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"Entertained — not just trained"

By Wayne Goldsmith

Coaching in the Century of Entertainment

Coaching in this century is more about ENTERTAINMENT and ENJOYMENT than just EDUCATION and athletic EXCELLENCE.

Coaches, teachers and instructors across Australia are experiencing frustrating times coming to terms with the rapid changes in society and the impact these changes are having on the learning behaviors of kids.

And this is not just an Australian problem. On a recent visit to the USA, coaches in five States identified their biggest coaching challenge as working with athletes in rapidly changing times. Colleagues in the UK, New Zealand and South Africa have also reported similar challenges in their coaching careers.

Look at the average 10-year-old today. He watches television. Turns it off. Turns on his Game Boy. Flicks off the Game Boy and turns on his computer. Gets bored after 10 minutes, turns on the television again and watches a video or DVD while listening to a CD.

Kids in this century are living in a world of constant stimulation. Life offers more entertainment options than ever and access to entertainment has never been easier. How does this relate to the sports training environment? Electronic games and computer toys may provide the stimulus to refine reaction times, improve timing and problem solving abilities but can these skills be transferred to the sports skill development process?

Most sports teach basic skills – simple movements that represent the basic movements of the sport. One traditional method of teaching simple skills has been to introduce the athletes to the skill by demonstration or description from the coach and then have the athletes attempt the skill, repeating the movement several times until mastered.

In the past, young athletes have been encouraged to work patiently through a standardised, "technically correct" learning process and repeat the basic skill several times until the movement is learnt.

Our 10-year-old – the one with all the electronics – may approach the skills learning process somewhat differently.

After one try at the new skill he is still interested. After two attempts, mildly amused. After three tries, he is bored. After four goes he is looking for ways to make it more entertaining. After eight to ten attempts he is looking for ways to get out of the practice altogether and may attempt to be disruptive, look for a toilet break, disturb team mates and so on.

And that is the challenge for the coach. How to maintain an effective coaching environment (i.e. get the job done) and yet make the environment entertaining and stimulating enough to maintain the athletes’ interest and commitment to the task?

The "Game Sense" concept is possibly an excellent way of dealing with this issue. The "Game Sense" approach encourages skills development and learning through experimentation and personal trial. It encourages athletes to practice and learn through the stimulation of the practical application of skills and through their own interpretation of the skills learning process. The variety and mental stimulation that Game Sense offers may be one solution to coaching more effectively in the century of entertainment.

Society teaches short term, instant gratification, easy fix, automatic answer, limited effort solutions.

Kids are learning five basic approaches to life’s challenges:

I must have it now.

I must have it all.

It must be fun.

It must be easy.

If it isn’t instant, fun and easy I don’t want it.

Talk to a parent of an average 8-12 year old. Speak with a primary school teacher. Ask them how they believe kids have changed. You will find they are as frustrated as most coaches. Kids learn at an early age, through the media, through advertising and through the electronic "educators" (TV, video, computers, internet) that entertainment and enjoyment are what life in this century is all about.

Sport on the other hand embodies concepts such as "long term commitment", "dedication" "personal sacrifice" "work ethic" and "discipline". These values are highly desirable personal characteristics. The plethora of business reading material available today strongly supports these core values as fundamental to personal and professional success.

The capacity for sport to develop personal values has even been recognised by government:

"The centrepiece of our policy is a new strategy to increase community participation in sport. It is true that more players mean more winners but there are also other benefits of being involved in sport. In addition to the obvious benefits of health and fitness, the Government appreciates that sport provides valuable opportunities for people of all ages to improve themselves, display team work and become more engaged in community activities". (Howard Government Policy Statement/Press Release April 2001 – "Backing Australia’s Sporting Ability").

The big challenge for coaches in all sports is how to accept that times have changed, WITHOUT COMPROMISING THE CORE VALUES OF THE TRAINING PROGRAM AND THE COACHES PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY.

It is delusional in the extreme to think that the attitudes embodied by participation in sport will change all of society – that society will change or regress to accommodate traditional sporting values.

It is more realistic to try and find innovative and creative ways of achieving sporting success within the changing framework of education and communication.

The successful coach of this century will need to be more innovative and creative than ever in an effort to maintain excellence in their program.

In a 1997 interview legendary swim coach Joe King (coach of Lisa Curry-Kenny, Hayley Lewis and numerous other international level swimmers), then in his 80’s was asked about coaching and kids today (i.e. in 1997).

Coach King replied, "Kids are smarter today. They are looking for more than just swimming laps. They want to be entertained not just trained. If I were starting coaching today the first thing I would do would be to put in place a social program. Keep kids happy first, then develop the training and competition program from there."

Coach King recognised that in changing times, the successful coach will also need to change their approach to achievement and sporting excellence.

