The Amazing Art of Coaching
Brian Grasso looks at the variety of coaching styles that you may need to apply to help your athletes achieve their goals.
While it is true that you may research conditioning-based articles because you want to read about training techniques, strategies, and exercises, I cannot help but point out to you that your ability as a coach is as much dependent on your interpersonal skills as it is on your ability in the bio-motor sciences. Sports psychology gets a fascinating amount of exposure in our industry - how to motivate athletes best. Challenge their innate senses of pride; draw out their inner champions. This is great when you have a receptive athlete who wants to hear what you have to say on that level and understands how to respond. With kids though, the magic bullet does not exist. To me, the crux and primary issue of working with young athletes lie in pedagogical science as much as it does in the training application. Developing relationships with your young athletes is the most powerful thing you can do in the task of helping them create their sporting potential or adhering to a lifetime of physical activity.
It is not about 'beating the drum' through vocal inspiration with all kids. One of the biggest shortcomings I have seen with many coaches and trainers is that they play the 'vocal motivation coach' routine with every athlete they encounter. It is not prudent. In the same way that not all exercise selection, arrangement, or load is a one size fits all equation, so is the same about the interpersonal relationship building sequence called coaching. I have organized my thoughts into categories of athletes.
A. The athlete has low motivation and skill
You know this athlete. Shy, quiet, and lacking both confidence and ability. This is not the kid who will respond to a 'rah, rah - go get em' style of coaching! In my experience, I qualify the coaching style needed in this situation as 'direct'. Certainly, you take the time to make this young person feel comfortable in your group training setting. More often than not, I do this by speaking very quietly and directly to them once I have sent the other athletes on a task. Kids like this typically do not enjoy being 'spoken to' or 'singled out' in front of everyone. That is why I call this coaching style direct. Direct your questions, suggestions, and tasks to this youngster personally so that they do not feel 'on display' in front of the group
B. The athlete has low motivation but high skill
Here is where the 'rah, rah' coach can be effective. The kid is good - he/she shows great skills and demonstrates the wonderful technical ability. I have coached many athletes like this, and very often, their motivation is lost because they lack challenge. Things may have come very easily to this particular athlete, and he/she just never felt challenged. The coaching system warranted here I call 'inspire'.
In a positive and uplifting manner, challenge this young athlete to achieve more. Alter their set/repetition/sequence design by adding an exercise or increasing the sequence's difficulty. However, be wary of the talented young athlete, who lacks motivation because they have no interest in this sport anymore. I have also come across that scenario many times. A promising, talented kid is 'bullied' into sports by their parents. That is where the interpersonal skill of coaching is essential. You have to know whether you are 'inspiring' a young athlete who is just looking for a challenge or is looking for a way out of sports!
C. The athlete has high motivation and skill
I have seen so many coaches and trainers try to 'corral' athletes made up of these traits - as if they want to take credit for the child's abilities. Sheltering kids like this and imposing your will and ideas on them is just not prudent. Kids like this need to be part of the decision cycle. Demonstrate and explain exercise selection to them; work at perfecting technical proficiency, understand the goals associated with programming - and then include them in creative development.
Kids are smart people. In contrast, some need to be 'directed' others can and should be part of the coaching process. Talk to kids like this and get their feedback. Empower them to comprehend technical and exercise progression matters and then encourage them to work with you on program design. The goal of coaching is to get ALL your young athletes into this category. That is the science and art that I call athletic development. The shy and quiet kid who lacks motivation and skill - artfully finds a way to get them to this point. The young athlete who has loads of skill but lacks motivation - artfully finds a way to get them to this point.
D. The athlete has high motivation but low skill
Your job here is to 'guide'. They want to do it. They work hard at getting better. They desire to improve. Guide them. Work hard with them on technical skills. Match their eager dispositions with an equally energetic coaching style dedicated to learning and improving their skill level. Coaching is a beautiful art that you must strive to become better at. Far too often in this industry, we look at the scientific parts of conditioning only. With kids, that is not enough.
So how does this ART of coaching apply?
