Author: Vernon Gambetta
Sport Science is Good – But
Just finished reading an outstanding coaching book – Four Champions One Gold Medal: The true story of four swimmers who battled for the same Olympic dream by Chuck Warner. Some real insights into what it takes to compete and win at the highest level. You definitely have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable all the time. Also a clear in depth picture of athlete development. This book has some great insights if you read between the lines. Even if you don’t this is a great chronicle of coaching in a different era. This paragraph struck me as particularly relevant to what I see as a move away from coaching toward more sport science. (We have been there before) “During the 1980’s many American coaches sought more effective training methods through better utilization of scientific testing. Unfortunately many scientists attempted to provide coaches with new, scientifically-based training methodologies rather than study existing programs, learn why they were successful and help coaches improve them. For many well-intentioned coaches and scientists, this created what Thomas Huxley once called ”The tragedy of a single fact killing a theory.” Training programs that were proven from experience, and developed on the basis of a coach’s theory, were often discarded in favor of a program based on a few, or even a single, isolated fact. Although science has a great deal to contribute to the success of all athletes, including distance swimmers, it must be filtered through the mind of a coach’s theory based on experience. Anyone who has been a swimming coach for five or ten years should be able to begin to draw his own conclusions from science, research and other coaches’ training programs.” (Page 174) No sport scientist has ever invented a viable technique or training method. As coach’s we must work with the sport scientist and understand sport science, but ultimately we must coach. Three of the four swimmers programs detailed in this book are coach driven and athlete centered, which is the road to success.
Kids then & Now – Were the good old days really so good?
I have seen and heard much discussion regarding how different kids are today. I hear that they are lazy, not fit, disrespectful, they just won't do the things that kids did forty or fifty years ago. Since I am still involved in day to day coaching of high school athletes I also have given this issue much thought. I guess the perspective of coaching 41 years at all levels of competition gives me some insights that others who started later may not have. I also have been a classroom teacher, history and geography, a teacher of physical education and a coach of multiple sports. A few preparatory points are necesaary1) The older you get the easier it is to remember the good of the good old days and forget the bad. 2) We live in an entirely different world today than 41 years ago. Those points being made please indulge me as I attempt to explain what I see in kids today. Lets look at then first: Students rode bikes or walked to school Kids had mandatory daily physical education Most kids started playing three sports in elementary or middle school and then narrowed it down to two by high school Family structure was still there You seldom saw a latchkey kid Less litigation No high fructose corn syrup No professionalization of youth and high school sports Sports were centered in the schools and recreation departments Parents were interested, but not directly involved There were virtually no competitive opportunities for girls Coaches were usually trained teachers, often physical education teachers Coaches were the experts, because in many cases they were Coaches did not specialize they coached multiple sports A sporting event on TV was special because there was not many of them No national high school or youth championships You wore Converse or Keds, black or white was the choice of colors There were strict transfer rules – no changing schools in midyear because you did not like the coach or you were not starting Let look at now: Students ride to school No mandatory physical education and no recess Kids specialize in one sport from an early age Sports are centered outside the schools Coaches are not trained as educators; in essence anyone can be a coach Parents are involved; they run and have ownership of school and club programs because of fundraising National championships in youth sports and high school sports Sports are on television 24/7 Our diet is worse than most third world nations Kids spend hours a day on computers and cell phones The only time many kids play is at organized practice We have more knowledge in sports medicine and sport science We have significantly better facilities Unlimited competitive opportunities for boys and girls If you are not a starter or a star you either quit or transfer So what the conclusion? First of all you cannot separate sport from society. I have always felt sport is a reflection and in some ways a magnification of what you see in society, both good and bad. We are a nation of consumers, instant gratification and fast money. So a logical step as a reflection of society is to use kids to make money and build reputations. The shoe and apparel companies really do not care about kids they are concerned with the bottom line. In your face ads and smack talking sport stars sell shoes. With sports on 24/7 the kids imitate their role models good and bad. We live in a throwaway world, national champion at 13, nobody at 16. Who cares? Essentially we – adults, parents, coaches and administrators have created a monster. What we see in today’s kids is the result of an over indulgent culture. We have lowered the bar, eliminated behavioral expectations and compromised sound educational principles to chase a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that is not here. So is it all l that bleak, all gloom and doom? No way! We need to stop and take a long look at what we as parents, coaches, administrators, in short the adult authority figures need to do. We need to raise the bar, set a higher level of expectation for the kids in areas that matter. I see the kids that I work with day to day achieve at a very high standard, just like the kids I coached 40 years ago. I have the same standards and they know what they are and reach up to those standards. Lets stop blaming the kids and look at ourselves in the context of society. These kids are crying out for teaching, structure, and firm fair discipline, they want the special experience that real coaching can provide. Lets not cop out and blame the kids, we all need to look in the mirror and raise our standards.
