The 3 C's of Feedback

To avoid over coaching, keep in Mind the 3 C's of feedback:

1.) Clear- Pretty self-explanatory, tell the athlete what you want and be specific! Describe what you want the drill or lift to look like. A lot of times I think we can get lazy and start assuming athletes know more than they do. Being on top of your game and walking them through step by step will undoubtedly erase any confusion and lead to more success.

Bad: “Let’s complete lateral box jumps for 3 sets of 5 on each leg”

Better: “Let’s complete lateral box jumps starting with our right foot for 5 repetitions, then we will move to our left leg and then complete 2 more sets for a total of three rounds off each leg”

The lesson: Communicate exactly what you want, without any room for improvisation. communicate unambiguously.

2.) Concise- This may sound hypocritical to number 1, but there is a distinct difference. Basically, do not over coach athletes. Give them one or two things to focus on at a time, master these concepts before moving on. Simplicity will work in your favor; you will not have to address elementary mistakes over the long run.

Bad: “To squat properly I want you to grab the bar, take a step back to the middle of the rack, loosen your grip and keep your elbows high while you squat down pushing your butt backwards until your femur is positioned parallel to the ground and your knee is over your toes keeping your head and chest up and your core tight”

Better: “To squat properly, let’s keep your elbows high, and chest up to parallel depth”

The lesson: Avoid lengthy verbage that may cause confusion- direct and to the point will be a lot more useful.

3.) Consistent- There may be nothing worse than contradicting yourself or another coach in the weight room. Too much inconsistent coaching leads athletes to doubt your knowledge and distrust your advice. Eventually, your coach-athlete relationship may be lost and you will lose that athlete. Be certain your feedback is correct, and if something changes, explain the difference and make sure they understand why- provide proper evidence as to why the old way changed.

Bad: Monday “keep your elbows high”, Wednesday “elbows up”, Friday “I don’t care where your elbows are as long as you squat low enough”

Better: Monday “keep your elbows high”, Wednesday “keep your elbows high”, Friday “keep your elbows high”

The lesson: Obviously, be consistent about the coaching cues you are using.

How much Coaching is Too Much?

I know I have said before that I believe many coaches try too hard when coaching and in the process are often over coach athletes. It is great to be eager and try to fix everything as soon as possible, but Rome was not built in one day. Although practice time is limited and we generally feel like we have too much to say in too little time, we should understand athletes are learning without us constantly coaching them. In fact, according to research on focus and attention there is only a certain level of stimulus a person can handle at one time. With this knowledge, we need to apply this research to our coaching and an athlete's needs. One or two things for an athlete to focus on will be plenty especially in a controlled environment such as practice, work on one thing at a time and then progress appropriately- you are in charge. In a game situation it may be a little harder because there is much more stimulus, but I think proper preparation for these moments in practice will teach the athletes how to control their focus.

I will share something with you that I heard in a book by Mike Krzyzewski, basketball coach at Duke University. He said that in the locker room before any game he coaches he will write one word on the chalkboard. This one word is the basis behind everything he preaches in the pregame speech. By giving the athletes one word, he ensures they will be more focused on that particular task and accountable for performing to the best of their abilities relating to the focus word. I think you know you are over coaching when an athlete's performance is no longer reflecting your coaching. For example, if you tell them 6 things and they can only handle and respond to 4 of those things, this may be evidence that you need to break it down further for them to understand. When a motivated athlete does not do something we say, we need to take a different approach to teaching them (it is our fault not theirs). In Coach Krzyzewski's case, one word is enough to focus on at one time.

Thank you for reading, more to come tomorrow....

Wednesday Review: Woodway SpeedBoard

Working at Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning, I get a unique opportunity to see and use some of the newest technology on the market (I'm not endorsing that newer technology is better than old school by any means, although obviously updates can be beneficial). This week, Mike Boyle got a Woodway SpeedBoard treadmill. This is something that is new to the market and combines a few new concepts to provide you with a different way to run on a treadmill. The curved shape of the treadmill minimizes heel to ground contact which on conventional treadmills can cause joint pain. In addition, the belt on the treadmill allows a runner to provide as much or little force they want to automatically adjust treadmill speed. The treadmill uses no electricity, so if you are looking for a "green" alternative- this may be your solution. I love the machine for performance and personally believe we will be seeing more of these in gyms around the country very soon. here's the lowdown:

Benefits*: Automatically adjustable speed so the runner determines their pace, easier to complete interval training because runners do not need to get on and off a moving treadmill, Does not use electricity- saving money, better running simulation by minimizing heel-contact time.

Restrictions*: Can not elevate to train on a grade, No pre-programmed workouts.

Benefits and restrictions are based on my personal opinion from what I've seen in other treadmill equipment and is only being compared to other treadmills, not all cardio machines.

