Sports Coaching Brain » Coaching Tips

Coach = Athlete = Coach

Wayne Goldsmith — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 07:12:09 +0000

Apply the same standards and expectations to yourself as you expect from your athletes.

One more time, just in case you didn’t get it.

Apply the same standards and expectations to yourself as you expect from your athletes.

Think about it. How can you coach at your best and provide quality coaching services to talented athletes when your own standards and what you expect of yourself is LESS than what you expect of your athletes?

What are the top five expectations you have of your athletes?

To love what they do – to be passionate about their sport: training and competition.
To accelerate their rate of learning so they can learn as much as possible in the shortest possible time – they learn faster, they improve faster.
To look after themselves – physically, mentally and emotionally – to stay healthy.
To aim to do their best in everything they do – to strive for excellence – to always seek to improve.
To take time off to rest, recover and regenerate.

So, do you ask the same of yourself?

No? So what you are saying is:

“I don’t need to be passionate, I don’t need to keep learning, I don’t need to stay healthy, I don’t need to seek continuous improvement, I don’t need time off BUT……..I can still coach better than anyone!”

Rubbish.

A fundamental rule of coaching – one that it is at the core of every great coach / athlete relationship is that it is a PARTNERSHIP. The athlete and the coach work together as a team to achieve common goals: to turn dreams into reality.

They strive together to find new and better ways to improve performance and accelerate progress.

And, like any partnership, if one partner is not contributing to the success of the team, or moving forward in the same direction and at the same rate, the partnership starts to break down.

The FORMULA ONE car analogy is done to death but in this instance it is highly relevant.

You can’t put a state of the art, latest technology engine in an F1 and expect a great performance from the car UNLESS you match the quality of the engine with the state of the art / latest technology gear box, suspension, brakes, tyres, fuel etc etc.

So it is with a talented athlete. The athlete is the “state of the art” and can take their sport to new levels of excellence. But if you are surrounding the state of the art athlete with old thinking, last year’s training programs, poor equipment and lazy coaching, neither the athlete (nor you) will achieve optimal performance potential.

So how do you turn this around?

COACHING LESSONS:

When an athlete comes to you for coaching and has set their goals high, e.g. AFL professional player, Olympic gold medal, world record holder, represent Australia etc – SET YOUR OWN GOALS HIGHER!
Aim to accelerate your own rate of progress and learning faster than the rate of change in the sport – i.e. stay ahead of the sport.
Be a FUTURIST – think about where the sport is going. Visualise it clearly and see it accurately in your mind. Then work hard to get there first!

Wayne Goldsmith

50 Ways to Enhance your Coaching Performance in High Performance Sport.

Wayne Goldsmith — Tue, 18 May 2010 03:56:54 +0000

: fifty from Crestock Stock Images

Recently I got an email from someone saying, “Hi Wayne. You seem to have a lot to say about what people are doing wrong in high performance sport. How about you “put your money where your mouth is” and post a list of things people can do to enhance the performance of their athletes, teams and programs.”

OK. I did.

