Locus of Control

I recently learned about how to take the first step in becoming a person who is ready to change and grow. This first step requires a change in your emotions and logic at the same time.  Learning requires that we take responsibility for our actions. We have to stop blaming others when we are unsatisfied.

What are the forces that make a player successful or unsuccessful? What or who is responsible for reaching a goal or the failure to achieve a goal? Answer: You are. When coaching there is only one way to motivate a kid. We have to do our job and teach kids they are empowered and successful results are earned. At City Beach we train players that the Locus of Control is internal. We coach from a cause and effect perspective, your action will directly equal your results. This mean that the player has just as much responsibility as the coach.

Locus of control is a theory in personality psychology referring to the extent to which individuals believe that they can control events that affect them. Understanding of the concept was developed by Julian B. Rotter in 1954, and has since become an important aspect of personality studies.
One's "locus" (Latin for "place" or "location") can either be internal (meaning the person believes that they control their life) or external (meaning they believe that their environment, some higher power, or other people control their decisions and their life). Individuals with a high internal locus of control believe that events result primarily from their own behavior and actions. Those with a high external locus of control believe that powerful others, fate, or chance primarily determine events.


So what or who do you believe is in control? Test your perspective click here

Here are a few quotes we like:

Put your future in good hands - your own  ~Author Unknown
I was thinking of my patients, and how the worst moment for them was when they discovered they were masters of their own fate.  It was not a matter of bad or good luck.  When they could no longer blame fate, they were in despair ~Anaïs Nin

Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.  ~Norman Vincent Peale

Do your thoughts serve you well? ~ Jim McLaughlin
It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else's eyes.  ~Sally Field

It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not.  ~Author Unknown

Whether you think you can or think you can't - you are right.  ~Henry Ford
Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.  ~Peter T. Mcintyre

Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.  ~William Shakespeare

Perspectives & Motivations: Growth vs Fixed Mindset

As the season moves forward I have found that the excitement of the new team and trying to impress the coach always fades. It’s no shocker that for the player who on their own challenge themselves to change old habits or learn new ones have more good practices than bad.  Unfortunately not everyone on the team has this ability to internally motivate yet. The question is why not? I often work with the players own strategy for learning by having them define what aspect of the technique they will put their attention too. I then focus my feed back to the area they wish to emphasize. This is part of my effort to get them to leaner how to learn and to build confidence from finding success under their own power. But this strategy it's not enough to keep everyone focused from practice to practice. I find the process of learning motivating and I guess that can be said for the players who are always changing. So what is not motivating about try to change? I think part of the answer is not believing it possible or not always keeping change in perspective.

When I can give the girls a speech about growth to start most of them have a good practice. But if I don’t start with a perspective tune up I have a few people who drift into being unproductive after a few bad reps. The ultimate goal of course is that they lead themselves and each other to be productive in practice. So what thoughts do these kids have that slowly leads them to being unproductive? What can you do if your kid’s internal monologue doesn’t support the idea that change is possible? Just because I am saying growth is real and we tell them how research says that it's possible does not mean the players’ inner voice shares that understanding.

I am finding it comes down to personal perspectives. The likely hood they will find success vs. what they predict will be inevitable failure.  One of my mentor’s has a phrase he writes every where for his players to read. "Do your thoughts serve you well?" and as I get better as coach I keep gaining a better understanding of how powerful a force personal perspectives are.

A big issue I find is when players compare themselves to each others. I have talked to them about the process of change and the days that I don’t remind them that each skill is highly specific and that each person will learn and adapt at their own unique pace. I have a few kids drifting into their own default mind frame that they are just not good enough.

I got lead from Tom B. on a lesson plan that is designed to help kids learn to identify what their internal monologue.  It helps them identify what kind of thinks they tell themselves and the discussion you have will help the players understand what fixed mindset thoughts cause and it helps them learn to change it to a growth mindset.  The article and lesson were written by Jennifer Maichin and it has a power point to lead you through it with your kids.
Click here for the article

Coaching the body & mind

Here is an article about Belgian football "soccer" coach who really gets what it means to teach a player how to take ownership of their own learning. We strongly agree with Bryce Courntenay when he said "the mind is the athlete the body is simply the means it uses". I can tell this coaches does as well. In this article you can see that coach Bruyninckx has a deep understanding of progressing the stimuli players experiences as well as teaching them how to learn to solve problems them self. Often coach focus only on movements of the game or physical strength.. I believe that this has happened in part because we don't have a lot of training out there on how to train learning and how to plan practices that progress what player is mentally attentive to. This coaches is getting some great results training movements and thinking. Enjoy the read and to coach Bruynickx I say well done sir.
Click here to read the article

Hitting

Transition footwork and mechanics make or break hitters. Here are a few clips that are in a controlled setting which allows for a great look at the basics of a four step approach. A for step approach is our weapon of choice here at city beach. We have found that the 1st step (timing step) is a great way to get hitters on time and is much simpler read than waiting for the peak of the set. Take your 1st step (right foot) as you see the setter pushing the ball and the ball will get to the peak as your starting your left step. This will help you from being to early which is an epidemic in young players.

