MY JOB-
We all too often forget that as coaches we are teachers and educators. In business, my JOB is marketing. What I am marketing is a gymnastics club. In the gym, my JOB is to teach and educate. What I am teaching is gymnastics. We really have more in common with the college professor than the head coach of a football team.
Here is a list of things I teach EVERY day
Biomechanics
Sports Psychology
Sociology
History (Hey Tony, Who was the first one to do this skill?)
Strength/ conditioning
Nutrition
Ethics
Physics
Electrical Engineering (No, I am sorry that vacuum will not work unless you plug it in)
English and Gammer
Foreign Language (Tsukahara, Shoposhnikova, Deltchev…)
Etiquette
Safety and Risk Management
Plumbing (I’s rather not talk about it)
Resource management (no, you get 1/2 a block of chalk for the workout)
Environmental conservation and recycling (use the chalk that is all ready on the floor)
In the end- what we teach is WAY more than just gymnastics. It is skills for life
The importance of Motivation and Correct Teaching Styles in a coaching environment.
One thing I believe most coaches have in common are that we all aspire to be better coaches than we were gymnasts and be better coaches than what we had.
We have to learn from our mistakes as well as the mistakes our coaches made with us and our team-mates.
A few questions to ask yourself-
-How far did you go in gymnastics?
What skills are you teaching that you NEVER did?
Do you have an appreciation for what you are teaching?
You may have TAUGHT thousands of handstand, but each year you work with kids teaching it to them for the FIRST time. You should still get excited by it. Think of the 1st grade teacher who taught you to read- If they can get excited about a student learning to read a basic sentence, SO CAN YOU
-How “good” was your competitive coach?
What do you wish he/she would have done differently?
What would the gymnasts that YOU work with say that they wish you had done differently?
What Makes YOU a “good” coach?
Why are SO many foreign coaches so successful in the US despite language problems?
Do they work harder?
Have greater technical expertise?
Have a better system?
It really comes down to their training.
Not only were they trained to become a master of sport (similar to a degree in Kinesiology (the science of human movement. It focuses on how the body functions and moves.) They then specialize in gymnastics technique, pass a course in spotting.
All this is great but I believe that it is because many are TRAINED AS TEACHERS. All the technical knowledge does not help if they do not have the tools to communicate.
In the early 90’s Dr. Joe and Sue Massimo did a survey of all gymnasts through Olympic games. The gymnasts were asked to list in order of importance what they want out of a coach as well as traits they didn’t like or that were not helpful. What is interesting about this is that is was a cross cultural and international survey. The results were solid with very a very small margin of error. If You have not had an opportunity to pick up their book- YOU SHOULD.
-Relate to athletes with warmth but not as a peer.
-Minimize unnecessary verbiage.
-NEVER use sarcasm
-Be Fair- with attention and time. Don’t coach over my shoulder
-Don’t say Good when it isn’t.
-Have a balanced sense of humor (not up and down)
-Say “NO” without guilt and “YES” without resentment
-Be willing to say “I am Sorry” and “I don’t know but I will find out”
-PRAISE when they make a correction.
-Catch me doing something right-
-LISTEN
The first thing we noticed is WHAT IS NOT ON THERE.
Spotting, drive, motivator, It may be that athletes at this level have coaches that already do this.
The next thing I noticed is that this is ALL taught in basic classes for educators. (Theory of education as well as Education Psychology).
Not every coach in the US is a trained teacher and there are some teachers who would SUCK at coaching.
The BEST coaches in the US are GREAT teachers whether they are teaching gymnastics skills or math.
Take some time and listen to yourself coach. Play a tape in your head of what you said through out the day while you were coaching.
How did you do?
Awareness is the first step.
-Relate to athletes with warmth but not as a peer.
They need to trust you and believe that you will never hurt them. I have a rule, they can come to me with ANY problem, but I will give them an honest answer and they may not like it. You can not coach an athlete without knowing what is going on in their life. How long did it take you to learn this skill? If ever? How hard is it for them to motivate themselves to come in after a full day of school or come in before school? Are you making it worth while and fun?
-Minimize unnecessary verbiage.
Tell them what correction they are need to make without a lengthy speech. (THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS A FOREIGN COACH MAY DO WELL. Not only were they trained with this as educator. They are forced because of limited vocabulary to be efficient with their words.
Give them a correction NOT an observation.
