Coaches Corner

I believe in science. I believe there are things that people who are good at science don't know about yet. I believe in teaching games for understanding and I believe in game sense. I also believe in constraints based learning. I believe this has been a thing for 40+ years. I believe the inability to do the fundamental skills of a sport limit you. I believe as a coach your responsibility is to remove these limitations, by teaching good foundations. I believe the perfect technique is unnecessary. I believe that as athletes develop the building blocks for higher and higher level skills, care needs to be taken that they don't have any attributes which will limit them in the future. I believe that ultimately the best will rise through natural selection. I believe that athletes work things out themselves. I believe coaching only one type of athlete in one way limits the development of others with the potential to excel. I believe that many others can rise through t

I've recently come up with a new term to describe drills: 'Coach Drills'. When I say that I've come up with it I mean that I've never heard the term in exactly the context I use, but, of course, that doesn't mean thousands haven't come up with it before! Coach Drills Drills which make a coach feel good but don't necessarily help the athletes improve. Athlete Drills Drills which are great for athlete learning but don't look neat and clean and make a coach feel good. Note I'm not saying there are only 2 types of drills and that there isn't a continuum. Anyone who suggests that in comments on social obviously didn't read this far and, as always, I know who you are ;) Introduction Like most conversations about coaching, let's start with....Brain Neurochemistry. We know that there is a lot of brain neurochemistry that goes into athlete enjoyment and learning: we know that acetylcholine is a 'focus chemical' which is released when t

The premise of this post is that there are three distinct types of coaching that coaches must understand and be cognizant of when they make decisions. Theoretical Practical Political I would also add that there are many many more types of coaching. So, anyone who responds to this post without reading it after seeing the headline in social media, and says there are more than three types, I know who you are! THEORETICAL This type of coaching is very important. It is evidence based and analytical in nature. It looks at problems and comes up with logical solutions. A couple of common examples in volleyball coaching are: Research shows it is better to land on 2 feet than one, so I will teach my players to land on two feet and correct them when they don't Research shows it is better to pass midline than outside your body so I will teach my players to move so they are always mid-lining the pass and correct them when they don't. PRACTICAL To follow on from the example above, when you w