An introduction to the speaker and the topic of coaching, focusing on the human side of athlete development and the importance of brain training in sports performance.

Introduction to Coaching and Athlete Development

Exploration of how different cultural and institutional environments influence athlete development, coaching practices, and the coach's role in developing athletes as human beings.

Influences on Athlete Development

Discussion on the intrinsic value of coaching beyond performance, contrasting fear-based and collaborative coaching environments and their impact on athlete development.

Value and Approaches in Coaching

Addressing performance anxiety in young athletes and the importance of creating a supportive environment, while emphasizing the significance of personal connections and trust between coaches and athletes.

Supporting Young Athletes

Overview of the journey to becoming a competent coach, focusing on tactical, technical, and holistic aspects, and the importance of coaching education.

Path to Competent Coaching

Coaches should confidently teach athletes about the sport, encourage ownership and critical thinking, and understand cognitive flexibility in training.

Teaching and Learning in Sports

Success in sports is rooted in having a dream and the willingness to do what it takes to achieve it, including the value of small moments in coaching.

Ingredients for Success in Sports

Discussion on the importance of tactical awareness in sports, teaching peripheral vision, and understanding player roles based on their abilities.

Tactical Awareness and Player Roles

Essential qualities needed to become a world record athlete, the role of coaching in success, and the value of small coaching moments.

Coaching for World Record Success

Exploration of how cultural backgrounds affect athlete preparation and training styles, and the neuroscience behind athlete engagement and performance.

Cultural Influences and Athlete Engagement

# Coaching Development Newsletter

## Welcome to the UCSSC Webinar

Greetings, Coaches and Participants!

We are thrilled to welcome Janti Skidder as our featured speaker today, alongside my co-host, Coach Mark Rautikos from ISKAC and WAPS. We have participants joining us from various countries, and we appreciate your presence.

## The Human Side of Coaching

Today, we will delve into a crucial yet often overlooked aspect of coaching: the human side of coach development. While we excel in training methodologies and athletic performance, the holistic development of athletes—understanding their psychological and social needs—remains underrepresented.

### Understanding the Brain's Role in Sports

As a coach, it’s essential to recognize that athletes do not just play sports on the field; they play them in their brains. The brain governs all movements, decisions, and connections during competition. Therefore, when you enter a training session, consider it an opportunity to train the mind as much as the body.

- **Focus on Stimuli**: Your training sessions should expose athletes' brains to various stimuli—both physical and mental.
- **Create Adaptable Environments**: The environments you create will help athletes develop resilience and adaptability in their sport.

## The Influence of Environment

### Indirect Influences

Athletes are shaped by their surroundings, including:

- **Cultural Norms**: Different countries have unique approaches to training and competition. For instance, Japanese teams emphasize flexibility and teamwork, while American teams may focus more on individual performance.
- **Media Exposure**: Be cautious of what athletes consume from media platforms. Encourage them to critically assess the information they find online.

### Direct Influences

The most significant impact on an athlete's mindset comes from:

- **Family and Friends**: The support system surrounding an athlete plays a vital role in their development.
- **Coaches**: As a coach, you are a key influencer. Your approach can either foster a nurturing environment or create a fear-based one.

## Building Trust and Relationships

The foundation of effective coaching lies in establishing trust with your athletes. Here are essential components to consider:

- **Rewarding Efforts**: Teach athletes the importance of self-reward and recognizing their progress.
- **Focus on Actions, Not Personalities**: When providing feedback, critique the action rather than the individual. This approach fosters a safe space for growth.
- **Encourage Generosity**: Instill the belief that giving to others brings greater joy than receiving.

### The Importance of Connection

Engaging with athletes on a personal level can significantly enhance your coaching effectiveness. Here are some strategies:

- **Create Individual Folders**: Keep notes on each athlete, documenting their interests and progress. This will help you remember important details about their lives and foster deeper connections.
- **Ask Meaningful Questions**: Inquire about their lives outside of sports. This shows you care about them as individuals, not just as athletes.
- **Share Your Experiences**: Opening up about your own life can create common ground and strengthen the bond between you and your athletes.

## Addressing Performance Anxiety

Performance anxiety is a real challenge for young athletes. The environment you create can either exacerbate or alleviate this anxiety.

