best thing about this technology how easily it is shared. Upload it to facebook, twitter, thousands of interweb forums and the whole coaching group can benefit. Care must be taken, as athlete care must take priority. The subject may not want to be uploaded to the harsh critics of the internets, and shouldn't be subjected to such.

A pedagogic understands.

Pedagogy. What?

Pedagogy. It's a word not often heard in modern society, seemingly placed behind other words due to their simpler understanding and common acceptance. I must admit that upon reading the words 'Sport Coaching Pedagogy', a certain level of confusion came over me. To discover further, a simple press of F4 on my Mac and a dictionary search will tell you that pedagogy is defined as "the method and practice of teaching, esp. as an academic subject or theoretical concept'. From this, I understand that we are to be taught how to coach. Pretty simple right? Open up a text book and flip to page 1. Go.

Not entirely.

The unit, so far, has been taught entirely through experiencing. This is much different to learning. Keith, our fearless lecturer, has provided an experience that allows the opportunity for a deeper learning and understanding of what is actually being taught. You just have to work a little harder, dig a little deeper to distinguish what is actually being acted out in front of you, and what you can learn from it. It's not laid out in front of you to be digested in text form, it's weaved out in front of you in a game of basketball, and how the coach has brought 30 strangers to be intimate team mates in a matter of minutes.

This has opened my eyes much further in how to coach. It's not simply about instruction, leading, dictating and writing a session. It's about creating an environment to get the best from your athletes, with whatever you have in front of you. It's planning ahead for unforeseen circumstances. It's about developing relationships with them, via any means available. It's about caring for them, even if you've only known them for 2 hours. It is not your distinct job to tell people what to do and how to do it. Sure, this is part of it, the part the people see from the outside. The people from the inside looking out know that there is much more to the art of being a coach. A pedagogic understands.