Getting a good angle of approach is immensely important. Here is a clip of players shuffling wide and driving towards the ball not the net. When you approach at an angle you gain the following.
1. Increased Range
2. Easier adjustments to balls set inside or outside
3. It's easier to hit at the peak of your jump (you become less dependant of set quality)
4. It's easier to hit it back the direction it comes from vs. clipping it from the air as it is flying past your face
5. Increased vision of the block
6. More torque in your swing

When its not possible to get wide because of the pass quality or if your just running a faster attack here is a look at a pass to hit footwork pattern.

You can also see these players attaching slow to fast and that they have no wasted arm movements

A Feel Good Video

Here is a clip of our 15 Black team winning an Open medal. It is fantastic because this team worked so hard to improve and they really improved. The camera angle is a bit wierd but I was trying to catch the emotions not the game. The camera gets alittle shake as the emotion hits me. Great job Chris, Dave & Roxy

Personal Traits

Personals personality is a huge factor in coaching. Getting to know your kids and what motivates them and what discourages or stress them is very important. Last season one of our guys Jason did a personality profile with the team as a bonding exercise and as away for them to better understand how to get the best of each other. Tom B. and I had a chat about his strategy and Tom forwarded on to me a profile test they used at his work. He thought it was pretty accurate even the things he didn't want to hear, but it was mostly correct. So I tried it back in March and I tried it again today to see if time would produce a different result. Well it came back the same and now I am left to wonder why I have so much in common with Napoleon Bonaparte, Hillary Clinton, and Margaret Thatcher. I am not sure if I will have my current team take the test (my concern being they are to young for it to be relevant) but I also don't see why I should not. If there is a chance to increase effective learning, I will take it. I would love to know what improves their drive and how to avoid being the source of frustration. So I think we will give it a try. Again I found it about 95% accurate the good and the not so good.

Click Here to take the test.

Thinking with Rick McGuire

I found an article written by Rick McGuire one of the authors of Coaching Mental Excellence. Which is a fantastic’s book and a I gain a deeper understanding every time I read it. This article captures a few points from  several chapters and also has some information not in the book. Buy this book coaches. Here are the highlights of the article.

Dr. Rick McGuire on Thinking Right in Sport

This really is what it is all about - "Thinking Right" in Sport!  We all understand that "thinking wrong" can and does hurt our sport performance.  In fact, thinking wrong thoughts - whether that means negative thoughts, distractive thoughts, inappropriate thoughts or self-defeating thoughts - wrong thoughts hurt and undermine our practice and preparations, hurt our performances, hurt our chances for achievement, and hurt our overall enjoyment and fulfillment of the sport experience.  On the other hand, thinking right thoughts - whether they are positive thoughts, focused attentive thoughts, appropriate thoughts or self-enhancing thoughts - right thoughts will help and enhance our practice and preparations, help us deliver our best performance, help us gain greater achievements, and help us find greater enjoyment and fulfillment from our experience in sport! 

This is the absolute focus of Sport Psychology - to help coaches and athletes understand and learn how to become great at "Thinking Right in Sport"- and with that, to practice and prepare better to have greater capabilities, to be ready and able to use their capabilities to deliver their absolute best performance when it is needed, to increase the probability that they will gain the outcomes and achievements that they desire, and ultimately that they will each gain greater personal pride, happiness, satisfaction and fulfillment from their sport experience, and be filled with a desire and be motivated to keep having more FUN with it all!  It really is pretty simple - wrong thoughts hurt, right thoughts help, learn the difference, learn to think right!

My Thoughts are Mine, Your Thoughts are Yours

This is the basic core understanding.  My thoughts are mine, your thoughts are yours, and our athletes thoughts are theirs. I am responsible for my thoughts, you are responsible for yours.  If I don't like some thought that I have, then I can and should change it and think something else, and if you don't like some thought that you have, you can and should change it to something better! If I am thinking 'wrong", I can change that thought to a thought that is "right".  You can do the same, and so can our athletes!

What is it to be a SuCCCCCCCess?

It is natural for coaches and athletes to want to win!  I want to win - every time!  If I could just pick it, I would pick to get the win rather than the other thing!  And, I would pick for my athletes to get the win, every time, as well.
But we all understand that we don't just get to pick to win.  We simply don't have control over all of the variables that determine who wins in a given setting or competition.  It's reality.  And, it makes sport fun!
We also understand that we still want to win, and that the very best chance we have for getting that win is to deliver our very best performance.  Anything less than our best performance will just give the others more chance to beat us.  We can control our performance, and it is critical that we are successful in delivering our very best performance!
Being a Success and Winning are closely related, really close cousins, but they are not the same!  But, to get the win that we want, we must first focus on being a SuCCCCCCCess at delivering nothing less than our very best performance.  We may not win every time, but we can be a SuCCCCCCCess first, and in doing so, give ourselves the very best chance to get the wins that we desire!

SuCCCCCCCess = Ability X Preparation X Effort X Will

This formula portrays an appropriate way, a right way, to think about SuCCCCCCCess and winning.  It defines our process for becoming a SuCCCCCCCess.