### Key Lessons for Coaches

1. **Reward Yourself**: Encourage athletes to acknowledge their achievements.
2. **Critique Actions**: Focus on what they do, not who they are.
3. **The Value of Giving**: Teach the importance of generosity and support within the team.

## Coaching Pathways

Understanding where you fall on the coaching spectrum—from fear-based to collaborative—is crucial.

- **Fear-Based Coaching**: Creates a negative, unstable environment.
- **Control-Based Coaching**: Balances structure with some autonomy.
- **Collaborative Coaching**: Encourages athlete involvement and decision-making.

## Teaching the Sport

As coaches, it’s vital to teach athletes about the sport itself. Here are some key points to consider:

- **Share Your Knowledge**: Don’t be afraid to teach athletes what you know, even if you might not have all the answers. Admit when you make mistakes and show them that learning is a continuous process.
- **Encourage Critical Thinking**: Instead of giving athletes all the answers, guide them to find their own solutions. This fosters ownership and self-confidence.
- **Connect Concepts**: Use analogies and examples from outside the sport to help athletes understand complex techniques and strategies.

### Tactical Awareness in Sports

Understanding the tactical side of the game is crucial for developing athletes. Here are some insights to consider:

- **Peripheral Vision Training**: Help athletes learn to see the game as a whole. Use drills that require them to quickly identify key elements like colors or positions in a fleeting moment.
- **Position-Specific Training**: Recognize that not all athletes thrive in the same tactical environments. For instance, players who excel in defense may struggle in midfield, where quick decision-making is essential.

## Ingredients for Success

Reflecting on the journey of a world record holder, we can identify vital ingredients for success in coaching and athletics:

- **Having a Dream**: The main ingredient is having a dream and the willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve it.
- **Physical Skills and Talent**: While talent is essential, mental toughness and resilience are equally important.
- **Collaboration**: Working closely with coaches and adapting training methods can lead to breakthroughs in performance.

## The Role of Coaches in Athlete Development

Coaches must recognize the importance of developing the whole athlete. This includes understanding the indirect and direct influences on their lives:

- **Indirect Influences**: The institutional environments, public personalities, and cultural norms that shape athletes' perspectives and approaches to training.
- **Direct Influences**: The critical role coaches play in developing athletes' mindsets, personalities, and energy.

### Creating a Supportive Environment

To foster a positive environment, consider these strategies:

- **Encourage Autonomy**: Help athletes understand their roles and the tactical environments they are part of.
- **Balance Control and Freedom**: Find a middle ground between controlling the training environment and allowing athletes the freedom to make decisions.

## Connecting with Athletes

Establishing a human connection with your athletes is vital for their development. Here’s how to do it effectively:

- **Engage on a Personal Level**: Take the time to understand your athletes’ interests, struggles, and backgrounds. For example, when interacting with them, ask about their favorite teams or recent games they've watched. This shows you care about them beyond their athletic performance.
- **Utilize One-on-One Meetings**: Keep a folder for each athlete that details your previous interactions. During meetings, refer to these notes to create a more personalized conversation. This can help you uncover underlying challenges they may be facing.
- **Encourage Open Dialogue**: Foster an environment where athletes feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and experiences. This can lead to deeper connections and a more supportive atmosphere.

## Giving Ownership to Athletes

Fostering a sense of ownership in athletes is essential for their growth. Here are some strategies:

- **Teach What You Know**: Don’t hesitate to share your knowledge, even if you’re unsure about certain aspects. Acknowledge when you’ve learned something new and be open to changing your approach.
- **Encourage Critical Thinking**: Instead of providing all the answers, guide athletes to think critically about their development. This can involve asking them to assess their progress and identify areas for improvement.
- **Promote Cognitive Flexibility**: Help athletes draw connections between concepts in sports and other areas of life. For instance, using analogies like the relationship between a wind turbine and swimming can enhance their understanding and application of techniques.

## Conclusion

As coaches, our role extends beyond just athletic training. We must focus on developing the whole athlete—mentally, socially, and emotionally. By creating supportive environments and fostering trust, we can help our athletes reach their organic potential and thrive both in sports and life.

Thank you for being part of this important discussion today. Let's continue to learn and grow together as we shape the future of coaching!

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Stay tuned for more insights in our next newsletter!

"Unlocking the Human Side of Coaching: Join Us for Insights!"

