New Series - Coaching is Teaching - Part 01

Published: Fri, 10/16/15

   
Yes!! You're one of the elite parents and coaches who is making winning the right way a habit!
Dominate Your Middle School Tryout - Travel Sports Alternatives

‘My kid is having dinner with the family and kicking the butt of your kid who is never home while playing year-round travel sports.' 

Thank you to those who replied expressing interest in joining other parents to discuss solutions to raising stud athletes while not being a slave to year-round travel teams.  Here is the plan: Mark your calendars for Thursday, October 29th at 12:30 p.m. EST. It will be the first of a series of free 30 minute web calls where we will share strategies including: 
  • Join other frustrated parents to implement solutions on online video summits 
  • Shared resources for finding private coaches and small-area-games
  • Video sessions on physical training, mental toughness, goal-setting
  • Invite like-minded sports parents to join the movement
Stop being a slave to travel sports and RETAKE CONTROL OF YOUR FAMILY.  Only you can.

Coaching is Teaching
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One of the most fascinating pieces I have come across in studying coaching is a short 4-page article by Tharp & Gallimore from 1976 in which they observed John Wooden's practices for the 1974-1975 season and recorded every interaction he had with his players. It's called 'What a coach can teach a teacher' - check it out here: TharpGallimore.  In this new series we'll look at the 7 key concepts to teaching taken from resources like this Wooden article and my interviews with 55+ coaches on the WYC podcast.

Part 1 - Teaching is about relationships

Tharp/Gallimore observation of John Wooden:
‘it is also obvious that Wooden’s off-court relationship with the players is a factor in the player response to his teaching.  Some clues to the nature of this player-coach relationship are evident in Wooden’s autobiography. “I often tell my players that next to my own flesh and blood, they are the closest to  me. They are my children. I get wrapped up in them, their lives and their problems.” It is clear to the players that Wooden is truly concerned about them.  He takes a group of young men, many with superstar potential, and convinces them that they can best serve their self-interest by subordinating personal pride to team effort.'

'Teaching is about relationships.  Connect with the kid first – then you just need to stay one step ahead of them regarding the technical skill teaching'. – Steve Boyle, Founder 241 Sports

John O'Sullivan from Changing the Game Project shared with me the following quote from Dr. Martin Toms’: ‘When you are coaching sports – you don’t coach a sport, you coach a child’

Ken Stuursma shared with me a Sam Rutigliano fundamental: 'Kids don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care'

​It's common to get wrapped up the technical aspect of how to teach a skill, but that is secondary to establishing a relationship with the child and really understanding their needs first.  
Make winning your habit starting today,
​Craig
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Craig Haworth is the founder of Winning Youth Coaching, a site dedicated to helping coaches and parents make youth sports an awesome experience for the the youth and the parents.  He interviews coaches from around the world and posts them on his podcast, which currently has over 50 interviews and has been downloaded over 40,000 times. He writes a weekly note to coaches and parents. He is married to his high-school sweetheart and they share the blessing of 3 children and live in Franklin, TN. You can sign-up for his weekly note here, find him on twitter at @craighaworth1, or visit his website winningyouthcoaching.com.
"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men"
- Frederick Douglass