I was reading the Blog Talent Code. It is written by Daniel Coyle the author of the book with the same name. In his blog he was talking about an Eagles documentary he watched and directly about how Glen Frey learned to write songs. http://thetalentcode.com/2013/08/13/how-to-be-creative-starring-jackson-brownes-teakettle/ if you want to read the whole article.
Reading this blog really resonated with me. His message of musical development can easily be about developing as a coach.
Here are Danile Coyles steps that he took away from the documentary about learning to be a great song writer. I then put my spin on how this relates to coaching.
1. Proximity,
Glen Frey learned how to be a song writer after he moved in above Jackson Browne and saw how Jackson wrote songs. He discovered it wasn't just a moment of inspiration. I feel the same process applies to coaching. The more gyms a coach can get into and the more coaches you watch or work with, the more success you will have. I used to think I worked hard as a coach at planning until one summer I met Frank Enns. Watching the detail Frank put into his practice and game plans was amazing. Compared to him I felt that I was just showing up to the gym throwing a ball out. I was a drill coach, worried about a good drill that was cool not the purpose of the drill. I learned that taking time to make a proper practice plan would lead to success in games.
Then I had the opportunity to work with Rod Durrant ( U of Calgary),Keith Hansen (Red Deer College) and Ron Thomson(GPRC). All three of these guys showed me how to run a practice. They were all strong on demanding the best out of the players yet keep a positive relationship with them. I would watch their practices and then go back to mine and try to emulate what I saw in theirs The last 8 years I have been blessed with the opportunity to work with National Team. Lupo Ludwig and Scott Koskie and before them Naoki Miyashita and Mike Ling coaches with our national team have allowed me to build further on my knowledge of the game and the proper planning needed. The summer of 2012 in particular Lupo and Scott allowed me to sit in on their practice planning session. This helped confirm my thinking and to expand on how to build a great practice.
2.Habit,
If you want to be a coach then you need to coach. This is why it is difficult for some players to transition quickly to coaching. There are a lot more skills to coaching than just being able to explain a skill or system. Dealing with people is ever changing and a techniques for this is often learned through trial and error. In my developmental stage I would coach everything I could. I would try different techniques that I thought would work on different groups and mimic coaches I knew until I found out what works for me. During my crazy time of coaching in my 20's I coached or assistant coached 11 volleyball teams in one year. To be honest most of that time wasn't very productive but I was involved. Unknown to me I was learning how and when to jump into a drill, when to wait it out for the players to figure it out. I was immersed in coaching.
3. Looping,
Daniel explain looping as circling back over the process, looking at it and then redoing it. Change a piece of the song and then go over it again. Same thing is involved in planning a practice. I need to write it down get a feel for what I want to accomplish. I try to plan the next practice right after we finish our recent practice while it is fresh in my mind. I write down the basics of a plan that I want to accomplish. Then in the morning I will go over the ideas and then put them into a detailed practice plan. I count reps, I put the players in the drills in the order we want them appear in the drill. If a player needs an extra set of reps we will build that in. For example a hitter vs the world drill. We would go Shanlee first, Tori second, Gil third then Shanlee again. Everyone on the team hears and knows the order and the drill runs smooth in transitions. After this process of planning I look for mistakes, I often try to match up certain players in the game play. We often don't go A vs B, we split them up.
4 Wrap up
Very few coaches get to start at the top and are successful. Most have to work their way through different coaching levels and experience in order to get to their top. I still am searching out new information and trying hard to stay up with the current research. The best professional development I usually have is discussing skills and planning with other coaches of all levels. I find having to explain why I do things to beginning coaches is another way for me to check on my own reasoning.
I often get asked if I have a message for up and coming coaches. I guess the message is to be ready to put the time in the gym. Coaching is a fun and rewarding career but takes a lot of focus and passion.
Reading this blog really resonated with me. His message of musical development can easily be about developing as a coach.
Here are Danile Coyles steps that he took away from the documentary about learning to be a great song writer. I then put my spin on how this relates to coaching.
1. Proximity,
Glen Frey learned how to be a song writer after he moved in above Jackson Browne and saw how Jackson wrote songs. He discovered it wasn't just a moment of inspiration. I feel the same process applies to coaching. The more gyms a coach can get into and the more coaches you watch or work with, the more success you will have. I used to think I worked hard as a coach at planning until one summer I met Frank Enns. Watching the detail Frank put into his practice and game plans was amazing. Compared to him I felt that I was just showing up to the gym throwing a ball out. I was a drill coach, worried about a good drill that was cool not the purpose of the drill. I learned that taking time to make a proper practice plan would lead to success in games.
Then I had the opportunity to work with Rod Durrant ( U of Calgary),Keith Hansen (Red Deer College) and Ron Thomson(GPRC). All three of these guys showed me how to run a practice. They were all strong on demanding the best out of the players yet keep a positive relationship with them. I would watch their practices and then go back to mine and try to emulate what I saw in theirs The last 8 years I have been blessed with the opportunity to work with National Team. Lupo Ludwig and Scott Koskie and before them Naoki Miyashita and Mike Ling coaches with our national team have allowed me to build further on my knowledge of the game and the proper planning needed. The summer of 2012 in particular Lupo and Scott allowed me to sit in on their practice planning session. This helped confirm my thinking and to expand on how to build a great practice.
2.Habit,
If you want to be a coach then you need to coach. This is why it is difficult for some players to transition quickly to coaching. There are a lot more skills to coaching than just being able to explain a skill or system. Dealing with people is ever changing and a techniques for this is often learned through trial and error. In my developmental stage I would coach everything I could. I would try different techniques that I thought would work on different groups and mimic coaches I knew until I found out what works for me. During my crazy time of coaching in my 20's I coached or assistant coached 11 volleyball teams in one year. To be honest most of that time wasn't very productive but I was involved. Unknown to me I was learning how and when to jump into a drill, when to wait it out for the players to figure it out. I was immersed in coaching.
3. Looping,
Daniel explain looping as circling back over the process, looking at it and then redoing it. Change a piece of the song and then go over it again. Same thing is involved in planning a practice. I need to write it down get a feel for what I want to accomplish. I try to plan the next practice right after we finish our recent practice while it is fresh in my mind. I write down the basics of a plan that I want to accomplish. Then in the morning I will go over the ideas and then put them into a detailed practice plan. I count reps, I put the players in the drills in the order we want them appear in the drill. If a player needs an extra set of reps we will build that in. For example a hitter vs the world drill. We would go Shanlee first, Tori second, Gil third then Shanlee again. Everyone on the team hears and knows the order and the drill runs smooth in transitions. After this process of planning I look for mistakes, I often try to match up certain players in the game play. We often don't go A vs B, we split them up.
4 Wrap up
Very few coaches get to start at the top and are successful. Most have to work their way through different coaching levels and experience in order to get to their top. I still am searching out new information and trying hard to stay up with the current research. The best professional development I usually have is discussing skills and planning with other coaches of all levels. I find having to explain why I do things to beginning coaches is another way for me to check on my own reasoning.
I often get asked if I have a message for up and coming coaches. I guess the message is to be ready to put the time in the gym. Coaching is a fun and rewarding career but takes a lot of focus and passion.