- Emphasis on the importance of teaching coaches about the human side of athlete development.
- The speaker, Janti Skidder, highlights the need for a holistic approach in coaching, focusing on psychological and social aspects.
- The brain plays a crucial role in sports performance, and training should consider brain development alongside physical training.
- Different cultural and institutional environments influence athlete preparation and mindset.
- Coaches must develop trusting relationships with athletes and recognize their role in shaping young people's lives.
- Importance of critical thinking and cognitive flexibility in coaching practices.
- The presentation will cover creating relationships, finding value in coaching, and the developmental path for coaches.

- The speaker has 45 years of coaching experience in swimming, soccer, and golf.
- Emphasizes the importance of "performance moments," but believes true value lies in daily coaching activities.
- Highlights various coaching moments: teaching, action, learning, and gut feelings.
- Discusses the impact of performance anxiety on young athletes and the coach-athlete relationship.
- Shares three key lessons for athletes: self-reward, focusing on actions not personal critiques, and the value of giving over receiving.
- Stresses the importance of social and emotional development in young athletes.
- Advocates for giving athletes autonomy and understanding the tactical complexities of different sports.
- Points out the tendency of athletes to prefer being directed rather than making their own decisions.
- Warns against coddling athletes and emphasizes the need for challenging and pushing them to improve.

- Coaches must challenge athletes to unlock their "organic potential" rather than coddling them.
- Coaching styles range from fear-based to collaboration-based, impacting athlete development and environment.
- Fear-based coaching creates instability and can damage athletes' confidence, as exemplified by a case with a swimmer named Jack.
- Competent coaching requires understanding tactical, technical, and holistic aspects of the sport, with varying timeframes for mastery.
- Building a trusting relationship with athletes involves knowing them personally, educating them, encouraging ownership, and fostering collaboration and innovation.

- Coaches should engage with athletes on a personal level to build rapport.
- Use a folder to track individual athlete interactions and progress.
- Establish connections by discussing interests outside of the sport.
- Be open about teaching the sport and willing to adapt methods based on new knowledge.
- Encourage athletes to take ownership of their learning and development.
- Foster critical thinking by guiding athletes from their current state (A) to their desired goal (E) without providing all the steps in between.

- The speaker outlines a coaching approach where athletes are guided from their current position (A) to their goal (E), encouraging self-discovery and ownership of their learning process.
- Cognitive flexibility is emphasized as a key skill, allowing athletes to connect unrelated concepts (e.g., wind turbines and swimming) to enhance understanding.
- The importance of self-belief and mental toughness in achieving athletic success is highlighted, with a focus on the collaborative relationship between athlete and coach.
- Personal anecdotes illustrate the value of coaching, both in sports and in fostering character and integrity in athletes.
- The speaker shares a touching moment with a young golfer, emphasizing the impact of coaching beyond technical skills.

- The speaker shares a heartwarming coaching moment with a young athlete who helps clean dirt off his knees, emphasizing the importance of small gestures over accolades.
- Another story involves a girl who initially shows little interest in soccer but engages after a meaningful conversation about her interests, demonstrating the impact of connection.
- The speaker stresses the significance of recognizing and cherishing everyday moments in coaching.
- A call to action for coaches to support each other and share experiences before it's too late.

- Importance of teaching coaches about the human side of athlete development.
- Holistic coaching should focus on psychological and social aspects alongside physical training.
- Brain development is crucial for sports performance.
- Cultural and institutional environments affect athlete preparation and mindset.
- Coaches must build trusting relationships and recognize their influence on young athletes' lives.
- Emphasis on critical thinking and cognitive flexibility in coaching practices.
- Presentation topics include relationship building, coaching value, and developmental paths for coaches.
- Speaker has 45 years of coaching experience in multiple sports.
- Highlights the significance of "performance moments" and daily coaching activities.
- Discusses performance anxiety and its impact on the coach-athlete relationship.
- Key lessons for athletes: self-reward, focus on actions, and the value of giving.
- Advocates for athlete autonomy and understanding tactical complexities.
- Warns against coddling athletes; challenges are necessary for growth.
- Coaching styles affect athlete development; fear-based coaching can harm confidence.
- Competent coaching requires a holistic understanding of the sport.
- Building rapport involves personal connections and tracking athlete progress.
- Encourages ownership of learning and critical thinking in athletes.
- Cognitive flexibility helps athletes connect concepts for better understanding.
- Importance of self-belief and mental toughness for success.
- Personal anecdotes highlight the impact of coaching on character and integrity.
- Recognizing everyday moments in coaching is vital.
- Call to action for coaches to support and share experiences.

