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April, 2009

The Facility Fallacy

Here’s how it goes.

Your club has had another poor season.

People looking for answers come up with a lot of ideas on how to improve next year.

The management team determine that what the Club needs is a new high performance facility: new stadium, new meeting rooms, new computer lab, new medical facilities, a new gym and of course the obligatory new recovery facility.

 Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

 Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

 This is the Facility Fallacy. Read more

Gold Medal Parents: Little League Players need Big League Parenting!

So you believe your child will be the next big thing in the Big Leagues?

So you think it is inevitable that your son will win an Olympic Gold Medal one day?

So you are a 100% certain that your little girl will be the next Nadia Commenici?

Gold Medal kids need Gold Medal parents.

Little Leaguers who aspire to the Big Leagues need Big League Parenting.

Are you up to the challenge? Read more

Talent Identification – What is it good for? Absolutely nothing – say it again….

 In Part one of this article on Talent Identification I discussed all the things about Talent Identification that don’t work.

 Here are some things that do and some ideas on how to do it better.

•  Leadership is about the future.
•  Management is about the present.
•  Education is about the past.

 So what’s this got to do with why Talent ID programs in the Western world are dismal failures? Read more

Life coach? Teach living!

Attention all life coaches! What are you coaching?

Seems like there are many, many life coaches and almost as many life coaching courses out there. So what exactly are you coaching?

Here’s a quote from a well known life coaching program:

“Our program will show you to help your client achieve success in business, finance, asset accumulation, financial management and wealth creation”.

Doesn’t sound like a life coach – sounds like a CPA.

The most important thing a life coach can coach is living! Read more

Finding the Right Head Coach

With all the movements and changes in the head coaching ranks these days, it is worth having a closer look at how to go about hiring the right coach. Read more

Strength Training for High Performance Sport – An Overview

It was not all that long ago when the words “strength training” and “gymnasium” conjured up images of muscle hulks and Arnold Schwarzenegger – that is before he become the Governator!

However, in recent years, strength and conditioning has gained acceptance as an applied sports science and is respected as a profession in its own right in many high performance sporting systems around the world. It has become a fundamental and integral aspect of the training and preparation of elite athletes in a wide range of sports.

This article will cover some of the contemporary issues in strength training for high performance sport and suggest some practical applications for the practicing coach.

The basic issues: Strength training or no strength training? Read more

Ten Tips to Make Sure Your End of Season Re-view is a Pre-view for Success for Next Year

Typically the end of season means a well earned rest, a few quiet drinks with team mates, some time with family and then… the end of season review.

Every team does some kind of season reflection or review – in most cases motivated by one or more “P” – Performance, Politics, Pressure. Read more

Sport Analysis and the Era of Negativity

Seems like every coach has a video, a camera, a DVD player and some analysis software these days.

Coaches spend more time behind a desk, staring at replays and performance analysis data than they do actually working and communicating with athletes and staff!

Modern analysis techniques and equipment have given us the luxury of detail- the ability to evaluate, measure and analyse performance in far greater depth than ever before.

Most analysis techniques used in elite sport evolved from research methods used in the academic world, where a wide range of analysis tools are used to systematically investigate technique, movement, skills, decision making etc as part of a the study behind a journal article, research project or thesis. 

The problem with all this analysis is that analysis, by its nature is destructive. Analysis breaks down performances, techniques, skills etc into component parts or measurable events. It looks to identify what went wrong with an athlete or team and what problems, faults and mistakes led to a poor performance. Read more

Making Sense of Testing Athletes

A renowned swimming coach was walking up and down the side of the pool working with a world record holder. A younger, relatively inexperienced coach who was eager to learn, asked, “How do you know how your swimmer is going?” “How do you know when she is ready to do her best?”

The senior coach replied, “I just know“.

Testing does not replace the skilled eye or instinctual feel of an experienced and talented coach. It aims to provide measurement and objectivity to some of the elements of performance that coaches “see” and “feel” and “know”.

This article discusses some of the current issues in the testing of high performance athletes and looks at the crucial aspects of the measurement and evaluation of elite sports performance.

The testing process: Not a one off event! Read more

It’s not the head coaches fault……not all of the time that is.

Here’s a typical football Club scenario. Pick a club – any club - any code – it doesn’t matter.

The team loses a few games, has a couple of bad seasons and the decision is made to sack the head coach.

In fact, Legend AFL Coach David Parkin once said, “There are two types of head coaches. Ones who have been sacked and ones who will be sacked”.

So the club sacks the coach, goes through a search process, finds someone else to be head coach and prepares for the next season.

Next season the team loses a few games, has a bad season and surprise surprise – the Club starts looking for another head coach.

Some Clubs have recruited and sacked several coaches over the past ten years and have not had a change in their on field performance.

Many of these same Clubs have had the same Board, CEO and management team in place throughout that same ten years.

So what they are saying is, “we are doing everything right, we have all we need to win a title, we have a great culture and leadership – all we need is a great head coach and we will be back on track”.

Is it just me or is this a really silly way to run a business? Read more

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• About this Blog

  Expert advice, ideas, innovation and inspiration for all sports coaches and team managers - from 'grass roots' through to elite and high performance levels. All posts are written by Wayne Goldsmith, AKA the "Sports Coaching Brain". If you have a question or comment about any post, please add it to the comments section.

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