Six months after the last post of this blog, talking about extraordinary people doing extraordinary things and an Arizona coach who had touched so many lives, we are back a little wiser and a lot more open minded.
In December, the Region held its biannual Coaching Education Weekend. This year, the thirst for coaching knowledge was palpable. Over 85 coaches, almost double our highest numbers ever, attended CAP I and CAP II at the new Region facility. And another 26 coaches attended the Gold Medal Squared Beach Clinic at Mesquite Beach a few miles away. Almost all of these coaches had been to at least one Region IMPACT class if not several. And at the end of the clinics, we asked the coaches to give us their “a-ha” moments, those things that they had never heard of, never thought of, never realized until that weekend. One of the things that popped up, especially in the beach side, was the idea of “Guided Discovery.”
Wow, this new concept of guided discovery! It opened so many coaches’ eyes and gave them a new way to teach skills and give feedback to their athletes. Guided Discovery!!!
We have been teaching that in IMPACT since 2010!
Once we picked ourselves up off the floor, it was time to take a hard look at what we were doing wrong in our Coaching Education. We talked about Guided Discovery at great length at every IMPACT session but for whatever reason, these coaches had never heard of this before, or it didn’t resonate with them in the least until they heard it that second weekend in December.
So, holding up the mirror, the following came to thought: the instructor was not good. The way it was presented was not good. The idea of so much information crammed into 4 hours was not good. Or maybe, FORCING a coach into education was not good. It also could have been a combination of all the above.
But most of this group of 100+ coaches in December WANTED to be there, many paying their own way to hear the wisdom and experience of the Cadres. The feedback we got from the weekend was outstanding. The coaches said they learned a lot, enjoyed the discussions, wanted more. Was this the difference?
The more we thought about it the more we came to some other conclusions that shook the foundations of who we are.
First, USA Volleyball teaches and coaches based on science. This means there are lots of academic papers read, some studies done for USAV, books are consumed, authors and experts are gleaned and podcasts and videos are mined. In the search for science to make our athletes better, USAV leaves no stone unturned. And because of this, we can be perceived in coaching and learning situations as if we know all and you must hurry to catch up with us in our expanse of knowledge.
But the truth is, there are people that coach the same way they did 20 or even 30 years ago and they still win. There are people that will only drill in practice and punish their athletes and play to win at the expense of an athlete's growth, and they are still successful. And there are still coaches out there with little to no knowledge who allow their players and sometimes parents to dictate lineups and practices and they can still win a bunch.
So do you really need all of this? These guidelines, this science? These principles? Do you really need Coaching Education at all?
What do you see above?
Some see the black, some see the white. It seems that coaching at times is these extremes. It's either BLOCKED training or RANDOM training, there IS no in between! There is either DRILL-centric coaching or PLAY-centric coaching, no in between. Use boxes, don't use boxes, use cones, don't use cones, on and on and on and on.....
If you look back at the picture, what is the color you see the most?
Life, relationships, the United States, the World, Volleyball...it's NOT always black and white although we often make it out to be through ego or financial or status gain. You can train in a random way but still use some block training. Someone that uses a box in practice to protect their blockers weary legs isn't committing a felony. A coach that goes through a practice without a game isn't a terrible coach. And in the end, talent trumps most everything on a competitive arena.
So...if we have in any way made you feel in our Coaching Education that you are a sub par coach, out of touch, not up to date on the newest science and information or just someone that puts band aids on his team's problems and never sees the big picture, we sincerely apologize.
The gray is that you are coaching kids that quite possibly, if you weren't there doing it they may not have an outlet to play. You are giving of your time and resources and that is laudable. No matter how you are training, if your kids can't wait to come to practice then you are doing something right!
We hope in this gray you understand that we never want you to stop learning. The phrase "lifelong learner" is thrown around a lot but maybe more than anything it should be a "person with an open mind for life."
Going forward, this blog will be a place for resources. Open them, don't open them, it's up to you. We are committed to getting more guests for our successful audio interviews and we will continue to mine the labyrinth of content that is relevant and necessary. And along the way, we won't demean you or make you feel less than the coach that you are. We'll provide information for you and it you are interested, awesome. And if not, that's okay too.
Coaching is gray. Coaching isn't easy, it's constant hurdles and holes, discomfort and discombobulation but it's also life changing when it's done for the right reasons.
We're sorry we were away for a while, but we're back. As always, if you have any comments or things you would like us to investigate, let us know at Outreach@azregionvolleyball.
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