- Repetition of the word "you" multiple times.  
- No additional context or information provided.  
- Emphasis on the pronoun "you."  

- Repetition of the word "you" multiple times.  
- No additional context or information provided.  

- Repetitive use of the word "you" throughout the video.  
- No additional context or information provided.

- Repetitive emphasis on "you" throughout the video.  
- No additional context or information provided.  

- Repetitive use of "you" throughout the video.  
- Emphasis on the word without additional context or information.  

- Repetitive use of the word "you" throughout the piece.
- No additional context or information provided.

- Frequent repetition of the word "you."  
- Lack of additional context or information.  
- Emphasis on the pronoun "you" throughout the text.  
- Overall repetitive nature regarding the word "you."  

- Repetition of the word "you" multiple times.  
- No additional context or information provided.

- Repetition of the word "you" throughout the video.

- Repetition of the word "you"
- Emphasis on the concept of "vision"

- Teaching athletes to develop peripheral vision and tactical awareness in sports.
- Importance of placing athletes in suitable positions based on their tactical skills (e.g., midfield vs. defense in soccer).
- Key ingredients for becoming a world-class athlete: having a dream, physical talent, mental toughness, and collaboration with coaches.
- Personal experience with training adjustments leading to success and world record achievement.
- Emphasis on self-belief and character as essential for athletic performance.
- Value of coaching and positive interactions with young athletes, illustrated through a personal anecdote about teaching golf to children.

- The speaker shares a heartwarming moment with a young boy who helps clean dirt off his knees, emphasizing the importance of small, meaningful interactions in coaching.
- Reflects on a coaching experience with a disinterested girl who, after a personal connection about her interests, becomes more engaged in soccer.
- Highlights that building relationships and showing care for athletes can lead to their improved performance and enjoyment in the sport.
- Encourages coaches to cherish everyday moments rather than focusing solely on achievements like medals and records.

- Discussion on the lack of coaching education in sports.
- Emphasis on the importance of developing the person to enhance athletic performance.
- Personal experience coaching soccer teams, including both girls and boys.
- Notable mention of Nick Saban's coaching philosophy focused on human development.
- Introduction of John T. Skidder as a speaker, highlighting his achievements in swimming.
- Topics for discussion include brain training for sports and building trust in coach-athlete relationships.
- Mention of a diverse audience from various countries attending the event.

- Emphasis on the importance of addressing the human side of coach and athlete development, which is often overlooked.
- Coaches should focus on training athletes' brains, not just their physical abilities.
- The environment created for athletes is crucial for their mental and emotional development.
- Different cultural and institutional influences impact athlete preparation and mindset.
- Coaches play a significant role in shaping athletes' personalities and energy.
- Critical thinking and cognitive flexibility should be encouraged in training, rather than strict adherence to routines.

- Focus on the repetition of "you" and the concept of "vision" in sports.
- Teach athletes to enhance peripheral vision and tactical awareness.
- Importance of placing athletes in appropriate positions based on skills.
- Key traits for world-class athletes: dream, talent, toughness, and coach collaboration.
- Personal success through training adjustments and self-belief.
- Value of coaching and positive interactions with young athletes.
- Building relationships with athletes improves performance and enjoyment.
- Encourage coaches to appreciate everyday moments over mere achievements.
- Lack of coaching education in sports is highlighted.
- Emphasis on developing athletes as people to enhance performance.
- Personal coaching experiences with both girls and boys in soccer.
- Mention of Nick Saban's human development-focused coaching philosophy.
- Introduction of John T. Skidder and discussions on brain training and trust in coaching.
- Diverse audience attending the event signifies global interest.
- Importance of addressing the human aspect of coach-athlete development.
- Coaches should train athletes' mental skills alongside physical abilities.
- The environment influences athletes' mental and emotional growth.
- Cultural and institutional factors affect athlete preparation and mindset.
- Coaches shape athletes' personalities and encourage cognitive flexibility in training.

