Intellectual Incest

One of my mentors, Dr Joe Vigil, coined that phrase many
years ago. He used it describe coaches who pass around the same information,
usually misinformation, in a small group and believe it to be gospel. They keep
reinforcing their own misinformation. You need to ask yourself as a coach where
do you get your information. Have you taken the time to go talk to a coach in
another sport and learn how they train or how they organize practice? Have you
read any technical journals in the last month? Have you read any scientific
journals in the last month? Do you do the things you do because that is the way
they have always been done? Does all your information come from the internet?
If so you might consider going beyond the internet. Do you have a mentor that
has had a variety of experiences? It is so easy to get caught up in
intellectual incest while searching for the latest and greatest, the secret or
the next big thing. I am convinced that the next big thing in coaching in general
and athletic development in particular will come from a generalist who searches
well beyond traditional fields in the coaching domain. Since August I have fifty
books, only ten of those books were directly related to sport or training, most
were well outside the field, some in cognitive neuroscience, some in communication,
some biographies. What they all had in common is that they stimulated ideas
that I think are helping to improve my coaching. I encourage you to do the
same. This is one of the goals of the GAIN Apprentorship – to challenge
people to get out of their comfort zone and search farther afield. All that
being said remember the immortal words of Gertrude Stein “the answer is there
no answer.”