I think one of the most important things I do as a coach is....
Shut up.
People don't need motivators, I think most people are motivated.
What they need is facilitators to help harness that motivation, a good coach facilitates and crafts a positive environment that is advantageous for progress, we set a space where people can be free to explore movement and improve in THEIR realm from where THEY are.
Yes sometimes a little external fire and words of encouragement can do wonders, a nod of confidence that says you CAN do this unlocks a door (they already had the key for.)
But sometime you just get in the way of the process.
There's this big internal untangling and reorganisation process that's going on in people heads during training and practice and frequently you just need to let it play out.
Whether thats battling that inner voice, or grappling with technique or opening that other locker to work harder and push further than you ever have, it's important that it happens, it's an honourable battle.
As a coach i love to get detailed on technique or talk about the mindset of a grueling event, session or even a single set.
but very often I'll purposefully step back in sessions, go silent to let the room take care of itself, so I do not get in the way of those moments of untangling and personal figuring out.
Yes, coach when you must, but so much happens in the silence.
So stop filling the gaps with stuff all the time;
- Put the phone down.
- Run without music.
- take an extra breath before you place your hands on the bar.
- coaches/parents/training partners - sometimes staying silent is more powerful.
When something gets all tangled up, Step aside, come back to it later.
We make the connections in the silence.
You may not know this but in my "spare" time ( that i really do not have!) I have been learning the guitar,
and frequently ill get frustrated and mentally tangled up with a chord or strumming pattern to a point where I'm not making ground, at that point i either go back to something simpler i know or I'll put the guitar down altogether.
Then something happens in the time between.
I'll pick up the guitar a day or 2 later and that same tricky little bit I was fighting with feels that bit more natural.
Your brain and your body need the space to untangle stuff.
Skill gets laid down the same way a gorge is formed.
Over time the most efficient and repeated signal becomes the strongest until the variation becomes less and you've a fine tuned a coordinated movement.
So next time you're at training or practice remember it's OK to have moments between efforts.
Be present, allow your mind to slow down, take a breath and untangle.
Then get back under that bar and work like demon.
- Dan
Comments