- Coaches should focus on developing athletes as individuals, not just on performance.
- Building trusting relationships with athletes is crucial for their growth.
- Value in coaching comes from daily interactions and teaching moments, not just performance outcomes.
- Performance anxiety is real; coaches should create supportive environments to mitigate it.
- Key lessons for athletes include self-reward, focusing on actions rather than personal critiques, and the importance of giving over receiving.
- Coaches must address social and interpersonal skills in young athletes for their overall development.
- Different sports require different coaching approaches; linear sports are easier to coach than quantum sports like soccer.

- Coaching in high-performance sports requires deeper understanding and management of athletes.
- Many athletes prefer to be led rather than make decisions themselves.
- Coaches often avoid exposing athletes to challenging environments due to fear of losing control or making mistakes.
- A fear-based coaching style can harm athletes' mental well-being and performance.
- Effective coaching should balance control and collaboration, tailored to athletes' age and development.
- Competent coaching involves understanding tactical, technical, and holistic aspects, with a focus on continuous learning and adaptation.
- Building trusting relationships with athletes is vital for their growth and potential realization.

- Establish a trusting relationship with athletes by knowing them personally.
- Engage in conversations about their interests and lives to show genuine interest.
- Keep records of interactions and notes on each athlete to track their development.
- Teaching athletes about the sport is essential; be open to learning and adapting.
- Encourage athletes to share their thoughts and experiences, fostering connection.
- Assess and adjust training based on athletes’ understanding and feedback.
- Focus on individual potential rather than forcing athletes into a specific mold.

- Athletes learn and grow through observation, teaching, and evaluation.
- Encourage athletes to take ownership of their learning by guiding them from their current position (A) to their goal (E) without providing all the steps.
- Foster critical thinking by allowing athletes to identify their progress and suggest improvements.
- Cognitive flexibility is essential; relate concepts from outside the sport (e.g., wind turbines) to enhance understanding of skills like swimming freestyle.
- Aim for athletes to apply cognitive flexibility to various aspects of their lives, promoting ownership and deeper learning.

- Focus on developing athletes as individuals, not just on performance.
- Build trusting relationships for athlete growth.
- Value daily interactions and teaching moments over performance outcomes.
- Create supportive environments to mitigate performance anxiety.
- Teach athletes self-reward, action focus, and the importance of giving.
- Address social and interpersonal skills for overall athlete development.
- Different sports require tailored coaching approaches.
- High-performance coaching demands deeper understanding of athletes.
- Many athletes prefer guidance over decision-making.
- Fear-based coaching harms mental well-being and performance.
- Balance control and collaboration in coaching, tailored to athlete development.
- Competent coaching involves tactical, technical, and holistic understanding.
- Engage with athletes personally and track their development.
- Encourage athletes to share thoughts and assess training based on feedback.
- Foster critical thinking and ownership of learning in athletes.
- Promote cognitive flexibility by relating concepts outside the sport.

I would like to welcome you for the UCSSC, Janti Skidder, as our speaker for today.

My co-host now is actually Coach Mark Rautikos of ISKAC and WAPS.

Let's welcome also the participants from different countries.

Good morning, coaches and representative people from different parts of the world.

What I find with coaches and the reason I chose this subject today is that working with the human side of coach development, what I call the holistic side of athlete development is the least talked about.

It's probably the least understood and it's very underrepresented.

We do a fantastic job of doing a lot of presentations and education for coaches on the training side, on the development adaptation side, but very little on the human side.

So most of this is going to deal with that.

And I'll start by saying that, you know, I've spent a lot of time in neuroscience reading books and just self-educating in the world of neuroscience and it's a question I ask athletes all the time.

I currently work with soccer players and I ask them, where do you play the game of soccer?

And I say, no, we don't play soccer on the field.

And then they started throwing out all kinds of stuff.

And I say, we actually play soccer in the brain.

The brain is entrusted or the brain is in charge of everything we do on the soccer field.

Just like the brain is in charge of everything we do playing any sport we do, because it's managing all the extremities and the movement and the patterns of movement and the feel and the connection and the decisions and everything that goes about the sport of any sport we do is managed by the brain.

So I always feel like when I talk to coaches, I feel like what I try to get across to them is that when you go to training, when you go to develop your athletes today or tomorrow, the next day, don't think of walking in that facility and think of training them as human, you know, training them, think of training their brain.

