It’s not Conditioning It’s Training, as long as…
It’s not conditioning it’s training, and not even training, if we are not teaching. Conditioning is Pavlovian. That is, every time I do this, they do that. That’s not training. It’s brain-washing, manipulating, mechanizing, automacizing. Is that what we are really after when we hold practice to prepare them for the upcoming contest? Training is […]
The Most Powerful Advice I Ever Received: “Just because it failed doesn’t mean you’re a failure”
Just because it failed, doesn’t mean you’re a failure. I heard this for the first time when I was in my early 20’s. Having completed an arduous laboratory experiment which required many repetitions over weeks of work, I could draw a conclusion about my hypothesis: it was wrong. Trial after trial proved my result: negative. […]
Give the Gift Kids Will ‘Die’ For (adult supervision discouraged)
The force is strong in these two! The force of fun, that is. You want to know their secret? NO adults told them to do it. I took this very same die (in gender-neutral lime green) into the fourth grade classroom at a local elementary school this week. The second I walked in, all heads […]
Bringing Out Their Best: motivation as art and story
Once upon a time there was a little girl. She could really catch and really throw, but the thing she could do best was hit. Every time up, she swung that bat and sent the ball way into the outfield. One day, Coach said, “Wow! How do you do that?!” “I don’t know,” the girl […]
Deep Practice: The Secret Weapon the Caterpillar Teaches
Everyone who has ever played the game well remembers the day it felt effortless. Smooth on the club, crisp in the hands, the timing is perfect, the loft just right, the backspin just so: swoosh, woosh, bam, pop. Even the sound confirms you’ve found the sweet spot. You’re in the zone. It’s a deceptive thing, this […]
Coaches Teach By Keeping It Simple, Thanks Mike Jorden
“Those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach.” Have you heard the expression? I used to chuckle at it. I thought, Ha, that’ll be the day. When I can’t do it anymore. “It” meaning play all-out, compete with the best, throw my body into the fray without a care in the world. Well, that day […]
Teaching Throw ins: Kids Learn by Doing, Not Watching
Kids don’t learn by watching. They learn by doing. It was amazing to me that these 8 and 9 year old boys stood so politely watching their coach demonstrate and listening to their coach describe what they are to do with their throw ins. The coach was kind and pleasant and fun, but he went […]
Deny distractions by simplifying the skill
Help players defeat the distractions by highlighting the important steps in the skill and communicating them patiently and effectively. Demonstration by the coach is rarely an effective teaching method.
The key to youth sports success: compete don’t compare
Dear Fellow Sports Parent, What do you want your child to get from playing sports? Why do you sign him up? Drive him around? Go to his games? Cheer him on? Why do we go to the trouble? Because we want to give him the things that sport has to offer: healthy exercise, skill/coordination, confidence, […]