We all start with the ability that we received as a genetic gift from our parents.  This is all the raw material that we have.  We may have a lot ... or not.  But it doesn't matter what or how much we have, it only matters what we do with what we have, and it matters that we take what we have and make the most out of it!
To make the most out of our ability, we must work smart (not always hard) everyday in practice and preparation to turn our ability into greater capabilities (fitness, strength, speed, explosiveness, skills, understanding, etc.).  Through preparation in practice, we take greater control of our body and our mind to allow us to make greater use of our ability, and to have the necessary capabilities to apply to delivering our finest performance.

But having all of the capability in the world means nothing if we don't deliver that capability on demand to the performance of our task.  This only happens through great intentional purposeful effort. Sometimes that means working hard.  But sometimes it means "trying easy".  Always, it means giving the greatest effort we possibly can to delivering our very best!

Yet, sometimes in sport we find ourselves having given the greatest effort and having provided the very best performance ever, but as the finish line nears, we aren't winning ... and we want to ... but we are exhausted ... and it hurts bad ... but, we really want to!  At this point, it is imperative that we have the willingness, the will power, the will to choose to look deep inside ourselves and find some more!  We must exercise our own free will to go again, and again and again if necessary to find even more than we ever thought was there!

And if we have done all of this - taken whatever ability we received from our parents, worked hard every day to prepare that ability into greater capability, taken that capability into the arena and delivered our greatest effort to perform our very best, and when things got really tough and we thought that our tank was empty, we chose to go again and again and again to find some more - what more could we do?  Obviously, the answer is nothing!  We could not do anything more!  We did all that we could do! All we can do is all we can do, and all we can do is enough ... and that is a SuCCCCCCCess!  Understanding that focusing on and becoming a SuCCCCCCCess first is thinking right in sport, and that will lead us to the best chance for getting whatever wins we can have! 

What Are the "C's" of SuCCCCCCCess?

This makes fifteen times now that I have referred to the concept of being a SuCCCCCCCess!  Each time I see that my "spell check" indicates that I have made a spelling error.  Yet, I am certain that regardless of the spelling, a person cannot possibly experience great SuCCCCCCCess without first understanding and having some very important "C's" right in the middle of that SuCCCCCCCess.  Whether it is spelling it or experiencing it, SuCCCCCCCess doesn't happen without these "C's!  Our athletes need and want to have:
         Confidence - trust that they will deliver their best.
         Concentration - the control of the focus of their attention.
         Composure - control of their physiological and emotional arousal.
         Courage - their desire and confidence is greater than their fear.
         Commitment - final decision is made before meeting the challenge.
Each of these "C's" are critical to being a SuCCCCCCCess, and each of these are a thought!  Yes, they are all thoughts.  They are not things!  They are thoughts!  And because they are just thoughts, we can all have them in our experience, and in our athletes' experience.  Because they are each a thought, we can take Control of them and have them be our thoughts!

How do we take control of them?  It is really quite simple.  We make the Choice to have them be our thoughts.  We choose what we think!  We can choose to think in ways that help us to become and to deliver our very best!  We, and only we, can Control our Confidence, Concentration, Composure, Courage and Commitment!  And, the ONLY way that we can take Control of each of them is to first make the Choice to develop and to engage our Confidence, Concentration, Composure, Courage and Commitment!
         Control - YOU take it.
            Choice - YOU make it
This is "Thinking Right in Sport"!!

As coaches, we invest great time, effort, energy and emotion in preparing and teaching our athletes to have greater physical, physiological and motor skill capabilities so that they can experience SuCCCCCCCess.  And, we all understand and recognize the reality truth that the psycho-emotional  capabilities such as the "C's" identified here are critical for allowing that great performance and SuCCCCCCCess to be realized.
And, they don't happen by accident.  These capabilities, these "C's" are learned, just like all of the other important capabilities that coaches help athletes develop so that they can perform better and achieve more! They are learned by developing great plans, and then by daily, repetitive, patient, persistent, determined, intentional investment and effort in understanding, training and developing the skill of "Thinking Right in Sport"!
You do not need a Ph.D. to be great at this aspect of coaching your athletes.  This is not rocket science!  It just takes a little basic knowledge and understanding, the establishment of priority, strong intention, a little creative artistic genius, some empathic wisdom and good common sense.  This plan is then woven right into your current training plan, and brings you yet closer to fulfilling the stated intention of achieving thorough preparation of your athletes!

As coaches, we focus great attention on teaching and developing our athletes with greater physical capabilities, physiological capabilities, motor skills and performance strategies.  We must also recognize the basic truth and priority significance that "wrong" thoughts can undermine and stymie, even paralyze these efforts.  We must confront the reality that our mind is the gate keeper of our body.  That wrong thoughts will lock our best performance in, while right thoughts will let us get that great performance out of us, whenever we want and need it!

Great coaches are great teachers!  Athletes learn well what they are taught well.  For our athletes to become suCCCCCCCessful, we should all teach them about Thinking Right in Sport!

Growth Mindset

All too often I find that players, parents, clubs, and coaches are completely motivated by external judgments. How cool do I look for making a certain team, we look cool because they qualified (and you didn't), or worst  I had kid say "why cheer everyone knows we can't win". I hear people just dying if their team loses a game but feel 100% better if a local rival losses also. Sad.  I often think people don't care if they actually improve so long as they find a reason to feel superior to others. Its sad to think that the lessons we could be learning from our struggles are not valued.

