Posting #14, September 8, 2008

THE COACH WITHIN YOU

The rally is on between the Williams sisters—Venus and Serena. Back and forth, back and forth, baseline to baseline. Suddenly, Venus hits a short ball, Serena steps in, and hits the ball cross court. Venus sprints to get it and she gets a racquet on it, but hits a weak floater in the middle. It’s an easy put-away for Serena. But, as she takes her racquet back to hit the winner, Venus sprints back into the court. Now, to Serena, this may not be as easy a put-away as she originally thought. With urgency, she hits the ball a little sooner and a little harder. The ball goes out by one inch. She bends down and is motionless for a few seconds. She recovers and, while walking back to the service line, verbally scolds herself.

Some would say, “She shouldn’t be so hard on herself. She shouldn’t dwell on the last point. It’s over. She should think of the next point, her serve, or her game plan.” But, what they don’t know is, Serena Williams is coaching herself.

Athletes of individual sports, like the Williams sisters, practice for hours by themselves or with one other person. Once players have experience and coaching, they are very aware of why an error occurred. It is between points that they reflect on what went right or wrong, learn from it, and go on. There are times they rejoice when they did everything right. There are also times they get down on themselves for an error that could have been avoided.

During those practice times, these players are developing “The Coach Within.” In a real sense, this entity increasingly becomes a real, and completely different person. The Coach Within becomes the one that always knows the right way, the way it should be done, and the way it was practiced. It wasn’t Serena Williams that was talking on the way back to the service line; it was Coach Serena talking to Serena Williams. And often, The Coach Within calls her student by name. “Serena, what are you thinking? How many times have we gone over this? If a player comes back into the play, hit the same shot at the same pace. If she gets it, you’ll have another chance to put the point away. Don’t let her pressure you into errors!” 

At the higher levels of tennis, most players have developed this Personal Coach. But there are exceptions. You can spot them because, after an error, they look into the stands at their coach or even a parent. Why? Because they have been trained and conditioned to get feedback from those sources. The coach and parent have never allowed the athlete to create and develop The Coach Within. During practice, they aborted the development of The Coach Within, by never giving the player the opportunity to provide personal feedback. Oh, the player was well aware of why the mistake occurred and was ready with the answer, but another human provided the answer first.

The lesson to be learned is, “Don’t do for your players what they can do for themselves.” Coach Wooden has often said this in the context of parenting, but it is also true in teaching. Allow your players to develop this valuable ally and it will be there during games. The Coach Within can help a player far more than one on the sidelines.

HOW TO HELP PLAYERS DEVELOP THE COACH WITHIN
You ask, “How do I do this? How do I know when or when not to say something?” Following are two points to think about.

ONE: If you have already said it, give the player a chance to remember. If you think they don’t, remind them by saying, “Remember?” and then go on with a brief reminder.

TWO: Use Coach Wooden’s “Sandwich Correction Technique.” When a player need correction and you don’t think they are capable of providing it themselves, correct by using three steps: First show the way it should have been done. Second, show how they did it. Third, show how it should have been done, again.” Although it only takes fifteen seconds, this tool allows time for the player to learn. Equally as important, it allows The Coach Within to learn and be prepared to take over in the future.

The contrast to The Sandwich Correction Technique, is when the teacher begins with showing the error the players made. “No, Jeremy. Not like that, but like this.” The omission of the first step, immediately aborts any chance of the player coming to his or her own conclusion as to what went wrong and why. All three steps are needed. The last thing the player sees, before resuming activity, is the correct way. The player now has a model to follow and, should he or she err again, The Coach Within can teach, providing, of course, the teacher allows it. 

Can this apply to basketball? Of course. You, the reader have already made the application while reading. But there’s one more important think to know in order for you to help your players create and develop this valuable resource—Get them alone with The Coach Within.

Today, basketball players are over-coached. After a season of being taught, they immediately enter the off-season select team program. They practice as a team and play games as a team. After the summer, they enter a fall league and do the same. They never have a chance to get in the gym, alone, and practice. It is behind closed doors, or on the outside court, The Coach Within and the player can begin developing a relationship.

When alone, most players will make up shooting games where they compete against an imaginary player, like I did, or by setting a goal, like making fifteen in a row. When they fail, with no one there to tell them why they missed, they will begin to figure it out themselves. Who tells them? The Coach Within. In a solo setting, that friend will become more and more knowledgeable, observant, and responsive.

CONCLUSION: When you begin to be this type of facilitator, as a coach/teacher, you will begin to witness self-coaching, you will begin to see Serena Williamses out there. You have probably already figured this out but, when you teach the entire team with the same concept, you’ll be seeing a team, like Coach Wooden’s Bruins, that recognize their own errors and make quick corrections.