Welcome Coach!
Open Lesson 1 below. Below Lesson 1 is some Bonus Material, and then the Discussion Questions follow that.
Your training begins with the three most important principles.
Lesson 1 sets the foundation— why youth sports matter and WHY coaching is more than just teaching skills.
Most Important Principles Introduced:
1. Love of the Game / Learning
2. Teach Kids to Think
3. Value PLAY
Bonus Material
We mentioned that adaptability is a core principle of PLAY. Borrowing from the material in The Power of Practice course and the module on PLAY, here are two links to view and discuss.
Earl and Tiger Woods
Earl – “I would do all kinds of things to mess him up,” trying to build concentration and mental toughness.
1B.1 What ways can you “mess with” your sport to teach your athletes mental toughness?
I will caution you that this has to be done when you have earned their trust, otherwise you’ll be just a jerk.
Frank Forencich – Heckling
One of my coaching mentors is Frank Forencich. He is the author of Exuberant Animal and Play As If Your Life Depends On It.
This “messing with you” concept he calls “heckling.” Heckling is a great way to think about practicing off balance shots. When you think about it, rarely is it the perfect form that makes the highlight reel. It’s the off-balance shot, the quick thinking response, the one-handed catch, etc… that are the source of the highlight reels we see and stories we tell and remember.
Every sport involves balance and what Frank demonstrates is a great way to experience it as a group of coaches, and something that could be put into practice. Balance is the B, as part of the ABC’s of physical literacy in any development model, so it definitely fits into the overall system you can be teaching.
If you are in-person with your group, try the heckling exercises that Frank demonstrated. You can use the linked shoulder heckling or the heckling that starts at 3:50. The progression below is for the type that starts at 3:50.
1. Staying balanced on one foot – (with a heckler providing soft nudges)
2. Switch roles
3. Trying it again, with a little more aggressive heckling
4. If you have 8 people or more, split the number of groups into two sides. Once side is trying to go north to south in the room and the other group is trying to go east to west, hopping on one foot. You can pass gracefully, or add in some heckles, if you’d like.
Thank you for investing the time to go through the CoachingClass!