Knowing how, when, and why to adjust the dial, so that you can set them up to win is the name of the game.
“In order to reach athletes on a daily basis, you must have social awareness.
It’s not about ‘your plan’, it’s about adjusting your plan based on their presentation.
Chatty? Push.
Quiet? Pull back.
Atypical body language? Give them space.
Pay attention to the details.”
-Ray Zingler on X
Pay attention. That’s all.
When you pay attention, you pick-up on things.
But see that’s the problem most (ineffective) coaches are stuck so far up their own asses, they couldn’t hit self-awareness if they tried.
They (continue to) practice the my way or the highway coaching style and don’t even know that it doesn’t work.
They use the success of their athletes who “make them look good” to justify their own personal decline that is fueled by pointing to tenure and complacency. It’s devolvement at its finest and it’s rampant in our industry.
Most times, I can predict how an athlete’s training session is going to go without them saying a single word.
I know everything I need to know less than 5 minutes into the warm up.
I know exactly what I need to do with the dial, and they’ve not yet finished gate openers.
And no, it’s not because I am some training wizard.
It’s because I always pay attention.
I listen. I get know my kids.
I pay attention to how they walk, talk, interact with their peers.
What they like, what they don’t like, how they need to be coached.
Are they intrinsically motivated or extrinsically?
How’s everything going on at home?
His mom moving out can really wreak havoc on his mentals.
And a menstrual cycle compounded with boyfriend problems may seem trivial to a 50-year-old male coach, but they are very real things to female athletes and considerations and empathy is paramount.
So what if a kid is having an off day or an off week?
Is the day or week shot?
Only if you’re too dumb not to recognize it ahead of time and lack the discipline to autoregulate and make real time adjustments to set them up to win.
And if you’re coaching athletes, that should always be the objective.
To help guide them to win their day.
I’m not implying you should never challenge kids or discipline them, obviously there are times where that is appropriate, but the overarching daily objective should always be for you to position your reach to get them wins.
Not every day is going to be a homerun.
But if you pay attention, you can help them hit a ton of singles.
