Spot Visits

I always
find it interesting when someone makes a one-day visit to see a team or an
individual train and the coaches coach and then makes profound conclusions
about the training program. There is no way that will reveal the breath and
depth of a training program. When you do that you are seeing a snapshot in a
photo album, a pixel in a mega pixel picture. To understand someone’s training
demands total immersion and study. Everything must be studied in context. In my
career I have seen some unbelievable training sessions, but if did not understand
where those sessions fit in the bigger picture I would have come away from
there with an entirely wrong picture of the overall training. For example last
week I visited University of Florida and watched a weight training session and
part of football practice. Did I learn something, yes I did. Did I get deep
insights into their system, no way. I gathered some interesting ideas that stimulated me to take another look at something I have been doing in training. I plan
on going back and spending more time armed with many questions to get better
understanding of their approach. One visit or a video of a workout is not enough. In three weeks
I will spend four days with my colleague and good friend Jim Radcliffe at
University of Oregon, I suspect I will get more out of that visit because I
have studied Jim’s system and had numerous opportunities to observe and exchange ideas. As part of the learning journey that is coaching look for knowledge, not just information.