Coaching any sport is a difficult job. Sometimes you feel like you are trying to herd cats. You are constantly being pulled in different directions. Every day we come across difficult situations and have to think on our feet. What do we do when we are honestly at a loss?

Sometimes the hardest 3 words for a coach to say is, “I don’t know.”  The gymnasts we work with look to us for corrections and advice on every turn. Some times, we just don’t know. So what do we do?

All too often we make something up on the spot or give them a correction we have given them in the past.

Why?     

• Are we afraid that if we don’t say something we won’t seem omnipotent?
• Isn’t it better to say nothing at all than to just make something up?

There are a number of coaches who are just in love with their own voice. They feel they have to fill every second of practice with the sound of their own voice.

Some of the best coaches I have seen tend to be very efficient with their words.

 Next time you are in a situation where you are stumped- try these:

“Hmm. Let me see you do that again”

“wow, that caught me by surprise. Can you do that again??”

“I truthfully don’t know, but I am going to find out.”

Or my 2 favorites

“I will need to check the Gym Momentum Website”

And

With Confidence- mumble something incoherent and just see what happens.