Points to Consider
This is not only common but also almost impossible to avoid. Whenever you bring two or more young athletes together, you are bound to see more than one personality type (and therefore need to employ more than one coaching style). When coaching a group of 2 or more athletes, restrict the tendency to have each of the athletes performing the same drill simultaneously. For example, during a standard warm-up for me, my athletes will do some basic range of movement (ROM) activities (typically through the hips and shoulders) and then proceed on to technical skills instruction. Let us say you have a group of 4 athletes. As opposed to each of them performing a hip circuit at the same time and then moving on to the next ROM activity, create 4 different exercises and segment them in such a way so that each athlete is performing a separate drill. To the casual reader, that may sound like a chaotic mess!! In actuality, it allows for a much simpler training session, an individualized approach to coaching, and a critical feature missing from many basic training sessions - instruction and explanation time.
Here's the Scenario
- Athlete 1 (low motivation & skill) - requires a 'direct' method of coaching
- Athlete 2 (low motivation & high skill) - requires 'inspire' method of coaching
- Athlete 3 (high motivation & skill) - requires 'delegate' method of coaching
- Athlete 4 (high motivation & low skill) - requires 'guide' method of coaching
Warm-up Routine
- Hip Circuits - 2 sets/leg, 3 reps/exercise
- Prone Bridge with Leg Lift - 3 sets, 5 reps/leg
- Shoulder Circuit - 3 sets, 4 reps/exercise
- Hurdle Walk-Over - 3 sets, 10 hurdles
Sequence and flow
First off, bring the whole group together and explain what the task of the day will be. Address each participant individually by name and welcome them. Explain what the training session will look like for the day and encourage verbal and non-verbal compliance.
Then TEACH!
I have long maintained that every development program must begin with an introductory or assimilation phase for the young athlete. The bulk of your primary teaching should fall into this category. At the beginning of each training session, the teaching component should be reminder-based or build off previously taught skills. Take 5 to 7 minutes to teach each of the four warm-up drills. Please explain why the athletes will be performing these drills and why they are essential and yes do this with even young pre-adolescents. You are building a long-term approach to their development and need to invest the time to acquaint them with your system.
Even young kids are 'teachable' given the proper application of a stimulus. Once the teaching time is done, assign them each to an exercise. Now, you have the time to flow and work with each of them individually on correct body alignment, movement habits, and exercise adherence. Because they are all doing different things, you can apply the proper coaching style to each individual.
Application
- Athlete 1 (direct) - Hip Circuit
- Athlete 2 (inspire) - Prone Bridges
- Athlete 3 (delegate) - Shoulder Circuit
- Athlete 4 (guide) - Hurdle Walk-Overs
Coaching Cues
Athlete 1 - Get down to his level (which would be on your knees given the 'Hip Circuit') and quietly let him know what a good job he is doing. Ask him if he has any questions about what he is doing. Chances are, if he did have questions, he would not have asked them when the entire group was together. The key here is the tone of your voice - be patient, relaxed, and easy-going.
Athlete 2 - 'Seriously Johnny, that is even better than last week!' 'You are making this look easy, let me show you a more challenging method because I know you can do it!' Remember, they have low motivation, but high skill - Encouraging and challenging are good methods to employ.
Athlete 3 - Ask him what he thinks. 'How does it feel?' 'Are you feeling good with that today or do you want to switch it up a little?' 'What do you think we could add to it?' Delegate some of the responsibilities of their training to them and help them make it work. Empower them to seek out and create new ideas.
Athlete 4 - Verbally reward their effort and work to make them understand the movement better. 'That looks great, Sally!' 'Now, you see how your left leg is pointing out to the left when you go over the hurdle? How can we fix that?'
This flow and coaching sequence can be taken through the entire workout - even through your movement and strength skill portions. Create and segment the exercises, including a teaching component preceding each portion and apply the appropriate style of coaching to each athlete. Keeping these coaching principles in mind, how do you ensure technical development in your young athletes?
