Monday, February 10, 2025

Adding Value

Sport is open source. What hard-won lessons can add value for players and coaches? 

1) Everyone benefits from coaching. Atul Gawande, an experienced, highly-trained surgeon shares how hiring a senior surgeon to oversee his surgery improved his skills. 

The AI take from Claude.ai, "The piece challenges the notion that medical professionals should be completely autonomous once they complete their training. Instead, it suggests that ongoing coaching could lead to better patient outcomes and continued professional growth."

What is the 'right way'? Whatever your current coach wants is right. 

2) Reach out and get help. John Donne wrote, "no man is an island," and Coach John Calipari has an advisory group his "Personal Board of Directors" with whom he meets periodically for perspective and input.

This also includes networking in order to help players succeed after they leave our program. 

3) Be your own 'guy' because you can't be anyone else. Pete Newell said of coaches who install their coach's systems that it often results "in a poor copy of the original." Mr. Rogers reminded, "look for the helpers." 

4) "Every day is player development day." - Coach Dave Smart  Player development impacts players powerfully. Invest time in learning the wide variety of player improvement avenues - skill, strategy (including video study), physical training, and psychology/resilience.

Player development improves encouragement of, monitoring, and enhancing academic performance. 

5) "Give and get feedback." Feedback-rich coaching gives us a chance at sustainable competitive advantage. Without feedback, we cannot be our best and cannot know whether players are informed. With hard conversations, always have another adult present

6) Learn every day. "Be a learn-it-all not a know-it-all" says Kevin Eastman. Keeping a journal or a 'commonplace book' helps us with our growth and our players'. 

7) "Read. Read. Read. Read. Read." Read widely. The differences between the person we are now and whom we become in five years are the people we meet and the books we read. 

It doesn't cost a fortune to read. Local and area public libraries often have "free" online books available to borrow. I use BPL.com (Boston Public Library) and area apps "Libby" and "Hoopla." 

8) Seek balance. Coaching is a demanding and sometimes obsessive profession. Care of our family and self-care can both suffer under coaching and playing demands. 

9) Improve our teaching. Multiple free or low cost resources are out there. I took the free Coursera course, "Learning How to Learn." Doug Lemov's book, "Teach Like a Champion," is great. Dr. Fergus Connolly's "Game Changer" is another wonderful resource. Artificial intelligence also is a teaching resource. 

10) Adopt a 'growth mindset'. Our mindset influences how we model excellence. There's no secret sauce. Explore different techniques, ask  questions, and track our progress by soliciting feedback. People can embrace, modify, or ignore our advice because they have something that works better for them. "Are we building a program or a statue?" 

Lagniappe. The message repeats, "great players are great athletes." 


A pair of MVB standouts, Sadie Jaggers and Leah Fowke, check in from Pitt. 

 

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