Some sports, aware of these changing trends in society, have developed marketable "versions" of their sport to increase participation (and revenue). Indoor cricket for example offers the players the opportunity to bat and bowl without the commitment of five days in the field. These "fast food sports" are appealing to parents who can enjoy the excitement of being involved with their children’s sporting activities without the volunteering, amateur officiating, part time coaching and weekend long commitment required by the more traditional sports.

However, whilst the "instant-automatic" aspects of society are coaching challenges to overcome, they also offer an opportunity for sport in terms of marketing and promoting the unique benefits of involvement, participation and competition.

Regular physical activity promotes health and well-being. It develops cardio vascular fitness and helps control weight gain.

Training for sports like swimming, cycling, rowing, track and field, gymnastics etc promotes time management, goal setting, commitment, self-confidence.

Training and competing for basketball, netball, soccer, football, cricket, etc., promotes teamwork, team building, interpersonal skills, communication abilities and self-discipline.

In other words, it can be argued that participation, training and competition in sport gives kids a real advantage in this century. They are learning important life skills in sport that may not be available to them anywhere else through other institutions.

A young swimmer who has faced early morning training, long hard training sessions and grown up balancing sport and study commitments has little problem meeting the time management demands of secondary or tertiary study.

A young footballer who has worked with team mates, overcome the emotional issues of losing games and the pain of dealing with injury, faces no obstacles working in the corporate environment of team building and meeting monthly deadlines.

A young tennis player who has faced hundreds of opponents and travelled long distances to competitions can easily meet the challenges of overseas travel and working with people from other backgrounds.

Sport in many ways is providing an opportunity for kids to develop personal skills and attributes that non-sporting activities do not. Sporting kids are to some degree advantaged in these times having developed important life skills along the way to sporting success.

PRACTICAL COACHING TIPS
  1. All athletes love training camps. Training camps offer variety, change and different approaches to athletic preparation. The challenge is to maintain the enjoyment and enthusiasm generated at a training camp in the day-to-day training program. Aim to make every week a training camp … i.e. 52 "training camps" per year by coaching with variation, creativity, innovation and imagination.
  2. Look to add variety to old sessions, old routines and old drills. Change the way the drills are instructed, add elements of timing and competition to skills training, introduce new equipment and new situations for athletes to learn and master new skills.
  3. Have coaches from other sports (similar in nature to your sport) come to your sessions and give feedback on your coaching. They can offer variations on old techniques and drills that will bring innovation and creativity to training sessions. For example, if coaching basketball, have a netball coach teach the netball perspective of passing and catching. If working with running athletes in football, have a track and field coach help with their speed development training.
  4. Invite and accept input from athletes on training program ideas and directions. Give them the feeling of ownership of the program. Great coaches learn from the input of athletes.
  5. Encourage and develop a club and athlete social program where athletes learn to develop social skills as part of their overall development program.
  6. Encourage the development of the person not just the performance. Teach life skills and personal development skills in addition to sporting skills.
  7. Try to incorporate Game Sense approaches to old skill-learning routines. Give athletes the opportunity to learn through experimentation and personal discovery.
  8. Change the training environment to stimulate an environment of learning and stimulation. Modify training venues. Use a variety of training equipment. Change training times. Look for variations in fitness activities. Start training from different places within the training venue. Find ways to make it fun and interesting.
  9. Look for innovative and creative ways to take advantage of the new skills and abilities "computer kids" are developing. If this generation of athletes is developing a set of skills that are technology generated and respond to electronic stimuli, develop coaching tools that work well within this environment.
  10. "Sell" parents and athletes on the positive aspects of personal development that sport offers. The development of key values such as time management, self confidence, self esteem, self discipline, the ability to overcome adversity, the ability to work effectively in a team environment etc are important life skills that can be fostered through participation in sports. These life skills become elements of the sport that can be marketed and promoted to potential players and their families.

References
  • Backing Australia’s Sporting Ability, (Federal Government Policy Statement/Press Release) (2001), Sport & Tourism Division, Department of Industry, Science & Resources.
  • Balyi, I. & Hamilton A. (2000) Key to Success: long term athlete development. Sports Coach 23 (1):30-2.
  • Balyi, I. & Hamilton A. (2000). Long term athlete development: The Fundamental Stage – Part One. Sports Coach 23 (3): 10-13.
  • Covey, S. (1996), The Seven Habits Of Highly Successful People, The Business Library, USA.
  • Lynch, J (2001), Creative Coaching: New Ways to Maximize Athlete and Team Potential in all Sports, Human Kinetics, Champaign Illinois.
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(Thanks also to Nicole den Duyn and Warwick Povey from the Sport Education Unit of the Australian Sports Commission).

 

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