Where to start
A young athlete's initial exposure to a new technique is critical. It must be presented in such a way that creates intrigue and excitement within the athlete but does not overexpose him or her to too much information or stimulus all at once - there is a fine line between teaching what is appropriate and can be retained versus what amounts to too much exposure of a given task and its progressions.
The problem with youth conditioning
Too much exposure at the beginning of a training program is counterproductive to an optimal ending. Children can easily become overwhelmed by Trainers, Coaches, and Parents when they are taught complex technical skills in one training session or a short period. The most critical problem in the youth training and sports industry is the overzealousness perpetuated by many Trainers and Coaches (and facilitated by many Parents) in terms of gaining skill in a given technical exercise. We must create visionary-based teaching methods that are scripted and systematically progressive and work towards instilling a lifelong adherence to a particular skill or exercise. Our culture is based on a gratification system - we strive to see results now even if the act of trying to create results in the short-term proves to be contradictory to the science of motor development and blatantly less beneficial than a more holistic and long-term approach.
Important Considerations
The following list is a few suggestions to remember when creating an initial lesson plan to teach a new technical exercise: Speed, Agility, Strength & Sports skills.
Be wary of the current state of fitness your athlete(s) possess. We often look to 'run' our young athletes through new technical exercises without being conscious of how tired they may be getting. This is a common mistake that I see all the time - when the central nervous system (CNS) becomes fatigued, attention to technical merit is reduced. It becomes impossible to learn and retain a skillset under the duress of fatigue. Remember that technical development in terms of speed mechanics, agility, strength or a specific sporting skill is a process of systematic acquisition. This acquisition begins with a foundational introduction and is then progressed more specifically to adherence on a very functional level, including increases in speed and external environmental considerations such as opponents and teammates.
Emotional Considerations
Young athletes who are bored or too excited will not gain a new technical skill at an optimal level. This is where your ability as a Coach becomes essential, as does your capacity for creating well-designed lesson plans. When the lesson plan is made with the athlete's physical skill and emotional temperament in mind, it will have a 'just right' feel. Young athletes who lack motivation and skill, for example, will not respond to being put on display in front of their fellow athletes, nor will they adhere to a skill that is presented too quickly or involves too many progressions. You want each of your young athletes to walk away from your training session perfectly comfortable and happy with what they just learned.
Your physical ability
Young athletes learn in a variety of manners - one of which is visual. Being able to demonstrate an exercise or skill adequately is often crucial to a given athlete's ability to comprehend and reproduce that skill. However, the key to this demonstration is the 'relating factor' it has on your athletes. Far too often, Trainers and Coaches will demonstrate a skill in a way that their young athletes cannot relate to - too fast, for example. In one case I have seen, the Trainer enjoyed performing skills at an increased rate as a means of 'showing off' to the athletes he was coaching. Nothing positive is gained from this. Your athletes may admire you, but you have not shown them anything of value with their skill development. In whole-part-whole teaching methods, you certainly want to show what the skill looks like at high speed and with excellent technical ability, but you must break the skill down to its finer points and begin teaching from the foundation.
Action Steps
Take a piece of paper and write out where you want your athlete(s) to be in 1, 2, or 12 months. For example, they should possess techniques, poundage they should be lifting or sporting skills they should have acquired. After that, write out how many training sessions or practices you have with your athlete(s) over the next few weeks and begin creating a lesson plan for each session. For you to take your athlete(s) to X, what steps and skills must be taken now?
Create your lesson plans based on a progressive system of development and keep with the items listed in this article.
Article Reference
This article first appeared in:
- GRASSO, B. (2007) The Amazing Art of Coaching. Brian Mackenzie's Successful Coaching, (ISSN 1745-7513/ 42/ May), p. 1-3
Page Reference
If you quote information from this page in your work, then the reference for this page is:
- GRASSO, B. (2007) The Amazing Art of Coaching [WWW] Available from: https://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/scni42a1.htm [Accessed
About the Author
Brian Grasso is the President of Developing Athletics, a company dedicated to educating coaches, parents, and youth sporting officials throughout the world on athletic development concepts. Brian can be contacted through his website at www.DevelopingAthletics.com