Sunday Night Football

As I watch Sunday Night Football I am intrigued. I love football for the athletic prowess, intensity, shit-talking, commentating, but I love the game because of the chess match. People do not understand the preparation, the amount of hours spent in the film room dissecting the opponents plays in certain situations. The down, the score, how many yards for a 1st down, who is on the field and who is not. Is the strength of their line on the weak or strong side, what is their tendency with all of this? It truly is a guessing game/chess match and with the hope that your athletes will out think/play theirs. All of these coaches are professionals, yet there are few that are considered great. The ones that I feel that are considered great do not have any more knowledge than those who are not 'great', but what sets them apart is their ability to connect and get through to their players. They want this or that down, but if this or that does not resonate with the player than really what good does it do?

Coaching people in the gym is not nearly the job that this is, however on a smaller scale share some similarities.

I use to be an awful 'coach'. I still am trying to work on my weaknesses but one thing I have vastly improved upon is my ability to connect with different types of people. The reason for this is the various places I have been and various people I have come in contact with. "Why don't they understand me?" I would ask myself. I am saying the exact words from the CF Journal. I am saying exactly what the head coach is saying, but it still does not get through. It was a combination of what I said, the way I said it and the timing of when it was said; all incredibly important. As a coach, a good one, I need to be able to read the client/athlete and learn a bit of their language so I can better help them understand. If they play basketball can I equate bringing hips through and elevating/getting full-extenstion to them on a Snatch? Can I stress the importance of hamstring/glute recruitment on a KB swing VS just bending over and throwing the KB up, and WHY it's important? Not everyone reacts the same, not everyone learns at the same speed but everyone can learn. Maybe Susie Q will never snatch from the floor but she sure can pull from above the knee to overhead and look like she knows what she is doing.

I relate this a bit to watching football. They can come up with the best schemes but if they do not make their players understand it, then what good does it do? Unfortunately there are a lot of 'coaches'…trainers…in my line of work that think because they have a certificate and hold a position of 'class trainer' that it automatically gives them authority on the subject.

This approach does not appeal to everyone, but the people that truly want coaching and have a desire to develop a coach/athlete relationship understand the process.

With that being said, I'll get back to my football, IPA and quiet.