Recently I began a campaign called #uracoach in real language-ease that is "You are a Coach". I'll take some time to further explain the one per day posts to encourage and promote various ideas for coaches of all levels and sports. If you have questions, suggestions or ideas, please contact me through the Tree Roots webpage contact form: www.TreeRootsLLC.com or leave a comment. The discussion is very welcomed!
The first installment of #uracoach ran over the weekend: #uracoach if you find a way to keep your players on the edge of their ability daily
Simply put, part of the art of being a coach is to find ways to walk the fine line between boredom and stress inducing impossibility in your training tactics. As a player develops and gains the ability to run through skills with little to no mental effort, he or she will naturally and without noticing develop a sense of boredom. The player's excitement over mastering the skill set will diminish. As a coach it is up to you to help guide that player raise the level of difficulty just enough to keep the learning and development exciting and new. Go too far and risk breaking your player's confidence, too little and they'll remain unengaged.
There are many ways to do this for every team and individual skill known to man. Think of this practice as applying positive constraints in order to force yourself to do something the harder way to increase skill level. An example, in basketball only allowing players to dribble for an entire drill with their non-dominant hand, in volleyball adding a 2nd ball to a ball control drill that must be passed around while a ball is being volleyed, in football forcing your receivers to run pass routes and catch the ball while always being double covered. In words, finding creative ways to place constraints on skills in order to improve the skill through challenge.
Great coaches, dare I say, also have a knack for teaching players how to put themselves on the edge, raising the level of difficulty on their own in order to take responsibility for their own progress. At the beginning, most won't have the skill set to do this, but if you can train your players to adopt this skill, the progress your teams will make during the course of a season can be jaw dropping.
For more #uracoach posts, stay tuned. Please get your entire athletic department registered for the August 3rd coaching workshop in Big Rapids, MI by going to www.treerootsllc.com
Happy Coaching!
No comments:
Post a Comment