Last club season my team experienced a loses that took us out of Junior National contention at a time when the girls had really stepped up their commitment to training and leadership. I said ladies we have worked at getting better, at adapting and this in a scientific term is what you call a result. What meaning will you take away for it? How will it change our actions? The girls had a meeting for a while and came back. They said they learned from the lose and finished our remaining tournaments a record of 26-5 in matches. I have personally seen how kids with a growth mind set can still find inner drive after what was an emotional defeat. What was great about what the girls had built was a love for improvement and a love for teammates who put in their work and got better. They always cheered loudest for each other.

To the players and parents fall in love with work ethic, a growth mindset and effort. It's how you help your team win and it's how you improve.

Here are few article that gives a great overview of growth mind set. Enjoy

Click here or here

Aaron

Wisdom

Making the Jump from Good to Great

Excerpts taken from Good to Great by Jim Collins

Have you ever wondered how some teams can get to four Super Bowls and not win a single one while others are 6-0?  The answer lies in the age old question; how do we get from good (making four super bowls) to great (winning 6 super bowls).  The Buffalo Bills had to have some good teams to win the AFC 4 times during the 1990’s, likewise the Atlanta Braves of the same era were good but not great teams.  They won 14 straight division titles but have only one World Series Championship to show for it.  Meanwhile the Yankees have won 26 World Series Championships, the Forty Niners are 5-0 in Super Bowls, this year’s Super Bowl winner the Steelers are 6-0 in Super Bowls.   What differentiates the Braves and Bills from the Yankees, Niners, and Steelers?

In his book, Good to Great—Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t, Jim Collins states that, “Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great.” He goes on to give examples by writing, “We don’t have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don’t have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life. The vast majority of companies never become great, precisely because the vast majority become quite good—and that is their main problem.” These comments are easily applied to the aforesaid sports franchises; in fact not only are Collins’ comments applicable they illuminate why some teams never get past being good and become great.  The Bills best chance to win the Super Bowl was their first one where they lost on a missed field goal as time expired, Atlanta’s only World Series win came in their 3^rd World Series appearance.  For these teams Collins’ seems to say that being good (making the Super Bowl/World Series) was enough?

Collins proposes the question, “Is the disease of ‘just being good’ curable?” If so, how? If you are like most, being good is enough and you will likely find the following information and insights too challenging to your norm. If, however, your desire is to see your team progress to greatness the following insights might prove helpful if applied. What do the ‘good-to-great companies’ share in common that distinguish them from the ‘good’ companies?  What is it that these companies are not doing, along with what they are doing, that propels them into a class of their own? How can we take the findings in Collin’s book and apply them to our teams?

Let’s take a look first at some of the key findings mentioned in Good to Great.

#1-Great companies do not bring in a hot shot new CEO but rather use a CEO trained, groomed and raised from within the company

Perhaps college and high school programs understand this best by nature of the rules and limitations of the NCAA and NAIA. High school and college programs start with a group of talented and often recruited athletes. Once in the system, it is the philosophy of the program and the strength of the coaching staff that determines success.  True, sometimes a school will try to find a better CEO (coach) in hopes of making the program great but more often than not, it is the program with consistency of staff and belief that will succeed. Also, college and high school programs have to rely on their ability to train athletes since rules prevent the best players from switching schools without great difficulty or losing a year of eligibility. Professional and youth club sports are more likely to disagree and experience a higher level of “hot shot CEO” syndrome. They are constantly trying to recruit athletes with promises of fame, fortune, success and/or glory. Without rules limiting what one club can offer a player from another club to switch, we see 14, 15-16 year old athletes subjected to the success-hungry adult. Professional teams are constantly trying to wheel and deal to get the best talent because success is money. What would happen if teams put as much energy into training and developing the talent they have and building loyalty and integrity and character into their “staff” (players) as they did in trying to bring in the next best thing? Could they progress from good to great as a program and not just have a great year or two?  At City Beach we use a specific method of training and emphasize that the coaches and their teachings are our biggest asset.  In accordance with that philosophy City Beach spends a lot of time training our coaches, we host a clinic each fall/winter for our coaches to improve their craft. We have a reading list designed to challenge our way of thinking and stretch our imaginations when it comes to our teams.  Most importantly, City Beach believes in promoting from within; City Beach pushes their coaches to be better, challenges them to make the jump from good to great by rewarding loyalty and results.  In short City Beach embodies the principle that Collins is preaching, you’re only as good as the people working for you.  One need to look no further than the New England Patriots and their incredible success in the free agency era to see that the stability in the front office and trust in the coaches and evaluators has made them the model NFL franchise.  The GM has an evaluating staff that has found a Super Bowl MVP in the 6^th round of the draft and even took a quarterback who had not started a game since high school and managed to go 11-5 with him at the helm.  The coaches trust that their system and their training methods will result in success.  Much like the Oakland A’s did in their MoneyBall heyday; the Patriots have redefined the paradigm for success.

#2-Transformation is broken down into three stages: disciplined people, disciplined thought, disciplined action. 