War
Just finished War by Sebastien Junger. This is a book I highly recommend. If you have a weak stomach though, don’t read. It is revealing, enlightening and very disturbing. War is horrible; there is no way around it. You follow these men for a deployment in the very remote and tactically insignificant Kerengal valley. When I was reading it I could not help but think why this men were there. The natives hated them. For me even more disturbing was seeing the degradation of the men who survived and tried to go back to a normal life. It will make you think.
Train Don’t Strain
Training is just that training, not an end unto itself. Training is a mindful pursuit of specific goals intended to prepare you for competition. Any bozo can work hard. If every workout is a test of courage, a time to put your back to the wall so that you end up puking, that is not training. Training is a cumulative process. There has to be a yin and yang to what you do. Hard days followed by easy days. Adaptation takes time. If you are straining through every workout, then there is a high probability that the adaptive response will be negative. Remember one workout cannot make an athlete but one workout can break an athlete.
That Time of Year
This is a special and in some ways a magical time of year for those of us who are involved or wherever involved in Track & Field as coaches or athletes. This is the time of year that the all the training is pointed toward, the peak competitive season, the time when you reap the fruits of your labor. It is a time of great anticipation and doubt. Doubt because you have more time to think, have I done enough or have I done too much. The real cool part of it all is that it will come out on the track or in the field. You have to lay it on the line. As a coach it is your final exam. I remember one of my athletes at Cal setting a personal best in javelin in our dual meet against Stanford, getting the measurement and running back down the runway and yelling – I am peaking, I am peaking. She was and she did, going on three weeks later to win AIAW National Championship in the Heptathlon. This is the time of year when I really miss being a track coach. This week is the Masters Meet in CIF Southern Section, wish I could be there. Next week is California State meet. I have so many great memories of the joy and the disappointment from those meets. For those of you who are coaching track now, enjoy it, be confident in your preparation and let the athletes perform. As an aside it is 75 year ago today that Jesse Owns set four world records in forty minutes. In my book he is the greatest of all time, one of the few athlete heroes that I have. I got to meet him in 1969, in my first week of coaching when he came to talk to the team at Santa Barbara High School. He was a real class act, a man who should be an inspiration to us all.
Chidren & Sports
This is a must read article http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/health/25brod.html?ref=sports by Jane Brody from today’s New York Times science section. I think she does a very nice job of summarizing the problems and issues in youth sports today.
Do you talk too much?
Well, do you talk too much? This is a coaching disease, coaches love to talk and love to hear themselves talk. I love to talk, how else could I do 16 hour seminars by myself. Is what you are saying being heard? I just finished reading a book about Harvard crew called The Eight – A Season In The Tradition Of Harvard Crew. You can’t write about Harvard crew without writing about the legendary coach Harry Parker, an icon in the sport and a true coaching icon. Here is s an observation by author after one practice: “There is largely silence. Harry has probably spoken fewer than a hundred words the entire practice. What he does mostly is watch. What the crews do mainly is wait for him to speak – and they execute.” John Wooden was the same way, one phrase corrections with specific directions, no sermons, short, sharp, exact to the point. As a reformed screamer I have learned that tone of voice is also important, if you are yelling and screaming all the time the athlete will quickly tune you out. Know what you have to say, say it, reinforce it and let the athletes execute. Empower them; after all they have to do it not you. Remember many times it is as important what you don’t say as what you do say. Ultimately your effectiveness as a coach comes down to your ability to communicate. It is not what you say it is what they hear. It not what you show it is what they see. Learn to say more by speaking less.
Fail Forward
Friday night I was watching Charlie Rose interview Craig Venter of Human Genome fame. He and his group have just created the first fully functioning, reproducing cell controlled by synthetic DNA. The statement that really got my attention was that 99% of the experiments in the project had failed! 99% I immediately thought that without the lessons learned from those failures the project would never have succeeded. There are many lessons here for us as coaches and teachers. Redefine failure as a learning opportunity. Push the envelope, as Tom Peters says, fail forward. Learn from you mistakes and failures and keep moving in the direction of the goal. Remember to reach the goal it must be crystal clear, you need a fully functioning compass oriented to true north, along with an up to date map to help you stay on course.