Train harder;
Train smarter;
Train harder and smarter;
Improve your leadership skills;
Consistently out-prepare everyone in your competition;
Dream bigger;
Believe in yourself;
Back yourself;
Get up faster when you are knocked down or face adversity;
Get tougher mentally;
Never accept the first “no” from a sports administrator or bureaucrat - just fight harder;
Become outstanding at finding and retaining talented athletes;
Develop the most creative thinking skills in your sport: the best ideas win;
Be more passionate about success than anyone else in your sport;
Never become complacent: success is a moving target;
Enthusiasm, passion, desire and attitude are contagious diseases: are yours worth catching?
Use sports science intelligently, effectively and with intent;
Get to know your athletes better than they know themselves;
Collaborate with your athletes - don’t coach at them;
Listen;
Take care of your own health – physical, mental and spiritual;
Be committed to intelligent change and continuous improvement;
Make friends far more often than you make enemies;
Develop a network of coaches in other sports and speak with them regularly;
Leave your ego at the door - ego kills progress and limits creativity;
Read books by great leaders, great thinkers and great philosophers: there are lessons to be learnt everywhere;
Go back and read Number 1 on this list again – you have to work harder than anyone else;
There are no short cuts: anything promising double figure improvement (e.g. 10% or more) in high performance sport is more fictitious than Lord of the Rings and you aren’t a hobbit;
Develop a group of close friends outside of your sport and don’t talk to them about sport;
Sleep and eat well everyday;
Find a sports science network group who respect you, want to collaborate with you and will grow with you;
Adopt an integrated approach to identifying and developing talent: physical, mental, technical, tactical, cultural and genetic;
Teach one new lesson to every athlete every day;
Give and seek feedback often;
Hate losing – but learn from it, grow from it and improve as a consequence;
Take smart risks with your program, your ideas and your coaching;
See an athlete’s parents as partners in performance not as adversaries or just paying clients;
Create the culture you want to coach in: start with your own attitude then “infect” everyone around you;
Accelerate your learning faster than your opposition: from learning comes change, from change comes improvement, from improvement comes winning;
Take up another passion - i.e. other than your sport – to focus your mind and intelligence on;
Get to know the techniques, skills, rules and regulations of your sport better than anyone in the world;
Learn from the legend coaches of your sport - to see further than giants, you must stand upon their shoulders;
Keep records, refer back to them often and learn from them: those who do not learn from the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them;
Find a mentor - someone whose skills, knowledge, experience, attitudes and philosophies are complimentary (i.e. different) to your own;
Find someone to mentor: nothing teaches like teaching;
Become a master of the Internet, social networking and all current forms of communication: communicate the way your athletes want to be communicated with;
Don’t think, speak or act in absolutes.…there is no such things as “always, “never”, “must” and “only” in high performance sport: challenge everything!
Learn enough about sports science, sports medicine, technology and strength and conditioning to look your staff in the eye and challenge them with a level of credibility and understanding;
Hire intelligently: hire on attitude and passion, then train the skills you need;
And number 50………an oldie but a goodie….never, ever give up. Persistence and perseverance usually beat talent, money, facilities and potential.

There you go.

What are your top 50? Let me know – let’s see if we can add another 500 to my list!

Wayne Goldsmith

The Five Stages of Coaching: Going from Beginner to the Best Coach You can Be.

Wayne Goldsmith — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:36:38 +0000

: backet from Crestock Stock Photography

There are coaching courses, coaching workshops, coaching programs, coaching presentations and coaching seminars.

There are mentoring programs for coaches, professional development programs for coaches, training programs for coaches and a million and one degrees, certificates and accreditation programs for coaches.

But what is coaching and what does it take to get really good at it?

What is great coaching?

And would you even recognise it even if you met it over a nice red wine and dinner?

Forget all this Coaching Accreditation Level 1-10 rubbish. Ignore this Diamond Coaching License stuff.

All coaches – sport coaches, life coaches, business coaches and even those who coach the coaches (and those who coach the coaches who coach the coaches) go through five stages of coaching from beginning to brilliance.

Stage One (zero to one year of coaching): Basic Coaching- Your first stage of coaching is about the basics – learning the first, simple coaching concepts. Not only do you know nothing about coaching at this stage but you don’t know what you don’t know and you probably don’t even know that you don’t know that don’t know.

Stage Two (one year to five years of coaching): OSFA – One Size Fits All Coaching – At Stage two you have developed one coaching solution to every problem. For sports coaches, this usually means to do more - i.e. to add volume to the training program in the belief that if some is good then more must be better. With Life coaches and Business coaches, their one size fits all approach is usually applying Neuro-Linguistic Programming (or one of the many similar coaching ideologies that were the basis of their initial training) to all people and all situations. You are convinced that your way is the only way and the only way that your athletes (or clients) will succeed is to follow your OSFA philosophy. To a coach with a hammer, every problem is a nail!