Disciplined people are leaders that are “a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.” And about having the right people in the right positions…sound familiar? He even suggests that getting rid of the wrong people is a key in disciplined people. Ambition in each individual needs to be first and foremost for the institution, not for themselves. Coaches and business leaders all over are trying to avoid “The presence of gargantuan personal ego that contributed to the demise or continued mediocrity of the company.”  How many teams try to ride on the coat-tails of the nation’s best player only to find they come up short of winning the championship?  Remember Michael Jordan did not win his first championship until his scoring went down and he relied on his teammates to help carry the load.  Who are these teams with the best-of-the-best losing to? They are losing to the great teams that have focused on having the right players, not always the best players. Think back to the movie Miracle?  During the movie Herb Brooks (as played by Kurt Russell) after being named the coach of the Olympic Hockey team attends a tryout put on by USA hockey.  He has already identified who he wants on the team and turns in his list about 20 minutes into the tryout.  After looking over the names the head of USA Hockey tells Brooks that he left many of the best players off the team.  Brooks responds with “I am not looking for the best players, I am looking for the right ones.”  How many times have we seen coaches fall in love with athletic ability and not look at the intangibles.  Most coaches recruit off of numbers, how tall is the player, what does she touch.  This is illustrated at the NFL Combine in a way that makes it crystal clear to anyone willing to look beyond the numbers.  Every year you have a combine phenomenon that shatters record in the 40 yard dash or lifts an unprecedented amount of weight and so on.  These players are then drafted way above where they were projected; most however do not make it in the NFL because they lack the intangibles.  We are in no way suggesting that a team of mediocre talent with great teamwork will always beat the selfish all-star team but one need only remember the Olympic Men’s Basketball team pre-2008 to see that it certainly can and does happen. 

In the disciplined thought stage, Collin’s writes “To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence. Just because something is your core business-just because you have been doing it for years or perhaps even decades- does not necessarily mean you can be the best in the world at it.”  The world of athletics is constantly changing. Rules change, philosophies change, caliber of athletes change, biomechanical understanding and training changes, etc. A good coach will do a good job regardless of change because they know how to fit the people into their system. Having done that, the teams they coach will be good. Consider the possibility that a great coach will change with their sport, continually seeking to be cutting edge without affecting their core philosophy, therefore producing great teams time after time. Good-to-great companies continually refine path to greatness with brutal facts of reality. Good to great teams must do the same thing. If the brutal reality is that what you “have always done” is not working, how comfortable are you with change? How comfortable are your players with change?  Here at City Beach we believe in an adherence to principles (core values as Collins’ calls them) combined with a willingness to change everything and anything except those principles.  The key to making such a philosophy work is the distinction between principles (which will never change) and how we do things (which is always changing).  Case in point Tiger Woods retooled his entire golf swing after winning not one but a number of major championships.   

Disciplined action is having a culture of discipline. “When you have disciplined people, you don’t need hierarchy. When you have disciplined thought, you don’t need bureaucracy. When you have disciplined action, you don’t need excessive controls.” One of the things most coaches point to as an indicator of success is team chemistry; if all players on the team are working towards the same common goal and giving it their best effort every time team chemistry is moot.  It is important to note that in order for team chemistry to be strongest teams need to have disciplined players.   Another point Collins makes is to start a “stop doing” list. “Most of us lead busy but undisciplined lives. We have ever-expanding “to do” lists, trying to build momentum by doing, doing doing,,,,,-and doing more. And it rarely works.  Those who built good to great companies, however, made as much use of “stop doing” lists…they displayed a remarkable discipline to unplug all sorts of extraneous junk.” Wow! Certainly many coaches out there feel challenged by the notion of no hierarchy, no controls, no bureaucracy. How do we keep our players and staff in line? How do we narrow the focus enough to give everyone the same vision? How do we know who is a disciplined person and who is not? Furthermore, how do we become more disciplined leaders of our companies? City Beach has created an environment where disciplined people have the freedom to be successful.  The common misconception is that when you coach at City Beach you have to follow a lot of rules, you have to write your practice out on the whiteboard, you have to do things the same way everyone else does.  While some of those ideas are true, we want coaches to write their practice plan out, we want coaches teaching the correct techniques; the idea behind these things are that we are providing coaches the needed foundations that allow them to go out there and coach.  These foundations are to the educations benefit to the player and make out practices much more effective.

Perhaps you had never thought of creating a “stop doing” list. If you were to begin a “stop doing” list what would be on it? What is the “extraneous junk” that is keeping your team good while preventing them from becoming great? Some of the things on City Beach’s “stop doing list are; stretching in a circle, coaches tossing balls to the setter during hitting lines, traditional back and forth pepper.  Instead we use a more dynamic stretch firing muscles that are used in volleyball movements, we have our hitter pass a ball to the setter and transition to hit, and we try to do three person pepper or ball control pepper where the digger digs the ball straight up then sets herself before hitting back to her partner.

