"Don't Criticize Them..."

"Don't criticize them: they are just what we would be under similar circumstances."- Abraham Lincoln

Watch this video please:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQUiIrCo6JM

If you are reading this blog, chances are you are not a beginning coach. If you watch these three minutes of a Youth Basketball Practice filmed in the Fall of last year, you might see some things that would trouble you. What are the negatives specifically?

Now watch it again and find the things that you do in your practices, or that you maybe DID when you first started coaching? What are the positives specifically? Even if you don't think so, there are some there.

Now, here comes the hard part. Can you talk to these two young coaches and give them your feedback in a way that isn't condescending, isn't too complicated? Can you give them a plan of action for next practice? Can you help them be better coaches?

Can you do it all without bruising their dignity or making them rethink their "volunteer" position?

While it's still a challenge, coaching our teams is much simpler than coaching coaches. Coaches who coach the way they were taught, who see what other coaches have done and emulate them with no thought to the idea of science or human engagement. Can you reach them? Help them?

When we see the coaches at the highest levels of their sport, they have usually won with their teams but they have another gift that allows them to continue flourishing. They have the ability to reach other coaches! Maybe it's their "street cred" alone, but they have something to share with other peers in their sport.

Can you be that Coach? Can you help teach your local coaches, school coaches, YMCA or Boy's and Girl's Club coaches? Can you spread the wealth?

Most probably, without one of these kinds of coaches in your life, YOU wouldn't be where you are today. Paying it forward is the great coaching mantra.

"I'm no where near a finished product..."

Tom Black explained the drill to two courts of coaches, many of who weren't paying attention. He finished his explanation on his whiteboard, and sent the coaches to their courts to start the drill.

Then he waited.

The coaches were confused, asking him questions, but he didn't answer them. The coaches got more confused and frustrated. Black knew they hadn't listened as they assumed, as is often the case, that the coach next to them understands what they're doing and can explain it.

But they didn't.

The drill sludged along for a few minutes, then a couple of coaches came over to the white board, studied it and shouted instructions to the other coaches. Suddenly, one of the two courts started to get the idea and the other court soon followed. While it took about 10 minutes longer than necessary, the coaches had figured out the drill on their own.


Mission accomplished!


Tom Black is a teacher. And with this interview, done a few days into 2019, he explains in detail his journey from a young boy forced to play volleyball, "kicking and screaming" to his work as an assistant coach of the USA Women's National team in the 2016 Olympics working alongside Karch Kiraly.

His current residence is at the University of Georgia where he is positioned to turn around a program in desperate need of volleyball success.

Along the way, Tom talks about himself as a young coach and his transformation into a never satisfied coach who "always needs to get better." 

Enjoy this 35 minutes with one of the best teachers in our sport and one of the better gentlemen to coach our profession.

Tom Black Interview