Stage Three (five years to ten years of coaching): Many Solutions to Every Problem Coaching – You begin to realise that people are unique and as such you need different “tools” to help them realise their potential. NLP might work for some people on some occasions but not for other people on other occasions. More endurance training might help with fitness but it does nothing for skills, decision making, speed, attitude, technique, tactical development or leadership. So you develop a wide range of knowledge, skills, techniques and abilities to help your athletes (clients) achieve success.

Stage Four (ten years to twenty years of coaching): No Surprises Coaching – When you get to this stage in your coaching, you have very few problems or challenges because you have the experience and the skills to see them coming well in advance and have proactively taken steps to avoid them. You may even deliberately create problems so that your athletes (clients) have to find solutions and learn by doing.

Stage Five (over twenty years of coaching): Collaborative Coaching - and at stage five, you don’t even need to coach….you guide, you mentor, you teach and work collaboratively with your athletes to help them solve their performance problems. You form a coaching and learning team with your athletes (clients). You share, you learn and collaborate for mutual benefit and aim to help each other accelerate learning (and progress).

Now here’s the most exciting part of this post………you can go from Stage One to Stage Five in twenty minutes…not twenty years and bypass all the hard work, trial and error, heartbreak, tears, tragedies, turmoil, freak-outs and frustrations.

How????

See my next post: The Future of Coaching: Creativity, Collaboration and Coaching.

Wayne Goldsmith

Teaching Skills – A Performance Focused Approach to Teaching Skills.

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 06:11:11 +0000

What’s the difference between learning sports skills to play sport and learning sports skills to win in competition conditions?

Playing the sport is about learning and executing the skills of the sport.

Winning in competition is about executing skills to a high level of mastery, at high speed, in fatigue conditions and under pressure and consistently making the right decision about when, where and how to execute the skill.

So, why do so many coaches insist on teaching the basic skills without progressing them from playing level to performance level?

When you think about it, athletes move through six different levels of skills development:

Skill level 1: Initial Learning - The athlete learns the skill; This first level is all about optimising learning through creating an environment where athletes want to learn and are genuinely engaged with the learning process. The faster and more effectively athletes can learn, the faster they can develop and improve;
Skill level 2: Skill Mastery - The athlete masters the skill; Perhaps the greatest challenge for coaches in this century – creating a learning environment where athlete’s are engaged in and committed to the learning process to a point where they willingly repeat the skill in a high quality practice until it is mastered;
Skill level 3: Add Speed - The athlete masters the execution of the skill at high (competition level) speed; All sports – maybe with the exception of darts, lawn bowls and chess – require mastery of skills execution at high speeds;
Skill level 4: Add Fatigue - The athlete masters the execution of the skill at high speed when fatigued; There must be a million research studies on the impact of fatigue on the accuracy and quality of skills execution – there is no disputing the fact that as athletes get tired, their skills will show signs of fatigue and failure. So creating practice situations which demand excellence in skills execution with the on-set of fatigue is vital;
Skill level 5: Add Pressure - The athlete masters the execution of the skill at high speed when fatigued and under pressure; The biggest different between amateur sport and professional sport is the level of pressure. Professional athletes must be able to consistently execute quality skills under the glaring eyes of fans, sponsors, media and coaches whilst performing at the highest level of their sport. It makes sense then to create practice situations where players are required to demonstrate technical excellence under pressure;
Skill level 6: Make the right execution decision - The athlete masters the execution of the skill at high speed when fatigued and under pressure and consistently makes the right decision about when, where and how to execute the skill; In this final skills development level, successful athletes consistently demonstrate technical excellence at the “right” time. That is, they are able to execute technically excellent skills fast, when fatigued and under pressure but most importantly they execute skills at times which create a performance advantage for themselves, creates a performance disadvatange for their opposition or both.

And here is an important skills teachning issue we all fail to address.