So what, then, do great players have in common? Surely as coaches our lists would have some commonalities-they get plenty of rest, they work out in the off-season, they eat right, they are “coachable”, they make their teams better, they practice hard. We suggest they also do all the little things knowing there is no such thing as a little thing. This is reflected: in their mindfulness and intent in every contact of every ball during practice; in their leadership, be it with vocal inspiration or by quiet example, to always take the team in a direction it needs to go; in their willingness to humble themselves and do tedious tasks usually relegated to lesser players; in their diligent goal-setting and pursuit of achievement; in having a vision for their own personal greatness as it fits into the greatness of their team.  City Beach makes sure that players and coaches understand that excellence is achieved through a mastery of the fundamentals; excellence is in fact quite tedious and not very glamorous at all.  Like Aristotle said many years ago; “We are defined by what we repeatedly do, excellence therefore is not an act but a habit.”

What do great coaches achieve that good coaches may not pursue? A season plan as opposed to just a practice plan, a vision as opposed to just a goal, relentless pursuit of an expectation of excellence that is clearly and consistently communicated to their players; these are some of the things that separate a good program from a great one a good coach from a great coach. They help their players expand their focus on things that are critical to their programs success as well as their own. A good coach has a style that works over time and can recruit and train personnel to execute that style, a great coach can adapt system and style to fit current personnel if need be.  In coaching as in life, those that adapt are the most successful. 

Finally, what do great teams manage that good team mismanage?   Some of the things that great teams take care to manage are egos, commitment to the team and team goals, trust in each other and coaches, accountability, attention to detail.  Managing these attributes is not easy and in fact most coaches would rather not manage them at all (maybe that’s why they are stuck on good).  

Teams and companies are similar in design. The purpose in writing this article is to provoke discussion, to challenge the norms and to encourage coaches to consider how they might take their teams from good-to-great. If “execution is the missing link between aspirations and results” (Bossidy, Charan, Burck) what then can your players and team execute that will make them great and as their leader, what more can you do to get them there?

Prepared by - Manny Johnson

Thanks Manny GO BEACH! CBOD!

Motivation Strategies for Coaches

Hey Coaching Staffers
This paper has some great method and is highly transferable to the court. Cooperative goals setting and creating a path to be successful will really help our desired results. It's not perfect but it's pretty solid work. Click here

Nature vs. Nurture

I am often getting in to debates with coaches. I often get confused by coach who take a position that nature will determine the ultimate outcome of most situations. Well if nature has decided everything people waste a bunch of money on coaches. The most frequent area of this perceived coaching helplessness is when it come to guiding player to productive personal traits. This list includes attitude, work ethic, focus, and especially leadership. These traits are often called intangibles which definitely make them seem mysterious and unattainable. Fortunately for player the evidence is mounting to opposite. This is an article I found on the subject from some folks much smarter than I. Click here

Teams vs. Private lessons

These days I hear stories of players who decide not to play high school or club. They tend to say they will do one on one private lesson to stay in volleyball shape. While there can be legitimate social or personal issues that cause player to make this decision, we usually find it is due to players or parent’s egos.  No college coach wants to hear that a player’s ego gets in the way of doing what is best for development. A one on one lesson is far less effective at developing an individual as a volleyball player. In fact we often see players who perform great in a controlled drill but can’t perform at the same level in a game. The inherent predictability of lessons pails dramatically to effectiveness of random training that happens when a team plays. Whether it be 2 on 2, 3 on 3, or 6 on 6 playing and seeing all the correct visual stimuli can’t be replaced.  For all practices we seek for our drills emphasis to transfer to game situations. So what activities transfer the best?

Answer: the appropriate level of difficulty, as many game like visual & physical dynamics as possible, and high repetition.

Volleyball is a visual motor game. When a player is starting out the motor aspects (movements) require the greatest amount of attention. As a player’s movement selection and technical quality improves the visual aspects continually grow in transferable importance to performance. Eventually (after 10,000 hours) players move correctly with out thinking about controlling their movement. They move autonomously and their attention stays focused on digesting the relevant visual cues and anticipation drives their responses.   

We go through four phase of learning and competence, while one on one lesson are ok in the early phases, a small group tutor is a much better choice from beginning to much later in the learning stages.  The optional scenario for every phase is with a team and playing small group games which allow for higher rep counts or 6 on 6. Here is a quick guide to help you understand what you need as a player and when.

1. Unconscious Incompetence
The individual does not understand or know how to do something and does not necessarily recognize the deficit. They may deny the usefulness of the skill. The individual must recognize their own incompetence, and the value of the new skill, before moving on to the next stage. The length of time an individual spends in this stage depends on the strength of the stimulus to learn.

During this phase private lessons can very productive at helping a player make quicker progress. Movement techniques and deliberate movement control need to be given a high volume of feed back. In this phase fairly predictable visual stimuli allows players to put their emphasis behind motor control.

2. Conscious Incompetence

Though the individual does not understand or know how to do something, he or she does recognize the deficit, as well as the value of a new skill in addressing the deficit. The making of mistakes can be integral to the learning process at this stage.

Private training can be very valuable because the player still needs a high volume of feedback and a coach can slowly remove the predictability of the timing, location, and movement selection. That being said movement selection at the end of this phase is based on visual stimuli. We started out trying to control our movements and now that we can make them correctly from time to time. We need to pair our movements with their outcomes.

3. Conscious Competence

The individual understands or knows how to do something. However, demonstrating the skill or knowledge requires concentration.  

