Author: Vernon Gambetta
Good Reads
This past weekend I read two books whose central themes were innovation, creativity and change. Those of you that are regular readers of this blog know that those are areas that I am interested in. The whole process of how people create and innovate is fascinating to me. One of the books – The Idea Factory – Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation by Jon Gertner looks the rise the Bell labs, how the lab was put together and how it developed from the 1920’s onward. I was peripherally aware of the inventions and innovation that came out of the Bell labs but this book really brought it all front and center. Bell labs and the scientists and engineers who worked there literally changed the world. Without the Bell labs we would not have the personal computer, communication satellites and much more. It was here that the transistor was invented. It was a place that fostered innovation, the scientists and engineers were given time and space and encouraged to get out and look at the world differently. One of the biggest messages I got from the book was how important collaboration was in the process, how necessary it was to have other people around to bounce ideas off of, to challenge each to stoke the fires of creativity. The next book Imagine – How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer was a real page-turner. It was one of those books that I just could not seem to put down. The book is full of tremendous insights and though provoking ideas about the creative process. Lehrer is a very good storyteller. Through his stories he is able to look at the science that underlies creativity, or I should say what we know of the science because this is an area of science where our knowledge is exploding. He looks at the importance of daydreaming in the creative process. During daydreaming he says: “Instead of responding to the outside world, the brain starts to explore its inner database, searching for relationships in a more relaxed fashion.” He reminds us how important it is to think like a child to see the world with new eyes. Surprisingly I learned how important criticism in the creative process. One my favorite sections of the book was where he was talking about the famous designer Milton Glasser, it was Glasser who came up the iconic I love New York illustration. “Instead of simply trying to represent a thing. Glasser wanted to define it. His perfect visual was more than a picture: it was a summary of associations, a map of thought. It was a picture honed by human attention.” A unifying theme of both books is that you get smart being around other people. Creativity and innovation is not a solitary process. If you are interested in creativity and innovation I also recommend Lehrer’s blog http://tinyurl.com/26duw7o
Being a professional
I am not fond of people calling coaching an industry, coaching is a profession. Because it is a profession there are certain characteristics of being professional that I feel are very important These are some of my thoughts on what it takes to be a professional in today’s fast paced world of instant information. Passion – A genuine enthusiasm for what you do. Not just when there are crowds and on game day but everyday. Belief – Believe in what you do and live your beliefs. Grunt Work – 90% of coaching is grunt work. It is doing the mundane tasks that are essential. . Experience – Train for several sports, coach several sports. There is no substitute for having to put your butt on the line on game day as player or a coach. This is essential. This does not mean you have to be a star, but at least participate. Study and observe – Get around great coaches. See how they work. See how they praise and how they correct. Learn everything they do. Observe their body language. Listen and see how they communicate. Learn & Research – Read scientific journals, coaching journals, technical journals. Get away from the Internet and go for straight facts. Study video. Practice – Get proficient at the skills you must teach. Be able to capably demonstrate the movements. Know skill progressions and how to teach them. Develop a coaching eye – Train yourself to observe without a visual bias. Be Organized – Plan and have a contingency plan. Be on time and stay late. Look the Part – Get fit, dress the part and dress appropriately. Communication Skills – Sharpen them. Realize all the dimensions’ of communication. Remember communication is not sending it is also receiving. Have a life – Take care of your family and reserve some time for yourself. As a last thought remember it takes at least twenty years to be an overnight success so don’t be in a hurry, take your time.
Failure is an option
Lets face it mistakes and failure are part of the growth process of an athlete and a coach. Failure and mistakes are only bad if we do not learn from them. There is an aphorism that says: failure sucks but it instructs. That is true if you take the opportunity and let it instruct and learn from the mistakes, don’t repeat them. Some people revel in mistakes and failure. They turn them into a pity party. They feel sorry for themselves and try to get others to feel sorry for them. That is not what it is about. Failure and mistakes are tremendous learning opportunities. A mistake is a starting point to begin the process of getting better, of progressing forward, of renewal. People who are great at what they do will take risk consequently they will fail and make mistakes. But because they have a growth mindset they view the mistakes as opportunities for growth and the failures as stepping-stones, it is all part of the growth process and progressing toward a goal. People who are average most likely will never make mistakes, they stay in a comfort zone, they keep doing what they always have done, never taking a chance. If you want to be the best you can be must make mistakes, you must fail, you must try new techniques and training methods. Management guru Tom Peters put it best – fail forward! It is ultimately a failure or a mistake if you do not learn from it.
Old Fashioned Values?