Often in competition, skills are not executed in “textbook” fashion. Particularly in team sports – and specifically in football codes, hockey, basketball, netball and contact sports where opposition players are applying physical and mental pressure on players and their ability to execute skills, the art of skills improvisation becomes important.

How many times do professional players execute an effective pass or a kick or tackle or scoring shot while standing on one leg, bent at the hip 45%, with one eye closed and three players climbing on their back? In pressure situations, often it is not the technical excellence of execution but the effectiveness (outcome) of execution under pressure. It may not look pretty…but it worked!

So the question is again – are we preparing athletes to perform “textbook” quality skills or are we preparing them to win on the field, on the court, on the track and in the pool? Do we – and how do we practice winning “ugly” – i.e. being effective with improvised skills execution?

So, the challenge for all coaches is to look at their skills practices and learning programs and ask themselves:

“Am I teaching the athlete to execute the skill or am I teaching the athlete to execute the skill in competition conditions?”.

If the answer is “in competition conditions” then ensure your skills practices progress learners from the basic skill learning to the mastery of skills execution in performance situations.

You wouldn’t send an athlete into a game only partially fit.

You wouldn’t send an athlete into a race only partially flexible.

Yet sending an athlete into the “battle field” without ensuring that their skills execution will withstand the challenges and demands of competition conditions is only partial preparation.

We’ve all heard the rhetoric – “train the way you want to play”.

We all know it’s right.

Why aren’t we doing it?

Wayne Goldsmith

The Rugby Union and Rugby League Guaranteed to Succeed Game Plan

Wayne Goldsmith — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 22:39:56 +0000

Is it just me or does it seem like every coach involved in rugby league and rugby union has the same game plan?

With all the money spent on coaching, analysis, technology, video, training programs, performance enhancement, player development, facilities, equipment, ball technology, strength training, conditioning, wrestling, leadership development, boots, nutrition, psychology, protein supplments etc etc you would think that rugby league and rugby union would be havens for innovation, creativity and genius.

So why does it seem like every team, every coach and every player is reading from the same play book when it comes to game plans?

Here it is – the 10 step game plan for every rugby league and rugby union team in the world:

“First we need to muscle up and dominate them in the forwards”.
“We then need make sure we get plenty of ball (possession) and hang on to it”
“We have to dominate the ruck, breakdown and collision areas“
“We have to be aggressive in our defence – really committed – and work as one team in our defensive line – it’s all about attitude”
“Once we have dominance in the collision areas, we can start spreading the ball wide and look for opportunities”
“We got to work hard off the ball and support each other“
“No mistakes – no penalties – let’s not give them anything”
“Keep talking out there – everyone needs to be communicating”
“When we kick the ball in general play, everyone needs to chase hard“
“And above all guys, stick to the game plan“

Sound familiar? That’s pretty much the game plan for every game in both codes at all levels played anywhere in the world.

I have been really lucky to have been involved both codes at the highest level for the past five years – NRL level here in Australia and Super Rugby and Wallabies level in Rugby. I have been fortunate to work with some outstanding football brains and innovative coaches in both codes so why is it so they all do the same stuff?????……could it be that:

Rugby League and Rugby Union are really simple games? Possibly.

Coaches like to keep it simple for players to understand? Could be.

Coaches are all issued a common master play book during their coach education program and they read from it for the rest of their professional careers? Maybe.

However, the most likely answer is that for all intents and purposes the codes and the games are pretty much the same.

Sure – officianados and zealots from each code will argue about the “amateurs vs professionals days” and the “private school vs public school” stuff and the skill level required in one code is much higher than the other code etc etc.

But in reality every game in Rugby League and Rugby Union is about getting the ball over the line. To do this you need to get the ball off the other team, hang on to it and stick it over the opposition’s line as often as possible.

The rest is detail. But there is a massive industry built around that detail. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on figuring out that detail and implementing it in games all over the world.

You have to ask, if both codes are relatively simple in nature and have the same basic game plan, where does all the money go?

Have we overcomplicated both codes for no reason other than we can - that is, because we have the time, the money, the technology and the science to make something simple really complicated, we do?

