There are no real team sports anymore….every significant moment in a team sport competition is decided through a one on one contest. This post discusses how rugby has evolved from a team sport to a game where success is dependent on the optimal preparation and performance of every individual in the team.
Quick.
Write down your own list of the top ten skills of quality coaching. What does it look like? Something like this?
You could add hundreds of skills to this list: experience, drive, initiative, the will to win, attention to detail, commitment, vision, determination, a strong work ethic…………there are as many desirable coaching skills as there are coaches.
But, in this century, there is one coaching skill to rule them all – creativity: creative coaching.
The question is…...can you teach coaches to be creative?
There was a time when a new head was the solution to all problems in a high performance sports team.
Team not winning – get a new head coach.
Team’s culture not right – get a new head coach.
Team’s attitude and commitment flagging – get a new head coach.
Times have changed.
A new head coach is no longer the solution in high performance sport.
We have all done it.
We have all been involved in debates, discussions and deliberations about what coaching is.
Some people say it is about teaching and learning skills. Others say it’s about sports science and applying a scientific method approach to planning and periodisation. Others say it’s about communication and caring. Still others believe coaching is about emotions like passion or it’s about values like commitment, honesty, integrity, humility, courage and discipline.
To add to the confusion, you get the coaching “zealots” who are promoting one type of coaching philosophy over another (in an effort to create a commercial success from their theories about coaching) who are convinced coaching is about the ABC Technique of Coaching or Homer Simpson’s Guide to Effective Coaching or some whiz bang made up word like Coaching Readiness for Accelerated Performance (I hope you spotted the acronym)!
Coaching is about one thing above all others…engagement.