Are these old fashioned values? I sure hope not. These values are important to me and I hope they are important to you. Take a minute today and think about these and how they apply in your life and work. Courtesy Respect Loyalty Responsibility Accountability Integrity Honesty Civility Value based decisions
Assessing Physical Literacy
If you want to assess physical literacy then you must systematically look at variety of movements with specific criterion to judge the quality of the movements. How the movements are combined ultimately will determine sport skill. These movements comprise basic physical literacy, the movement ABC’s. As competencies they must be mastered before they can be blended into a sports skill. There are no shortcuts! Movement skill is learned and acquired step-by-step through exploration and discovery. We learn movement by testing ourselves, pushing the envelope of function to see where the movements will take us. It is not segmented and robotic, it is rhythmic flowing and dancelike. In assessment look at activities that are natural, that stress linkage and connection. It is convenient to put the body in unusual, uncomfortable artificial positions and look for” deficiencies” or “dysfunctions” but there is little or no carryover to actual performance or prediction of injuries. Instead open up to the body’s possibilities to solve movement problems. Assess real movements that provide understanding of the physical literacy of the athlete. There are three movement constants the body, the ground, and gravity. So when assessing look at the effect of gravity on the body and how the body effectively uses the ground to be able to stabilize, produce, and reduce force. Use assessment to qualify, not disqualify, use it to determine the starting point and appropriate exercise selection. Get away from focus on limitations, dysfunction, deficiency, restriction and injury prediction. Instead think possibilities: starting points, stages and progression, and strengths. Above all find out what the athlete can do and not what they can't do. Look for actionable information to begin training and assess progress in training. Make the assessment meaningful. Assessment is just a starting it is an ongoing process, training is testing and testing is training. It is only a guide to get you started in the correct direction for that individual athlete. How you assess will reflect how you train. How you train should reflect how you play. All must connect simply and logically.
Addressing Physical Illiteracy
There is no question that in today's world of athletic performance that we are at a crisis state. Injuries are off the scale. We have athletes at the elite level who are extremely proficient in their particular sport but lack fundamental movement skills. When they get outside that small envelope where they are highly adapted and have to do unusual movements that are demanded in the random chaotic nature of the game they are at high risk of injury. Why? Because they have poor movement ABCs, they are physically illiterate. We have a crisis of physical illiteracy. We are asking the athletes to write the great American novel and they don't even know the alphabet. It starts with assessment. How and what we assess sends a message. So in assessment what we need to do is assess physical literacy, find out what they can do and use that as a starting point. A good physical competency assessment looks at the ability to reach, bend, push, pull, squat, rotate, and brace. All of these are key elements of the athletic ABCs, the alphabet we are going to ask the athlete to write their great American novel with. So we want teach them how to combine these movements in coordinated patterns so that they can then produce smooth efficient technique required by their sport. So they are ready to reduce and produce force in random chaotic patterns. Therefore the assessment must incorporate all of these elements to help determine where the athlete falls on a continuum of functional progression. Everybody can’t start at the same place. Use assessment to find out where the athlete is now, what are their strengths and what are their weaknesses and then design an optimal program to fit them as individuals in the context of their sport. This will teach and reinforce the ABC’s of movement and stem the tide of physical illiteracy.
Athlete Empowerment and Ownership
I just came across again the other day when I looking through some files on coaching. I first saw this in a presentation by the coach of the Australian Women’s Field Hockey team Ric Charlesworth in 1996 during my first trip to Australia. Charlesworth is one the greatest coaches you have probably never heard of unless you are a filed hockey fan. He is an MD, a lawyer and has been a member of the Australian parliament in addition to coaching the Australian women’s field hockey team to Gold medals in the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics. He is currently coaching the Australian men’s team and has brought them back to international prominence. His presentation in 1996 left a deep impression on me regarding empowerment of the athlete and athlete ownership of their performance. This mission statement is a great insight into that; the women of the team developed it: Hockeyroos Mission Statement 1996 “We will win in Atlanta by being the best we can be, because Olympic gold is the ultimate challenge in our sport. We will achieve this by playing beyond our previous performances and by never, never giving up. I will be the best I can be by: 1. Continually challenging myself to go beyond my comfort zone. 2. Making the necessary sacrifices. 3. Believing in my ability and the strength of my purpose. 4. Valuing excellence, determination and dedication in both training and match play. 5. Having faith and confidence in, and being supportive of, my teammates. 6. Not making excuses but taking responsibility for my development, performance and for my life-style. 7. Seeking feedback and making contributions to the program. 8. Being tolerant of differences in others and respecting them for who they are and what they have to offer. 9. Accepting disappointments and frustrations and overcoming them by working together. 10. Having faith in the course of action chosen for the team and being committed to it knowing that it may not always be my preference. We choose to do this thing NOT because it is easy but because it is hard.” Their training was hard, intense and competitive with sometimes as many as four sessions in a day! By the way if you want to read a great book on coaching I recommend Ric Charlesworth’s book – The Coach – Managing For Success. It is full of insights into his philosophy and methods. It is a must read for any coach who wants to improve their tradecraft.
The Right Stuff
You can do stuff in training or you can do the right stuff. Doing stuff is easy. Doing the right stuff is not so easy but it is what will make you better. Sometimes the right stuff is less demanding other times it is complex and very difficulty. The right stuff is the good stuff. It is essential and the things that need to be done to get better. It has purpose in the context of the sport being trained for and the needs of the athlete. The right stuff is certainly not arbitrary. It is not stupid stuff, it smart stuff that challenges the athlete with a purpose. Chances are it is quite basic and not very entertaining. The right stuff is meaningful, measureable and motivational. The right stuff is non-negotiable you have to do it to get better. The right stuff develops the capacity to endure, the speed to outpace, the strength to overcome and the technique to prevail. The right stuff is not complicated, it is basic and unspectacular, but it works because it is yields consistent and reliable results in the competitive cauldron. Are you doing the right stuff?