This is something for greater footy brains than mine to think on.

Let me know what you think. If you have a game plan which is significantly different to the above, please send it to me – I live to learn.

Wayne Goldsmith

Improve your Coaching by NOT Coaching

Wayne Goldsmith — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 23:51:09 +0000

You read right – improve your coaching by NOT coaching.

Coaching improves performance.

But too much coaching – over coaching – can have a negative influence on performance.

Who OVER coaches?

Typically five types of coaches OVER coach:

Young, inexperienced coaches who are trying too hard;
Coaches who lack real belief in themselves and who try to make up for it by giving too much information. These coaches will often want to be liked – and feel the more coaching they do, the more the athletes will like them;
Coaches who lack belief in their athletes and feel the need to control every element of preparation and performance;
Coaches who are being evaluated or assessed and aim to impress by being SEEN to control every element of the training session, i.e. they believe that great coaching is talking more;
EGO driven coaches who see athletes / players as a vehicle to promote themselves and their reputations.

There are many problems associated with OVER coaching. Here are just ten:

All sports require athletes / players to take responsibility for decision making and problem solving in competition. A coach who has not allowed athletes to make decisions in training is setting them up to fail.
All sports require athletes / players to drive their own performance in competition. A coach who does not allow athletes / players to take responsibility for their own performance in training has not prepared them to win in competition.
Over coaching assumes the athletes / players can not contribute anything to the performance. In reality most of what we learn as coaches is from working with, listening to and observing athletes.
Over coaching says “This is my team, my performance” – whereas most successful teams are ones where the coach leads but the athletes / players drive the performance: ownership of the performance is shared.
Giving too much information at inappropriate times can confuse athletes / players causing them to make errors and bad decisions.
Coaching is about creating independent athletes / players. Over coaching creates a dependence on the coach for decision making and problem solving which is performance suicide.
Over coaching stifles creativity and on field genius. Quality Coaching should provide opportunity for creativity and genius to be expressed through great performances.
Over coaching creates frustration in the athletes / players and assistant coaches, staff etc. Everyone in the performance team can contribute to the success of the group if given the right opportunity.
Over coaching can create anxiety and pressure - particularly when the over coaching comes in the final few days before a big competition. As a general rule, coach LESS as the competition gets closer.
Over coaching can send negative messages to the athletes / players of “panic”, e.g. like “We have not done the preparation we need to be successful so I am going to keep coaching until the last minute”.

So how can you avoid OVER COACHING?

Believe in yourself – all great coaching flows from self confidence and self belief.
Be SELFLESS – the opposite of selfish. Put the athletes / players first – and your own ego in your back pocket.
Coaching is a performance partnership. The more faith and belief you place in your athletes / players, the more you can both grow and improve.
Empower athletes / players to make decisions, make errors, solve problems, learn and grow in training. Provide them with a wide range of training experiences to teach better decision making.
Accept that all coaches – regardless of their level of performance and experience are LEARNERS. It does not matter if you have coached athletes to five gold medals at the Olympics or are a six times Premiership winning coach – coaching is life long learning and a career of ongoing development. Accept this – and the humility that comes with it.

Quality Coaching – Less is More.

Wayne Goldsmith

Reverse Coaching – Coaching in Reverse.

Wayne Goldsmith — Tue, 26 May 2009 05:45:31 +0000

Coaching is one thing.

But Reverse coaching?

What the heck is Reverse Coaching? Has this Sports Coaching Brain guy gone completely mental?

Reverse coaching is an interesting concept that has probably been around as long as coaches have been coaching and as long as coaches have been coaching coaches how to coach: it’s just that no one has given it a name yet.

Reverse coaching is doing the opposite of what you would think would be the logical thing to do in a coaching situation (isn’t there a Seinfeld Episode about this??????).

Reverse Coaching Example 1:

Coaching situation: Playing a really great team in the next game:

Logical coaching decision: Over coach. Spend as much time as possible with the athletes. Go through every little detail with a fine tooth comb.