So basically all you're going to be doing in the sessions is exposing their brains to different stimuli.

The stimuli could be physical, it could be mental, it could be a combination of both, but when you walk into training, you're saying, what am I gonna teach?

What am I gonna expose my athletes' brains to today?

What environment is the brain gonna have to adapt to today?

And by adapting to this new environment, it's going to make the brain more robust to be able to handle higher stresses, different technique options, all the different things.

So my feeling is that the environment that you create for the human brain is the paramount thing for coaches to understand and address.

Today I'm going to spend primarily the moment of psychological social side of, you know, interacting with athletes and how to get athletes engaged in what they're doing and comfortable with what they're doing, excited about what they're doing, the connection with you being very strong in terms of trust and that connection.

But throughout this I have a couple examples where I'll bring up brain training kind of things.

So you'll see that sifted in as I go through this presentation.

So the indirect, especially in today's world, there are a lot of indirect influences in terms of how people are impacted on a day-to-day basis.

The institutional environments they grow up in, what country you grow up in, creates a different institutional flavor versus, say, if you're on the Japanese team and you're preparing for competition, I'll take an example at the world level, the Japanese going to a competition and preparing to race in that competition is very different from the American.

I mean, they prepare differently, they look different, what they do in preparation is different, so your institutional environments impact you as an athlete.

Public personalities or influences or what we call influences today, they impact your athletes.

Cultural norms relative to your country, whether you're in a wide open society or a more of a closed society in terms of the Middle East and what you can and can do.

And then obviously all the media platforms that are out there, whether it's legacy media or just platforms that are on YouTube or anything that you are exposed to or you look at or you listen to a watch on a regular basis and I hate to say it but the most disingenuous place for this for many sports sometimes is those kind of platforms because you've got a lot of talking heads out there and they're just trying to get eyeballs on their product so that they can get clicks and subscriptions and stuff like that and I don't know so much about other sports.

So for short, the biggest number of the gold medal is in USA.

So maybe all of the people, the passionate athletes will go to USA.

I'm just trying to point out that if you watch the Japanese team prepare for competition, they spend a lot of time working on range of motion, stretching, flexibility.

And they're very focused on their task and how they go about their process.

If you look at the USA team, they're completely divergent.

I mean, they don't interact as much with it.

And that's sort of institutional within an environment.

So we're all impacted by the things around us.

But I'm saying that, like I say, the media platform, be really careful about just accepting anything you hear or see on a media platform.

And you got to tell your kids the same thing.

I wanted my kids looking at media platforms and I had no problem with a kid coming in to a training session and saying, hey, I saw this on YouTube, what do you think?

And we would watch together and I'd say, well, that's a waste of time.

I mean this doesn't work or that's interesting let's try it in the practice type of thing.

Let's throw it in the training session and see what happens but you got to take them with a grain of salt and be very careful and know that your kids are looking at these things.

I mean kids generally do look at these things.

So the real direct influence is the people that really impact the athletes and their mindset and who they are, their personality, their energy and all those things, or your family, their close friends, the teachers, and then probably most importantly impacted by coaches.

And I think as coaches you have to understand that depending on the culture that these kids are growing up in, your job as an influencer in their lives, in the teacher in their lives, and helping them grow as young people is probably critical to their development.

And I'm gonna give you an example, the far east, the coaching, the teaching regimen, the teachers in the far east tend to be very regimented in terms of how they deliver the product to the person or the student.

And it's pretty much exactly this, exactly that way.

And there's not a lot of freedom of thought There's not a lot of critical thinking of cognitive flexibility going on in that environment So as coaches if we kind of follow that same step, it's just train train train train do what I say Don't think just do do do then we're really doing it to service our athletes.

So to me, I feel like it's so important that coaches recognize the fact that they have to actually help develop the human being and by developing and helping the human being understand who they are, where they stand, where their feet are, and how they're going to start moving forward and the tools they're going to use to move forward.

And a lot of those are humanistic social, holistic social type tools.

So I give presentations and this is common ground in this presentation area.

The 1 I'm talking about mostly today is creating relationships with your athletes, that trusting relationship.

I talk a lot about the value of being a coach.

And I'll have 1 slide in there that addresses that.

