“Feeling” mistakes

Last week I finished the first block of training with one of my high school football groups that we’ve been working with for the past 8 weeks. Generally, with high school football programs I come in before they start spring ball so that they’re ramped up and well accumulated for the load and intensity of the upcoming practice.

I worked with a high school close to home, and for those that don’t know I grew up in a chill relaxed beach town- so that usually means a lot of surfers and skateboarders and beach-goers. But this group of guys were DOGS.

We worked with the varsity team, as well as the incoming freshmen and both groups equally put in the work. Eight weeks usually isn’t a time frame where you’re going to see 3 mph differences, but we were pretty damn close.

With groups like this- we test them at the beginning, middle, and end. On the mid-way test we may or may not share the results with them, but it is a good gauge to 1. See where they’re at from a tracking process and 2. Where they’re at in the learning process.

When introducing new concepts to athletes there is a huge influx of new information and generally speaking- it will initially make them worse. Now, instead of just running, they are thinking about running. They’re thinking about their form and the push and all the small cues we give that all rush to them at once when they step up to the line.

Once that over-thinking starts to dissipate and they can FEEL the bad reps and know what they did wrong and self-correct… then the autonomous phase kicks in.

That’s ultimately what we strive for. So sure, an ideal sprint session would just be to go out and sprint. And if you’re looking for the simplest way to sprint faster- you want to sprint fast, more often. But the technical piece does play a part in our training and it’s amazing to see our athletes over the course of our training blocks with them feel the mistakes and know how to fix them.

Being the “cool” coach

I saw a tweet yesterday that had a lot of traction, good and bad, and found the tweet and it’s replies particularly familiar.

The tweet is from a Head Basketball Coach, of a women's team. Now the second piece of that last statement doesn’t seem important- but it is when it comes to boundaries. As much as we can claim men and women were created equal, they weren’t, and that’s ok.

There are many things that I cannot do with my athletes or certain things that I try to avoid as a woman that trains mostly men. Point blank period. That doesn’t make me less than or not able to be myself, but it does make me mindful.

The tweet in itself holds value because I do think there is a professional line that shouldn’t be crossed between coach and athlete. Some more obvious than others, but more importantly I often have to remember that even for my younger athletes- I am not solely there to be their friend. I am there to make them a better athlete.

But I am also there to hopefully make them a better person too. Which is where I have my own take on the argument. And it’s not necessarily an argument because I see where Coach was going, but building relationships is one of the most important building blocks of our career.

My athletes know I don’t want to hear about them partying or doing anything reckless, but knowing they have someone that will be there for them is important. And that looks differently for me as a female. I coach men and women and a lot of those athletes do trust in me- on and off the field.

I think there is a good in-between and a happy medium between being a great coach and a cool coach. Because you can be both! Personally, I don’t care if my athletes think I’m cool or not. My parents think I’m cool and that’s enough for me. Being professional and being someone people can trust can be one in the same- create boundaries and meet people where they’re at.

Quote of the week

“And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.” — John Steinbeck

Appreciate y’all,

Cici

See you again next week!

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