Reverse coaching decision: Do the opposite.

Why? Players are usually able to motivate themselves for a real competition. There is no need to over coach – to spend extra time working on all the minutiae of every aspect of the game. Players will know what it’s going to take to win against quality opposition and don’t need some lunatic with a stop watch, video player and a laptop in their face 24/7.

In tough situations against quality opposition, the players want a coach who is calm, composed, relaxed, confident and in control.

Reverse Coaching Example 2

Coaching situation: Athlete makes the Olympic team after winning their event at the selection trials

Logical coaching decision: Work harder, buy some new equipment, change training and preparation and tapering to find an edge to win an Olympic Gold Medal.

Reverse coaching decision: Do the opposite.

Why? You would think it is logical to work harder once you make the Olympic team as you try to find a few milliseconds or millimetres and be in medal contention.

Yet, experienced campaigners at the Olympics tend to change very very little between their selection event and the actual Games. They rely on the program that got them into the team to begin with and make only small tweaks and changes to things like training, tapering, equipment, diet and recovery. They trust in their program, their coaching and themselves and stick to the core principles that have got them into the Olympic team and focus instead on the mental aspects of performance like relaxation, dealing with pressure, confidence and composure.

There is no way to explain Reverse Coaching – it isn’t in the text books. No one has researched it. No one teaches it.

Wisdom comes from judgement - making the right decisions at the right time.

And judgement only comes from experience.

A lot of this Reverse Coaching stuff is basically the wisdom that comes by making intelligent judgements based on a lot of experience!

Summary:

Reverse Coaching is above all – common sense – but as a wise man once said, “The funny thing about common sense is that it is not all that common”.
To quote George Costanza from Seinfeld, “If everything I have ever done is wrong, then the opposite of what I would usually do, must be right” – it’s a weird logic but hey, that’s coaching.
Don’t be afraid to Reverse Coach! Often your instinct, wisdom and gut feel are superior coaching tools to logic and rational thinking. Back yourself!!

Wayne Goldsmith

The Greatest Assistant Coaching Article Ever Written (i.e. because we think it’s the only one): 50 of the best Tips on how to be a World Class Assistant Coach.

Wayne Goldsmith — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:15:49 +0000

By Lindsay Gaze, Michael Foley, Dave Claxton, Craig Tiley, Scott Johnson, Bill Sweetenham, Andrew Friend, Keith Davies, and Wayne Goldsmith

Foreword:

Leading international Rugby Coach (and former Wallabies Assistant coach) Scott Johnson and I were exchanging emails about coaching. Scott said, “You read a lot about coaching and plenty about being a head coach, but where is there something written about being a great assistant coach”.

I accepted the challenge, contacted some coaching friends and colleagues and this is what we came up with.

Sincere thanks to Lindsay, Michael, Dave, Craig, Scott, Bill, Andrew and Keith for their ASSIST-ANCE.

