Effective Coaching - · PDF filePresented By: Scott Colby Sport Performance Consultant Since August 2007, Coach Scott Colby has been a Sport Performance Consultant for USA Swimming

Effective

Coaching

© Copyright USA Swimming, Inc. All rights reserved.

Presented By:

Scott ColbySport Performance Consultant

Since August 2007, Coach Scott Colby has been a Sport Performance Consultant for USA Swimming. Prior to that, Scott coached in Ohio, Louisiana (Bengal-Tiger Aquatic Club), Texas (Fort Worth Area Swim Team), served as an assistant at Dynamo Swim Club in Atlanta and coached for 5 years at a YMCA on Long Island. His Louisiana team placed top ten at Nationals.

His swimmers have placed in the finals at Olympic Trials, won 2 National titles and 7 Junior National titles including all four strokes, set three National Age Group Records, and won the National Meet Bob Kiphuth High Point award. Scott has also produced numerous Top 16 athletes. He holds a Masters degree in Physical Education and is an ASCA Level 5 coach.

Parent/Coach Texts

Hell hath no fury like the parents of mediocre athletes!

Whom Do You Model?

How Do I Better My Coaching?

Educate Yourself

Seinfeld Coaching Advice

Bill Parcells Hall of Fame Induction Speech

"The players deserve a chance to win, and you as an organization, a university and a head coach have an obligatory responsibility to give it to them."

Power of ExpectationThomas Edison Teacher’s Note

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K95XgPpZkxs

Apprenticeship

“Think like a gardener,

work like a carpenter.”-Daniel Coyle

Culture Blueprint

Leaders create culture

Culture Drives Behavior

Behavior Produces Results

Culture BlueprintWhat We Believe In How We Behave Outcome We Achieve

Relentless Effort Go as Hard as You Can

We are tougher than anyone or any Situation

Competitive Excellence

Constant focus on Technique at Speed

Prepared for the Meet

Power of Team Uncommon Commitment to each other and the process

Trust your team

Wire

Insulation

Myelin Sheath

Axon

Myelin Sheath

London 200 Fly

Michael Phelps, acknowledged that there were days

when he glided into the wall at practices in the past four

years. “And that came out at the moment I needed it the

most,” Phelps said, adding: “I’m not going to sit and

make excuses. Those lazy finishes were decisions I

made.” It cost him another Gold in the 200 Meter Butterfly. It was his choice.

How do we “Learn?”

Repetition is Everything

Technique is the result of all the

strokes your athletes have taken

over a lifetime. Their first strokes

influence today’s abilities

CLUB DEVELOPMENT DIVISION

Sport Performance Consultant

How Long Does it Take?

Google: Smarter Every Day - Bike

How do we “Learn?”

Repetition is Everything

Practice does not make perfect…it

makes habit…perfect practice

makes perfect

CLUB DEVELOPMENT DIVISION

Sport Performance Consultant

“A drill done 99%

right is 100% wrong!”

-Bill Sweetenham

‘Musts’ for skill acquisition:

Deep, deliberate practice - (building circuits)

Motivation to stay deliberate

“Deliberate Practice” has 4 components

4. Sustaining #1 & #2 for extended periods

3. Clear, accurate & immediate feedback

2. Intense engagement (awareness/presence/focus/concentration/effort)

1. Number of ‘hits’ at the edge of one’s ability

Teaching With Images

http://thetalentcode.com

Freestyle (Body Position)

Get the Most Out of Each Practice

The Right Things – Practice things that need improve performance?

Effectiveness of Practice – Does doing something in practice actually enable athletes to do it in a performance setting?

Make each minute matter – Urgency!

Reaching Repetitions

Practice higher priorities more than all else combined

Identify the 20% of things that will yield 80% success

10,000* hours of “Purposeful Practice” to master performance (become world class) - Dr. Anders Ericsson (*sort of)

Practice does not make perfect. It makes habit.

Perfect practice makes perfect

Reaching RepetitionsBreak every move down into “chunks”

If not successful, simplify temporarily, then add complexity

Keep practicing – the value begins at mastery! “It’s not

learned when they can do it right … it’s learned when they

can’t do it wrong”

Focus athletes on ‘fastest possible correct version’ or

‘most complex right version’

Purposefulness

Parts of society and school are about ‘fake learning’ – regurgitating material so expectations can be skewed (“go for the grade”)

Make your PURPOSE and INTENT crystal clear

Give Clear, Concise Instructions

“We work on this all the time in practice,

then the meet comes along and you

don’t do what we practiced!”

- Frustrated Coach

Block vs Random

Block Practice is “controlled”

Fine-Tuning a Skill

Necessary for beginning skill acquisition

Block

Repetition of Skill

Random

Random Practice is “unpredictable”

Random is important to make it “stick!”

Competition is Chaotic (Random)

Done after lots of Block Practice

“Cements” the Skill

Block vs Random

Use Random Practice to make it “stick!”

