Monday, 29. October 2007, 18:05:35
One thing that was reinforced while helping coach Caleb's football team was that most really great coaches really emphasize about 5-6 things. Those things are the important, non-negotiables that players need to know/master to excel. For the Saints football defensive team, we emphasized the following:
[*] Be safe, have fun, learn about football
[*] If you hit really hard, it makes the game easier, hurt less & more fun.
[*] Tackling: Get you're head in front/across the ball carrier & hit, wrap, drive & roll
[*] Contain, contain, contain . . . and push everything inside
[*] Hit, get rid of the blocker, find the ball & tackle...aggressively
There was other stuff, but these were the things I either heard or said most often.
When I watched Caleb's baseball team this past summer, I noticed that his coach, Todd, did a great job of distilling all that could be taught about baseball down to what needed to be taught about baseball. Every time a kid was up to bat, he said the same thing: "<kid's name>, when the ball is right in front of you, hit it. If it's not, don't hit it." After the player would swing at a pitch that was over his head, Coach Todd would say it again. Eventually, most of the kids got it.
As I thought about the coaches I was privileged to be under when I was an athlete, the same thing held true.
[*] Coach Eckman: Know your job & do it well. Be a student of the sport, be prepared for everything & focus.
[*] Coach Ellison: Be tough, hit hard, remember how hard you worked & rise to the occasion.
[*] Coaches Carson & Schomig: If what you're doing isn't working, do something else that does work.
[*] Coach Rex: Play with your heart every play -- size & ability help, but playing with heart is what really makes the difference. Work, sweat, lift & play harder. Love God & His Word, be a man of humble character & follow Christ, serving others all along the way.
[*] Coach Bishop: Generally speaking, we all know what is right. Do right.
[*] Coach Swider: Stay tough, get it done...in season & out of season.
[*] Coach Church: Balance athletics with ministry. There's a larger picture to life than just running track or athletics.
Each of these coaches taught much more than these, but these were the things that were indelibly marked out by them for their athletes. On a daily basis during their athletic season, each of these coaches emphasized fundamental aspects of their sport. Develop speed, explosive strength & endurance. Technique matters and will help athletes excel. Practice has a purpose: to prepare athletes for the games and the scenarios that can happen.
I once saw a documentary on brain activity during athletics. They studied the brain activity of world-class archers. When the archers were aiming their shots, their eyes flicked around to three or four points on the target and their brain activity was quite low -- only two or three areas of their brains had a little bit of activity going. The rest of the brain showed as "dark" in their monitoring software. However, when they did the same study on novice archers, it was quite different. The novice's eyes flicked around to 10-20 different points almost constantly. Their brains were on fire with activity according to the monitor. Multiple, large regions of their brains were on overdrive.
What I came away with from watching this documentary is that the difference between "better athletes" versus "other athletes" was that the experienced ones know what to focus on and what to ignore. Similarly, while in every sport there's a huge amount of stimuli flooding a player at any given time, the best athletes, know what is important to focus on (i.e. in football, the movement of the ball at the snap, the first step of the offensive line or center mass/stomach of the ball carrier, closing the gap & tackling with force) and what can be ignored (i.e. QB cadence, misdirection from the backfield, noise from players/sidelines/crowds, juke steps, head fakes, etc.).
So, the challenge is for coaches to distill all that can be known about a sport down to the essential things that players, at whatever level they are at, can understand and focus on. Same principle: what to focus on versus what to ignore. In coaching this 3rd grade team, the temptation was very real to get into various nuances of the game and take time to teach these. However, time was short, we only practiced twice a week...so we made sure the kids had fun, were safe and learned "a little" about football along the way. That "little" really makes coaches figure out what the kids need to know versus what can be taught when their older and have the fundamentals down pat.
Good stuff,
C.
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WIDGETIZE