And then I talk about the path of the developing coach, the path that you might want to follow, things that should be important to you, this is how you should develop yourself, these things that you should be looking for, but they're all in sort of common ground area role.

And like I said, I'm just going to give you, so these are some of the basic elements of what I call value in coaching.

I was talking to Mark a little before we got started.

I retired from 45 years of coaching swimmers, and I currently coach essentially competitive soccer teams and regional golfers.

So those are the 2 things I work with golfers in the summer and soccer players in the winter and spring.

And It gives me a lot of value to who I am, my life as a human being, bring smiles to my face, and just, like I said, gives me value.

So if we look at what I call value in coaching opportunities, If we're all focused on the end, which is the peak, the performance moments, if you look at the ball to the right, it says performance moments.

We all live for the performance moments, those moments when athletes are competing, they're excelling, they're winning, they're performing, doing things they've never done before.

We all live for those moments, and when they happen, they're wonderful, their smiles are around, everyone is excited.

But as we all know, in competition, athletes don't always perform at an elite level.

They don't always perform up to expectations.

And so it can be somewhat depressing and you know, you don't get much value out of them.

My feeling is the value in coaching comes from all those moments prior to performance moments.

I feel like performance moments are just the cream and cherries.

The value really comes from the day-to-day activities that you are involved in when you're working with athletes.

So I've listed them, and this would be a whole lecture on itself because I'd go into more elements.

The teaching moments involve the value you get from teaching young people about their sport.

Action moments are value when you see athletes actually begin to progress and smile about the progression.

Learning moments are when you are yourself learning, when you're kind of reading something and saying, it's kind of like those aha moments, like, oh yeah, that really makes sense.

And it could come from a variety of different places, other coaches reading, social media platforms, your athletes, right, those aha learning moments that kind of bring a smile to your face, gut feelings, I think gut feelings of not the most understood areas of what is it gut feeling?

I mean, there are almost as many neurons around your human around the human gut Not as many but there are many many euros as there are in the brain and those neurons also react to emotions and feelings So a gut feeling is an important thing to understand.

As coaches, we need to allow ourselves to have creative moments, put ourselves in position, we have creative moments, recognize them and react to them.

And like I said, performance moment, but that's a whole presentation on its own.

This is probably the most important thing that This is probably the most important thing, this is probably the most important slide of the day.

Performance anxiety, whether it's in training, whether it's in competition, it's a very, very real thing for young people.

And the platform that we create in our relationship with them will either exacerbate or make performance anxiety worse or reduce it.

And in my mind it's so important When I work with a new group, if I walk out, like I took over a new team this spring to develop them as a team, and I taught them 3 lessons on the first day, right?

The 3 most important lessons I feel I can share with a group of young people.

The first lesson was is that they had to learn how to reward themselves.

Number 2, that in the process of coaching them, that I'm going to always be coaching the action.

If I'm going to be critiquing them, it's going to be critiquing what they're doing and not who they are.

So there's nothing to do with you as a human being.

But If you make the wrong move or tactically you make the wrong decision, we're going to have a discussion about that decision-making process that has nothing to do with you as a human being.

And the third and final thing is I said, I always teach them it's much better to give than to receive.

The feeling of wealth of value in your life that you get from giving is much greater than the value you feel from receiving.

And if I give that lesson on Monday of week 1, on Monday of week 2, I asked them, what did I teach you last, what's the most important thing I taught you last week?

And they started giving me tactical answers.

The 3 main tenets, and I keep week after week after week after week, I come right back to exactly what I'm saying here, is that you've got to constantly remind them that there are wonderful human beings that are playing a sport, and that in the process of playing the sport, they're going to have mistakes and they're going to be fairly involved, but they've got to feel like any time they fail, there's going to be help to stand back up or help to fail better and that you're going to judge them based on who they are, how they interact with you, how they interact with the people around you, their teammates, etc, etc.

And you're constantly working with them to get better at that.

Like I said, I just started coaching a group of soccer players, a boys team.

I had a boy in that group that didn't understand how to interact with his teammates.

And I spent a lot of time one-on-one with him, helping and trying to help him understand that how he interacted with his teammates, the terms that he used, what he said, his posture, his body language, was very inappropriate and he was going to struggle in life if he continued down that path.

So I felt it really important to me to really help him with the social side, the human side of his development as a young person.

And to be honest with you, by the end of the season, he understood it.