Use Block for Skill Acquisition

20 x 50’s Focus: #1-A #2-B #3-C #4-A #5-D #6-C #7-B…

20 x 50’s Focus on “A”

Block vs Random Studies

http://trainugly.com/portfolio/block-random-practice/

Feedback…for what?“Good Job…”

Feedback

Average Length of

Feedback:

5 seconds!

for entire season!

People can focus on and use one thing at a time

FeedbackLimit the amount of feedback you give

https://annecaingolf.com/einsteins-golf-lesson-one-thing-at-a-time/

“Young man, when I throw you one ball, you catch it. However, when I throw you four balls, you catch nothing! So when you teach, make only one point at a time!”

FeedbackShorten the feedback loop (5 seconds?)

Give feedback right away, even if it's imperfect.

Speed of consequence beats strength of

consequence pretty much every time.

A simple/small change, implemented right away,

can be more effective than complex rewiring.

FeedbackWhen athletes get feedback from multiple sources, ensure that what they hear is consistent and not overwhelming………(Hmmm!?!)

Common teaching language for your team

Almost every athlete has two volunteer assistants!

At Home!!!!

Feedback

Help them with other places to apply skill

Tell them to keep doing “that”

Identify what they did right for/with them

What athletes do right is as important in practice as what they do wrong.

Praise Effort

Feedback

Feedback

Focus on the desired outcome: “Do this…”

If correcting a skill or behavior, give a substitute correct behavior or skill

Feedback

“Not yet!”

Give hope that they will get it eventually.

Teach GritRelentless Effort (not talent or intelligence) is the key to achieving great things in life.

Struggle is part of the process

It is hard and often painful

FeedbackThe Impact of Praise

http://trainugly.com/portfolio/praise-and-mindsets/

FeedbackMake it an “all the time thing!”

The more consistently you give and seek

feedback, the more normal it is.

Give feedback right away at practice. If you wait

until something negative requires it, feedback will

be linked to the idea of a mistake

FeedbackBecause you gave feedback, doesn’t mean it is

interpreted as you intend

Ask athletes to summarize what you said

Ask athletes to prioritize the feedback you gave

Ask athletes to identify the next action they'll take

Feedback for Set Backs

Connection to the Coach

Teaching is selling

Energy, Effort, and

Excitement make the sale!

“No one cares how much you know,

until they know how much you care.”

– Theodore Roosevelt

Coach Jon Urbanchek

Age 78!

Be Enthusiastic!

Be Enthusiastic!

Using Modeling

In person modeling is often more believable

Play a game of copycat - learners model skills

Make Models Believable

Use someone of similar age, only slightly better

Coach, Be an Accurate Model!!!

Body Position

Arm gestures

Propulsion/Distance Per Cycle

Qualities of Successful CoachesAvoid long speeches - The Wooden Method –

short, quick, and evocative phrases and directions

Focus on FUNdaMENTALs

Make a scorecard for learning – Track Success

Qualities of Successful CoachesTreat all athletes fairly, but not equally!

Educate their athletes.

Work/Life Balance

Qualities of Successful CoachesAlways try to get better

Practice what they preach: Goal Setting

“Winning” Practice

Save time by planning every second in advance

Keep practicing – Value begins at mastery! (Not yet)

Practice higher priorities more than all else combined

Identify the 20% of things that will yield 80% success

Repeat productive sets/drills with minor variations

MeetsCoach during a meet, don’t teach

Only cue and remind athletes what they have learned.

Take care of yourself

Physical Health

Mental Health

Family Relationships

Know Your AthletesWhy Do They Swim?

What is Their Comfort Zone?

Know YourselfWhy Do You Coach?

What is Your Comfort Zone?

World Record/Olympic Gold?

Nationals, Juniors, Futures, Sectionals?

Zones, Large regional Meets?

LSC Championships?

Swimmers’ Comfort Zone

World Record/Olympic Gold?

Nationals, Juniors, Futures, Sectionals?

Zones, Large regional Meets?

LSC Championships?

Your Comfort Zone

Final (Random) ThoughtsEmbrace struggle, it’s how we learn

Chose 5 minutes a day over an hour a week

Instead of “drills,” play small, addictive games

Think and teach with vivid images

Final (Random) ThoughtsCorrect “Positively”

Coach at Meets, Teach at Practice

Set Goals: Short & Long Term

Find your own coaching personalityModel others, but be yourself

Final (Random) Thoughts3 coaches, same team

Kindergarten Pictures

Praise Effort!

“It’s Showtime!” - Be enthusiastic

Final (Random) Thoughts

It takes time (the secret practice?)

Do It in order throughout the season

Have a (team-wide) Progression

Find examples/demonstrators

Final (Random) Thoughts

Use Experiential Learning

Problem Solving

Short feedback with key words

“One thing at a time,” says Einstein!

Please RememberAs a coach, your impact on children is much

larger than you will ever know.

You’ll never know when you are changing a life.

But you do, every day.

Please RememberWhen all is said and done, it’s not what you

take with you, it’s what you leave behind.

You never know when “it” will be learned. It

may be on the first try, or it may be on the

1000th time. Never give up on a child.

Resources

You Are Awesome!

You Shape Lives!

Thank You for What You Do!