The Paradox of Coaching

I thought it might be appropriate during this joyous holiday season to pause and take a moment to do some reflection. This post marks a temporary suspension of the A Coach's Dozen: 13 Beliefs of Good Coaches that series will resume next week. I have always tried to add a personal touch to everything I do. I think it is just part of my nature of wanting to bring a unique twist to whatever I am doing. This has been true in my family life, my approach to education, even how I would cut the grass on my baseball field, and especially how I have attempted to approach my work as a coaching scientist. For that reason, I have made a point of asking the coaches I work with a simple but very personal question: “What do you want other coaches to say about you?” Not too long ago I asked that question to a man I have always considered one of my coaching mentors. His response was equally personal and simple, “I want coaches to say my team is well coached.” Those words, well coached, haunt...

This article marks the eighth installment for the 13 Beliefs of Good Coaches . This post investigates the success paradox--the belief that the best test of any coach is to see what happens after someone makes a mistake. As a researcher who investigates the paradoxical forces involved in athletics, and as an educator who attempts to help coaches learn to be better coaches, I have been asks (too many time to count) what is the one idea that makes the biggest difference between great coaches and wayward coaches. My simple answer is this: For every positive, there is a negative. Failure is inevitable, so the key to success is to learn to be good at learning from your mistakes. The ability to capitalize on experience is the hallmark of great coaches, and the nemesis of the wayward coach. One of my research heroes Dr. Robert Sutton of Stanford University once said, “Failure sucks but instructs”. The paradox of success holds true for everyone, including those who deal with very dangerous...

This article marks the seventh installment for the  13 Beliefs of Good Sports Coaches . This post looks at the belief that attempting to be everything to everyone is not only foolish but impossible to do well. I mentioned before that I teach a Fundamentals of Coaching course at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Recently, the class discussion turned to the topic of delegating responsibilities. It is too simplistic to say, all good coaches are good delegators. Every coaching manual, leadership book, and self-help guru has so often repeated the idea leaders must delegate responsibilities, I feel the impact of this truism is losing its impact. During our class discussion, one of my students posed the question, how do wayward coaches fail to delegate? After a lively round of give-and-take, mainly lead by the student who originally posed the question, I would like to share some of our conclusions. At the onset, I would like to thank Taylor Concepcion (my student) for much of wh...