For more information: http://woodway.com/performancetreadmills/speedboard.html

Principles of Feedback

Perhaps the most crucial part of coaching is our delivery of feedback to athletes. If we can not effectively give feedback, we are of no value to an athelte in my opinion because at that point our knowledge and expertise is not useful- does not translate to the athlete. Here are 7 Principles of Feedback to remember when coaching:

Feedback is hard to receive- Athletes are not equally receptive to feedback, interject with caution and know the athlete's preferences for feedback and how they will receive your feedback on an individual basis.
NOTE: When feedback is inconsistent with one's own self-image, it's harder to receive.

Feedback isn't often internalized at the time it is received- There may be a certain lag time associated with the feedback you are giving. Athletes may not understand this feedback for days, months, or years even. Be patient, consistent, and hopefully they will come around.

Feedback is easier to receive from a trusted source- As a coach, make yourself an honest and knowledgeable person. Do not give ambiguous feedback or directions. For example, "I'm not sure if you go left or right during that drill", this statement makes you seem like you don't know what you are talking about and may unintentionally tell an athlete you don't know what you are doing.

Feedback is received easier when offered with a calm presence- In my opinion, always coaching with a fire under your ass and with an "in your face" style is not productive and will become very old. Try screaming everytime you give feedback and I'll time how long it takes the athletes to stop listening- 10 minutes, an hour, certainly no more than 2 practices and I wouldn't listen either.

Feedback is more effective when communicated clearly and specifically- This could almost sum up this whole post. If you do not tell an athelte specifically what to do, don't expect them to do it. Communicate clearly what you envision in the drill, play, etc. Remember to use aids to cater to all learning styles (June 15th post), such as visual aids, drawings, descriptions, etc.

Feedback can only be absorbed in small doses- Overcoaching really makes me mad, especially at the youth or developmental level. Focus on one thing and master it, then move on. I know most kids are on meds (misdiagnosed) for ADHD these days, but they should not be expected to receive paragraphs of information at one time.

Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow for our Wednesday Review!

The 5 Stages of Coaching

The 5 Stages of coaching from Dreyfus (1986) details the stages between a novice and an expert level coach and what it takes, in his opinion, to advance at each level. Here are the stages, and a brief snippet of the characteristics of each, what stage coach are you and what can you do better to move up to the next stage?

Novice: Often use one way as a gold standard and can not deviate well from a given, planned course of action. Novice coaches often do not know what knowledge they lack and have a hard time making educated decisions, especially in the moment.

Advanced Beginner: An advanced beginner has developed a limited ability to make situational decisions. The advanced beginner is good at recognizing patterns and it's a little more educated than a novice, but still lacks an overall picture of the situation.

Competent: Competent coaches are defined by an ability to combat specific, common problems to avoid extensive thought processes. Competent coaches have some sense of the big picture that includes simple priorities, but still lack some knowledge about the overall puzzle. Solving problems and making decisions is becoming more intuitive and experience based.

Proficient: Making decisions and problem-solving are nearly sub-conscious to a proficient coach. Thought processes are still being initiated when needed, but usually behind the scenes.

Expert: Coaches achieve expert level status when they are a student of their discipline. They often intuitively make every decision and things become second nature. Some experts report not knowing how they do things, they just do them much like we would explain walking or riding a bicycle.


For more information, the article is located at:

http://www.nols.edu/store/pdf/leadershipnb_competence.pdf

Sport Coaches Take Note:

A careful man I must always be,
a little fella follows me

I know I dare not go astray,
for fear he'll go the self same way

I can not once escape his eyes,
what error he sees me do he tries

Like me he says he going to be,
this little chap who follows me

He thinks that I am good and fine,
believes in every word of mine

The base in me he must not see,
this little chap who follows me

I must be careful as I go,
through Summer sun and Winter snow

because I am building for the years to be,
this little chap who follows me.

- John Wooden, the best of the best

http://www.missiong.com/video/Wizard-of-G

This video and Coach John Wooden's favorite qoute inspired me and I hope it does the same to you. Happy Father's Day to all and remember you are always a role model.

Practice Makes Perfect?

The old quote coaches used toward athletes read "Practice Makes Perfect". This notion lead athletes to believe that all they had to do to become great was practice an activity. The missing piece of the puzzle, which to coaches is now quite obvious, was the quality of the practice session. Somewhere in the meantime this clarification became widespread and different quotes were derived. The next one I heard was "Perfect Practice, makes Perfect". This gives an athlete more direction as to the quality of the practice session, however, what exactly is perfect practice? In addition, how many times can we honestly say we've had a perfect practice? I think the best alternative I've heard to this day, which I heard this year was:

"Practice Makes Permanent"

The difference in the coach's delivery here does not contain ambiguity while still conveying the importance of practice to the athlete in a precise manner. I think we should all start (or continue) using this term over the other two.

From a scientific position, the third quote has also been proven by Ericsson et. al. (1993) in a study on deliberate practice and skill acquisition. I will provide more on the study another day, but the basis is that with 10,000 hours of deliberate practice, an individual can become an expert level performer in any given skill. The "expert level" status is the permanent part.

I would be very interested to hear any other quotes you've heard as coaches or use personally to convey this message to athletes. Thank you for reading.