As a player you are now selecting actions based on situation recognition. The right move to achieve maximum results is driven by visual stimuli. This is point at which the lack of visual game dynamics begins to drastically diminish the usefulness of a one on one lesson.  The predictability of drills in the one on one lesson also drastically reduces the transfer to game situations. Practicing the same movement over and over requires not decision making. Often the timing, location, and movements are all predicated by the coach. This type of thought less drilling will not help a player learn to effectively to observe, decide, and react.  

4. Unconscious Competence

The individual has had so much practice with a skill that it has become "second nature" and can be performed easily. As a result, the skill can be performed while executing another task.  (If you ever meet this player call USA Volleyball immediately)

When a player reaches this phase they are approximately 30 years old and started playing at age 11. Playing with teammates is best at this point. Think about technique will actually reduce the quality of their performance.

“Information and movement are tightly coupled and as a result specificity of training is required in order to get meaningful learning effects.” – Savelsbergh and Van Der Kamp

Trying to make sense

Coaching is an art, and you constantly have to reevaluate which hat to wear and when. Whether it be psychologist, teacher, personnel manager, leadership facilitator,  role model, or game manager.  It can get complex quickly, and you need some principals in place to keep you on course.

We train using Gold Medal Squared methods. This means we obey the laws of motor learning and the rules of teaching for learners. But there is so much more happening in practice then just running drills. Is it being done at the pace of learner? Will it transfer to a game? There are strategies we have to employ to help kids achieve all they are capable of giving. Two major parts of the coach’s role is to helping an athlete develop a self correction strategy, as well as to guide their efforts and motivations to effective ends. Coaches have a lot of things to help kids with—for example, learning to learn, learning to lead, learning self-discipline, learning to be a teammate, learning to commit your life’s choices towards goal achievement.

That’s a lot to get done by the coach, and it’s a very long road for the athlete. Since we need to be effective at teaching at the pace of the learner, logic based principals, teaching methods and strategies are of the utmost importance. We are not big fans of making it up as you go, to quote William Edwards Deming “In God We Trust; all others must bring data” There are a few principals we have adopted like “all skills can be learned and they are not dependent on genetics” that greatly affect our coaching methods. We have a few favorite papers our coaches have read that help us in accomplish our tasks. Enjoy (aka. geek out with us)

Motor learning considerations We don't subscribe to the Mr. Miyagi style of teaching. (Wax On -Wax Off will just get you hurt if thats the training method you used to get ready for a fight)

Deliberate Practice (10,000 hours starts now!) This is also a nice article on the subject Click here 

Making them think.  Presenting challenges that are just hard enough to learn something new without going over their head is an art form.

“Effortless performance is a terrible way to learn”

What is relevant to winning. Serve, Pass, and set off the net that’s how you win matches

Little kids call for serve, but big girls call for receive 

How to Win at Rock, Paper, Scissors

By Natalie Wolchover, Life's Little Mysteries Staff Writer
15 August 2011 1:45 PM ET

 

Credit: Horst Frank | Creative Commons

In the game Rock, Paper, Scissors, two opponents randomly toss out hand gestures, and each one wins, loses or draws with equal probability. It's supposed to be a game of pure luck, not skill — and indeed, if humans were able to be perfectly random, no one could gain an upper hand over anyone else.

There's one problem with that reasoning: Humans are terrible at being random.

Our pathetic attempts to appear uncalculating are, in fact, highly predictable. A couple of recent studies have provided insights into the patterns by which people tend to play Rock, Paper, Scissors (and why). Abide by them, and you'll be riding shotgun and eating the bigger half of the cookie for the rest of your life.

According to Graham Walker, veteran player and five time organizer of the World Rock, Paper Scissors Championships, there are two paths to victory in RPS: Eliminating one of your opponent's options — for example, influencing her not to play Paper — and forcing her to make a predictable move. In both cases, Walker wrote on the website of the World RPS Society, "the key is that it has to be done without them realizing that you are manipulating them."

Rookies rock

Those two overarching strategies can be translated into executable moves, starting with the opening one. Expert players have observed that inexperienced ones tend to lead with Rock. Walker speculates that this may be because they view the move as strong and forceful. Either way, remember the mantra "Rock is for rookies," and simply throw Paper at the outset of a game to earn an easy first victory.

"Rock is for rookies" should be kept in mind against more experienced players, too. They won't lead with Rock — it's too obvious — so use Scissors against them. This throw will either beat Paper or tie with itself.

Double trouble

If your opponent makes the same move twice in a row, they almost certainly won't make that move a third time. "People hate being predictable and the perceived hallmark of predictability is to come out with the same throw three times in row," Walker wrote.

With that option eliminated, you're guaranteed either a victory or a stalemate in the next round. If you see a "two-Scissor run," for example, your opponent's next move will be either Rock or Paper. If you throw Paper, then, you'll either beat Rock or play to a draw.

Mind tricks

Like a Jedi, you can use the power of suggestion to influence your opponent's next move. When discussing a game, for example, gesture over and over again with the move that you want your opponent to play next. "Believe it or not, when people are not paying attention their subconscious mind will often accept your 'suggestion,'" Walker wrote.