A professional says “you need to squeeze your left knee”.
v.
A parent says “Your leg was bent”
Keep your corrections to a minimum- A GOOD gymnast will only be able to make 1 correction in a routine.
A GREAT gymnast may possibly be able to make 2.
If you give more, they probably won’t make ANY or each one a little.
-PRAISE when they make a correction.
When they make the correction, you need to praise them! They did what you want. then have them try to do the next correction.
If you don’t praise them, they are not motivated to make the next correction.
-NEVER use sarcasm-
Possibly the most painful kind of humor but children do not understand sarcasm as humor. I have said this before, it is written in every educational text book. Don’t do it.
-Be Fair- with attention and time.
All kids pay the same amount and should get the same amount of time. Some kids work harder than others and get more attention that way.
Don’t coach over my shoulder- COACH ME when it is my turn. Not the kid on the next event. If you cheer for them when you are watching me it tells me that What I am doing doesn’t count.
-Don’t say Good when it isn’t.
-Have a balanced sense of humor (not up and down). We all have bad days and come in the gym stressed. What was fun yesterday needs to be acceptable today. If you have big UP and DOWN then your athletes will always be confused.
-Say “NO” without guilt and “YES” without resentment.
If you say YES but are annoyed they will stop asking or be afraid. If you say NO and they understand why then they are involved.
I told Melissa that she could NOT do a Yurchenko full alone while the coach from Maryland was there. She understood why. That coach was there to look at one of her team -mates.
-Be willing to say “I am Sorry” and “I don’t know but I will find out”
It makes use human. If you screw up, Say your sorry and tell them what you will do to fix it.
If you don’t have an answer, tell them that and find an answer.
-Catch me doing something right-
If you make 1 person a good example, You will have the rest of your group trying to emulate them and attract your attention.
If you yell at 1 person for a bad example, You will have the rest doing their best NOT to get noticed.
Miranda, “Great body position! Nice straight legs” – look around and watch everyone else straighten up and point their toes their body language saying, “LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME.”
If you yell, “Maddie, get your back on the floor, open your arm pits.”
Look around and watch everyones body language say, “Please don’t look at me”
-LISTEN.
Listen to yourself coach.
Listen to your gymnasts.
Listen to each other
and learn
A few words of caution-
If you feel you can:
Harass
Demean
Isolate
Compare in a negative way
Put down
Intimidate
Make fearful in any way (being scared of YOU or another coach)
Call Name (wimp, slug) or other disrespectful language
Erode Self esteem
YOU ARE IN THE WRONG PROFESSION
We have all had coaches/teachers who we have respected as well as those who have scared us.
WHICH ARE YOU?
What is your Goal?
produce competitive athletes, promote positive growth in your charges and make the overall experience fun and rewarding.
What we all have in common
1 YOU ARE INCREDIBLY HARD WORKERS
2 I APPRECIATE ALL THAT YOU DO. Your time and commitment toward excellence is what keeps ME going.
3 WE ALL STILL HAVE A LOT TO LEARN
One thing I believe most coaches have in common are that we all aspire to be better coaches than we were gymnasts and be better coaches than what we had.
We have to learn from our mistakes as well as the mistakes our coaches made with us and our team-mates.
SO YOU WANT TO BE SUCCESSFUL?
You better learn to Fail
Failure is NOT an option.
Failure is a prerequisite
Failure
failure |ˈfālyər| noun
Failure (fail, phail or flop) in general refers to the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective. It may be viewed as the opposite of success.
Pete Carroll was laughed out of Foxboro and the NFL before he became the most dominant coach in college football.
Donald Trump was seeking bankruptcy protection before he made his real estate fortune.
Terrin Humphry made the USA National Team for the first time 1 year before making an Olympic Team.
Most people achieved their greatest success one step beyond what looked like their greatest failure…..
The fastest way to succeed, is to double your failure rate.
Tolerate Failure
It is part of the learning process
If you make a correction you will probably mess something else up. THAT IS OK, I EXPECT IT.
Without being willing to fail, how can you succeed?
Insanity:
Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein
In our sport change is necessary.
otherwise we would still be tumbling on horse hair mats
The Beams would still be made of wood
Bars would be close enough to hit your hips on.
BECOME A FAILURE TOLERANT COACH
Keep in mind- you are teaching WAY MORE than just gymnastics