Communicate – communicate – communicate.
Don’t be afraid to be in conflict with the head coach, (in the appropriate forum), if the issue you believe in can help grow the program and improve performance.
Have an open mind to change, no comfort zones, no complacency and accept no compromise.
Have an outstanding knowledge of the sport and be prepared to share that knowledge.
Publicly share the same philosophy as the head coach and together develop, enhance and grow that philosophy.
Be prepared to assume the head coaching position in case of non attendance of the head coach but convey the same message with the same intent as if the head coach was still present.
Collaborate with the head coach on a partnership basis in the development of the team strategies and individual player development.
Accept and understand that no coach of any sport competing at the highest level can manage all tasks without specialist assistance in a number of elements and as such encourage the expression of the views, ideas, beliefs and contributions of players, coaches and staff.
Be prepared to accept and welcome the contribution made by other additional assistant coaches within your team structure and do not assume that your role is superior in importance.
While financial rewards are important, be more committed to the progress and performance of individuals and the team rather than be dollar driven.
Be aware that if the Club management decides to fire the head coach and you might be an unfortunate victim of the decision, you should still support the head coach.
If offered a head coaching position with another organisation do not seek or accept such a position without first consulting with your current head coach (and club management).
Strive to learn more about coaching, your sport and your role, recognising that no matter how much you might know there will always be more to learn.
Meet with the Head Coach regularly (daily) to make sure you are always on the same page.
Clearly define and understand your role, your responsibilities, accountabilities and limits.
Discuss, argue, relate, disagree on anything and everything with the head coach but develop a relationship where you can challenge each other to find the common ground, new ideas and move forward.
Attack everything you do with a united front. If you can, the effect on the players will be double pronged and more effective. Players will be more likely to develop confidence in the overall coaching team’s methods and philosophy if they see consistency.
Develop a vocabulary and culture of key similarities that all coaches in the team use consistently to reinforce your methods and so that players understand and respect that a strong professional relationship exists in the coaching group. Players will then feel comfortable in approaching any of the coaching team for the answers to their problems.
Resolve conflicts quickly and appropriately. Don’t leave the coaching environment with issues unresolved and conflicts left hanging.
Coach using the 8 “Cs” of coaching - composure, clarity, communication, certainty, confidence, compassion, creativity and calm.
Because you are an assistant under one particular head coach, it doesn’t mean you have an excuse to stop learning from any appropriate source. You probably got where you are by communicating and learning from hundreds of sources: never lose that basic instinct, the passion and desire to learn.
Be a good listener/observer to players but only report what is relevant and necessary to the Head Coach.
Be the best prepared Assistant Coach in skills development.
Be friendly with players in social gatherings but retain an appropriate professional distance – and know where the limits are.
Support the Head Coach in public at all times regardless of the pressure or media scrutiny of the situation.
Do not allow club administration or sporting bureaucracies to compromise you and to destabilize Head Coach.
Have excellent working relations with all support staff.
Have good synergy with all players in particular the younger athletes and emerging stars.
Have a strong interest and knowledge of player’s outside interests, family/education etc.
Keep up with the latest technology in computing, communications, sports science and sports analysis.
Develop outstanding recruiting skills – help the head coach sustain the competitiveness of the team.
Have an excellent current knowledge of all opponents’ individual and team strategies to allow you to have intelligent, informed input to your own team game plans.
Don’t offer “passive” support – be active in your support of decisions and philosophies.
Maintain unquestionable trustworthiness – trust is the cornerstone of any great relationship.
Dress professionally and appropriately at all times.
Publicly and privately be positive and always put the organisation first – no public or private personal player or coach criticism.
Manage and administrate as if it’s your own money.
Pay great attention to detail: the head coach has a strategic overview of all team issues – you are the person he / she relies on for detail.
Develop sport specific skills and knowledge that are world class and even beyond global standards.
Maintain in depth knowledge of medical & strength & conditioning profiles of each player, to assist in player development, training planning, strategy development and tactical plays.
Be innovative and creative: help create the future.
Develop strengths where the programme or Head Coach has weaknesses.
Write workouts and training sessions every day for yourself and offer them to the Head Coach for comment, feedback, learning, growth and development.
Develop a programme that is superior in every way possible and help to incorporate policies and protocols of the Head Coach and programme.
If you want to be a Head Coach, set yourself a goal and a time frame to achieve it. Be the best assistant coach you can be, learn, grow and take on the challenges and opportunities of leadership on your own when the right opportunity presents.
Offer appropriate positive comments to the Head Coach if he / she does something very well – head coaches are human too yet rarely receive positive praise from anyone.
Do more listening than speaking.
Be the eyes and ears for the head coach and alert him / her to potential issues before they develop.
Recognise the times that the head coach is under pressure and look to take some of his / her workload.
Live the team values – don’t just talk about them – and set an example for the players to follow.

Wayne Goldsmith – with a lot of help!

Life coach? Teach living!

