Coaching and adversity

[Ken Krause]

Once after a loss, my friend and fellow coach Rich Youngman said one of the more profound things I've ever heard in relation to coaching, and certainly one of the most profound things he ever said. After there was some tension about the game, and our poor play, he said, "Adversity doesn't build character. It reveals it."

With the high school season well under way, and the summer season for younger players getting under way, those are words for all coaches to remember. It can be very frustrating when your team doesn't play the way you know it can. It's aggravating when they let balls go between their legs, or drop in front of them instead of catching them. It's maddening when they're taking called third strikes or swinging at balls over their heads. And when the losses start piling up it's not very much fun to be in charge of the mess.

Believe me, I know. I've coached those teams. Sooner or later, most of us will no matter how hard we try to avoid it. As difficult as it is, it's important to keep it together. You may want to yell, scream and disparage your players, especially if it seems like you're the only one who feels bad about the poor play, but fight the urge and remember that this too shall pass.

Actually, let me amend that. Sometimes a little strategic yelling can work wonders -- if it's done as a "wakeup call." What doesn't work is the complaining-type of yelling, with put-downs and insults thrown in anger. You may feel better temporarily, but in the end it just helps you and the team circle the drain faster.

Once again, remember that adversity doesn't build character, it reveals it. When adversity strikes, what is it revealing about you?

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[Hitter]

It’s Not What They Do, It’s How They Do It:
Athlete Experiences of Great Coaching
Andrea J. Becker
Department of Kinesiology, California State University, Fullerton,
P.O. Box 6870, Fullerton, CA 92834-6870, USA
E-mail: anbecker@fullerton.edu

Teach

"One of the most basic actions that these great coaches engaged in was teaching. Athletes discussed how their coaches taught sport skills that were cognitive (strategies, tactics, and systems of play), physical (fitness, performance techniques, and fundamental game skills), and mental (focus, imagery, anticipation, and mindset). However, these athletes also expressed how “great coaches actually teach you about life” (p16) [44]. The category of life skills included values, attitudes, and beliefs. Some of the skills that these athletes learned were how to deal with pressure, handle adversity, and work with others. They also learned respect, patience, and self-reliance. Their coaches didn’t just teach these skills, they modeled them: “We learned to have a good attitude because coach had a good attitude” (p2). In addition to modeling behaviors, these great coaches adopted a multi-dimensional approach to teaching their athletes. Athletes discussed how their coaches used a combination of verbal, visual, and physical methods: “Some people get it from reading it, some people get it from the visual, and some people get it from actually doing it, but those are the three ways [that these coaches] presented it”

Ken I found this to be a great article and have only copied a portion of it however I still think it is process related in how we teach and the various methods we use to get students to understand what it is we are teaching them that builds their confidence on and off the field.

For girls we teach them how to throw first because they have never been shown how to shift their weight properly in my opinion.
The glutes in a male will fire the knee upon jumping or landing however it does not fire in a female. This skill must be taught and for me is a basic teach, as it comes from being balanced and yet many male coaches do not understand the female balances differently than the male, so as males we attempt to get them more up right in everything they do or they lower too far and disengage the core and still are not balanced.

When I do not see a weight shift for hitting, I usually see poor throwing mechanics because the female does not land on a flexed knee and allow their weight to move forward.
So if they are not running correctly or fielding the ball correctly it does not surprise me, as their balance is not correct so it throws them off physically and frustrates them and us as coaches.
My floor is laid out so the foot work is on the floor and we teach them a slide, step, break the hands and throw the ball. Unknown to them there is a line on the floor and until they put enough effort into their motion they will not get past that line. Once I point that out to them it represents a challenge and they try harder.

This is our first goal so to speak of wanting to make an improvement.

I have been amazed over the years of how simple things can affect their ability to use their gloves. For example there is an adjustment strap for the thumb on all gloves however not all gloves have one for the baby finger.

Most have the adjustment straps stuffed inside the glove or so loose it serves no purpose. So every hitter’s fielding glove is inspected and adjusted and the parent and kid get an education that the glove is closed by the action of the thumb and baby finger. The glove responds better when the straps are tighter and they field the ball better and I put them in front of a mirror and ask them to field a ground ball. Guess what they can NOT even see the pocket of the glove because they did not understand the action of the thumb and wrist and when explained it is viewed as why didn’t any of my other coaches explain this too me?

This is exactly why I teach what leverage is by using a 2 x 4 and a small block of wood. I ask them first if I can lift them with one hand and they say no way coach I weigh 150 pounds. I position them on the 2 x 4 and with one hand I push down and they go up. Then I explain leverage and point to their bat and say is that a lever? Yes! Now how we grip the bat will determine how much leverage we can apply to the ball and that is force. I explain the bat on the ball takes place in less than 2 million seconds so at point of contact we must be as accurate as possible!

We explain our grip we use and then how a $7 dollar hammer works both vertically and horizontally and how important the wrist is. The forearm is a lever and the elbow and the wrist are hinges and they can feel the hammer head weight work for them when done correctly.
The next drill is the hand over drill, then face the fire.

Hitting is a process and many things are assumed that the female knows verses what the male knows and that has been the difference of working with the best female hitter in the world. She used to take bicycles apart and pulled out the pedals just to see what it looked like and how did it work.

Bottom line is many of us who get frustrated with our players basic skills can sometimes point the finger at our self as we did not teach them correctly to begin with in my opinion or explain well enough how something was done.

When I first met Marc and Howard Kobta I said you are frustrating the girls by trying to teach them advanced throwing and fielding drills when they do not even understand how to get balanced. About three weeks later Howard K emailed me and said he was teaching balance first and it went much better.

Again maybe the player’s frustration is partly our fault as coaches and by what and how we teach them in my opinion.
Thanks Howard