This trick may work because of humans' tendency to imitate one another's actions. A recent study on decision-making in Rock, Paper, Scissors, published in the July 2011 issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found that players often imitate their opponents' last moves. Human mimicry seems to be involuntary.

Announcing your next move before a round starts also seems to be an effective mind trick, though it'll only work once. If you say you're going with Paper, for example, your opponent thinks you won't, Walker explained. Subconsciously, they'll shy away from Scissors (which beats Paper), and choose Rock or Paper instead. When you do end up throwing Paper, you'll score a victory or a tie.

Don't call it a come back

According to Walker, your opponent will often try to come back from a loss or tie by throwing the move that would have beaten his last one. If he lost using Rock, for example, he'll likely follow up by throwing Paper. Knowing this, you can decide what move to follow with yourself.

Interestingly, monkeys show the same behavioural pattern. In a study detailed in the May 2011 issue of the journal Neuron, researchers at Yale found that rhesus monkeys trained to play Rock, Paper, Scissors tended to react to a loss by playing the move that would have won in the previous round. This suggests monkeys, like humans, are capable of analyzing past results and imagining a different outcome, the researchers said Humans can take the logic one step further, by imagining what their opponents might be imagining.

Low blow

There's one more ploy to fall back on — that is, if you're willing to sacrifice your honor and integrity for a victory. "When you suggest a game with someone, make no mention of the number of rounds you are going to play. Play the first match and if you win, take it is as a win. If you lose, without missing a beat start playing the 'next' round on the assumption that it was a best two out of three. No doubt you will hear protests from your opponent but stay firm and remind them that 'no one plays best of one,'" Walker wrote. A low blow, but a smart one.

Had no idea so much strategy was possible in Rock, Paper, Scissors? The rules of the game itself may be simple, but the human mind is not.

Entertaining = athletic x dangerous

Thanks Gary

Motivation is a funny thing

I had a lucky experience on the way back from Junior Nationals when I ended up on the same flight as a parent from another club who is a well know sports figure. It just so happens several college coaches and I had spoken at Junior Nationals about this parent in regards to his coaching skill in his sport.  So in our conversation coaching came up as well as how helps his kids be successful on a team. Amazingly he tells his kid nothing about how skill performance or game decisions. He instead puts his efforts to guiding his child to finding answers for themselves. He is allowing he to make decisions for her self about herself. Encouraging an internally controlled definition of success. Building her own internal motivations to learn, give effort, and to judge for her self. Here is an article I became aware of from on of our staff (Coach Trip) In the article it talks about the effects of a parents and child's interactions and how it effects motivations. Click here to read the full article. Coaching Mental Excellence is the book he recommend to me and I strongly recommend it to you.

Motivation is a tricky thing

Thanks Mike K.

Recommended Reading

SELF IMPROVEMENT

·         Now Discover Your Strengths - Marcus Buckingham

·         The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People for Teens - Stephen Covey

·         The Power of Habit – Charles Duhigg

·         Monday Morning Choices: Go from Ordinary to Extraordinary - David Cottrell

·         Training Camp: What the Best Do Better Than Anyone Else - Jon Gordon

·         The Power of Small: Why Little Things Make All the Difference - Linda Kaplan Thaler

·         Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High - Kerry Patterson

·         Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality - Henry Cloud

·         Man’s Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl

·         Happiness Is a Serious Problem - Dennis Prager

·         Healthy At 100 - John Robbins

LEADERSHIP

·         Competitive Leadership: 12 Principles for Success - Brian Billick

·         Leadership and Self Deception – The Arbinger Institute

·         The Score Takes Care of Itself: Philosophy of Leadership - Bill Walsh

·         Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence - Daniel Goleman

·         Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ - Daniel Goleman

·         Leadership 101 - John C. Maxwell

SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY

·         Mindset: The New Psychology of Success - Carol Dweck

·         Fighters Mind: Inside the Mental Game - Sam Sheridan

·         Influencer: The Power to Change Anything - Kerry Patterson

·         Choke: What the Secrets of Getting it Right When You Have To - Sian Bielock

·         Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self Motivation - Edward Deci

·         Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience - MihalyCsikszentmihalyi

·         Nerve: Poise Under Pressure, Serenity Under Stress - Taylor Clark

·         Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us - Daniel Pink

·         Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, and the Science of Success - Matthew Syed

·         The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How - Daniel Coyle

·         Talent Overrated: What Real Separates World Class Performance - Geoff Colvin

·         Outliers: The Story of Success - Malcolm Gladwell

·         Practice Made Perfect: How Anyone Can Master Anything - Roberto Morretti

TEAM CULTURE

·         The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable - Patrick Lencioni

·         Always Compete: An Inside Look at Pete Carroll and USC Football - Steven Bisheff

·         Good to Great: Why Some Businesses Make the Leap - Jim Collins

·         Season of Life: A Football Star, A Boy, A Journey to Manhood - Jeffrey Marx

·         The Wisdom of Teams: Creating a High Performance Organization - Jon R. Katzenbach

·         Coaching Mental Excellence (chapters 1-7) - Ralph Veracchia,Rick McGuire

 

TIME MANAGEMENT

·         Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity - David Allen

Thanks to Ron, Tom, Jim, Mac and the rest of GMS crew for putting these on our book shelves.