Wayne Goldsmith — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 00:48:52 +0000

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!

There is a popularly held belief that by coaching people to realise financial growth, they will be happy, balanced and contended individuals: it’s the other way around – happy, balanced and contended individuals make dreams happen.

Because, happy, balanced and contended individuals understand themselves and what they want out of life: and they understand what they are really passionate about.

Coach people just to live – to be happy – to enjoy every minute of every day – to love themselves and to love life: surely this is the true essence of life coaching: teaching living!

A wise old man once told me, “Think about what you really love to do. Really think about it. When you discover what that it is – when you find your passion – work hard at it – give everything you have to it and the success and money will come”.

He said, “If you love stamp collecting, do it. If it’s window cleaning, do it. If it’s marathon running, do it.Your passion will give you energy. It will sustain you through the tough times. Passion will give you persistence and perseverance. But it all starts with understanding and following your passion”.

Too many people chase money, fame fortune, success, wealth and property hoping that it will make them happy – that money will help them find their passion. It’s the other way around…find your passion, work hard at it and everything will flow…

First understand yourself.
Then understand what you really want out of life.
The rest is patience, persistence, perseverance and passion.

Coaching lessons:

There are no magic formulas, secret methods, ten days to wealth and success etc: there’s you, your dreams and your passion.
Coach your clients to understand themselves: their true selves and help them discover their real passion.
Then coach them to put in place the systems, structures and methods to tap into that passion and make dreams happen – in the end change means action.

Wayne Goldsmith

Sustaining success! The Coach’s Holy Grail.

Wayne Goldsmith — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 01:14:03 +0000

Many coaches will say they want to be successful.

No they don’t. Not really.

They want to be successful again and again and again and again and again. They want to SUSTAIN success and ALWAYS have a competitive program, winning athletes and quality players.

So how do you it?

How do you Sustain Competitiveness And Sustain Success?

There are FOUR simple rules to Sustaining Competitiveness And Success:

Rule 1: Make Sure You Are Accelerating Your Learning And Improvement As A Coach At A Faster Rate Than The Rate Of Improvement Of Your Athletes .

This is important. If an athlete or player comes to your program and says, “I want to be the best footballer, swimmer, sailor, runner, rower etc etc” – your own rate of development as a coach must be equal to or greater than that of the athlete.

It does not make sense any other way. Think of it in terms of school. Kindergarten teachers work with kindergarten kids. High school teachers work with high school students. University lecturers work with university students. At each level of development, the teacher (coach) must be able to provide learning opportunities appropriate to that level and be ahead of the student.

If an athlete wants to be the best – you must also strive to be the best OR….send them to another coach who is.

Rule 2: Develop And Maintain A Culture Which Can Support And Sustain Success

Lots of people talk about culture but few understand it. Bit like the engine in my new Honda – I tell lots of people about it but I doubt I could even change a spark plug – not sure it even has one!

A successful culture is one that encourages and embraces continuous improvement and one which provides opportunity for people to accelerate their rate of performance improvement through quality learning.

Does your culture attract people who can change, enhance and add value to your program or do you recruit people who will fit in, not rock the boat and merely maintain what you already do?

Sustaining success means recruiting and retaining “unreasonable people” who will challenge, change and champion new ideas and innovations.

Rule 3: Think Like A Futurist – Do Not Think About What Has Gone Before – Only What Is To Come.

Many people talk about the future but few see it, smell it, taste it and can bring it to life. Most people talk about the future in very limited terms – a future which is more or less an extension of what they are already doing.

Sustaining success means seeing the future clearly, communicating that vision to other people and working hard to bring it into existence SOONER than your competition.

Rule 4: Work Harder Than Anyone Else

Sorry – no short cuts.

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld once said, “Do what you love to do and commit everything you have to doing it. Only good can come from it”.

An important difference between those who want to succeed and those actually do succeed is plain, simple, consistent hard work.

Seeing the future is important: working hard to get there first is crticial.

Wayne Goldsmith