He became a real, he made a fantastic holding midfielder.

And we had a great trusting relationship by the end of the season.

Whereas at the beginning when I was getting on him about his attitude and his conduct, he was very adversarial, but it took just a lot of discussions and talking, the examples and work.

And I feel like as coaches, it's our job to do that.

We can't say, I don't even want to deal with that person.

I'm just going to sit him on the bench and you'll never, never see the playing field.

You have, It's your job to take care of those types of things.

So it's more critical when they're younger than when they're older, especially in those developmental years.

In the process of this, what I am about here is giving athletes autonomy, giving them the tools to fully understand who they are, the sport they're playing, the tactical environments in the sport they're playing, and help in eventually in time the decision making involved around, you know, where they're going.

You know, the different types of sports and they require different styles of coaching or different approaches to coaching.

Linear sports, I find, are extremely easy to coach.

Swimming, track and field are what we call linear sports.

There's not much, I mean, you're running a distance or you're swimming across a pool X number of times.

Quantum sports or sports like soccer or ice hockey or things that can have, it's like chess on steroids.

You know, soccer is a game, it's like chess on steroids.

I said that because there was a chess presentation before me, but it is chess on steroids.

The ability to see improvement is much harder to see.

So it requires a lot more understanding on how to manage the athletes in that environment.

I feel like a lot of athletes in this world want to just be led.

They just want to have the hand held and just tell me what to do next, what's next, what's next, what's next, etc.

Whereas I would like them to all be very involved in what they do.

I found it actually extraordinary when I started interviewing Olympic athletes that were at the peak level of performance at the Olympics, and they kept coming back to me and saying, no, I never made decisions.

I was never about getting my brain involved in the day-to-day activities of what I was doing.

I just wanted to be told, and I feel like it's important that you take the time to kind of get them out of that cocoon and get them exposed to things they need to be exposed to.

I think coaches don't really teach or help kids get into the environment I think kids should be in because they don't want to lose control.

They don't want to look stupid if they make a mistake.

I always feel like as I when I'm coaching and pushing kids to get better and pushing kids to improve performance or understanding or vision type of thing, you know, if we're not pushing and teaching and challenging, then we coddle them.

And by coddling them, you know, we limit the ability to achieve what I call organic potential.

Because every athlete has a level of organic potential.

And us as coaches, it's our job to create the environments that help them get that out.

So I'm just gonna touch on the coaching pathways.

I see this pathway is kind of anywhere from a fear-based to a collaboration-based, in the middle kind of a semi-control-based, and the arrow that goes from red on 1 side to green on the other side I think is very indicative of that the options that you have within this pathway environment.

I mean I have known and been around coaches that were on the extreme fear based side and it creates a very very unstable environment for your athletes when they are living and developing in a fear-based environment, where they literally fear the coach yelling at them, they fear the coach picking on them, And they're just walking on eggshells every time they come into the training environment.

In the middle is control-based, where you control everything.

It's successful, but in my mind, if you can be somewhere between control and collaboration based on the age and the development level of your athletes, I think it's important that you do that.

And you have to decide, every coach that's listening to this today, where do you fall on the spectrum?

Where are you personally on the spectrum?

And if you're more to the red, if you feel like your athletes are more worried about what you're gonna say about them or say to them or get on them or discipline them or how you might discipline them.

You know, it's important because I took a job about 4 years ago in Indiana.

And when I arrived there, I found that the coach prior to me had been an extreme fear-based athlete.

I encountered this young man who I remember coming up from high school was a very good athlete.

I was actually impressed with his performances as an athlete.

But in my first sit-down meeting with him, I come to find out that he is broken.

He is absolutely broken as a human being.

And in talking to his friends, his peers, I would say, well, you know, what's up with Jack?

And can you tell me something about Jack?

And 1 guy said, listen, you got to understand the coach before you, he would scream at Jack every day.

Should have left him on the sheets type of thing, that he was a waste, it was just a constant barrage of that type of rhetoric at this poor athlete.

And so that helped me understand what he had been dealt with the last couple of years with this coach.

And so a lot of conversations with this young man just talking about who he is, what he's about, kind of Reinstilling his belief in who he is is a wonderful human being.

I learned really quickly with Jack that when you gave the instruction as to what was going to be done in training, once the training started, you turn music on.

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