Category: psychology

no excuse for abuse

Question any coach who seems to be aggressive towards children.

The only way to stop it is for parents to stand up, not simply for the current athlete, but the future human being!

We fail our kids when we ignore the very real long-term damage of abusive coaching for the fleeting celebrations of short-term results. Besides, there are far more coaches who don’t verbally abuse players getting the same kinds of results, but also building up excellent humans too. …

Parents in Sport

Coaching for Performance in Life and in Sport

Coaching Association of Canada is circulating a “toolkit” for coaches who want to improve the success rate for their athletes.

It’s based on the dissertation of Erin Willson, PhD.

The full document is linked at the bottom of this post.

AI summary of the PDF:

The document provides a toolkit for coaches to create positive sport environments that foster both performance success and athlete well-being.

It outlines four key attributes of a positive sport environment: characteristics of the athlete, characteristics of the coach, characteristics of the coach-athlete relationship, and characteristics of the training environment.

The toolkit encourages coaches to expand their definition of success beyond just medal performance to include personal development, well-being, enjoyment, and a desire to stay in sport.

It provides guidance on assessing readiness for change, implementing positive coaching strategies like being empowering, healthy, and maintaining respectful coach-athlete relationships.

The toolkit also includes resources like checklists and planning guides to help coaches integrate these strategies.

quality-coaching-toolkitDownload

Simone Biles Rising

This 4 part documentary on Netflix is extremely good.

It was fun reliving Paris.

Good editing. They got the Gymnastics right. Yet didn’t overwhelm the general public with too much technical jargon.

All gymnasts should see it if only to know that EVEN Simone Biles gets nervous at age-27. It’s normal.

Laurie Hernandez is the best colour commentator.

I was impressed with Joscelyn, too. So charismatic and well spoken.

Simone’s Mom is charming. I’m not surprised she got so much screen time.

I did NOT enjoy reliving Simone’s (possible) calf injury in Paris. … Whew.

Imagine the storyline if she had withdrawn before Vault in qualifications.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

GymCastic has a comprehensive review.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Tony Retrosi on COACHING

… Coaching is a profession that puts an emphasis on relationships and teaching. As I reflect on my career and what I have seen of others I believe that coaching is more than a profession, IT IS A CALLING. A calling with great responsibility and equally great rewards. …

Look for differences not similarities. Strip away all things that don’t matter and get down to the core issues. What you don’t see may be as important as what you do see! …

Read more:

On Coaching and My Career

Parents: “I love to watch you play.”

A video from True Sport shows how terrible it can be for some kids who play sport on the ride home after a game or practice. It’s part of a new campaign called, “The Ride Home“.

… a father berates his son for wanting to have fun during a practice. …

The ride home is easy, actually. You just have to remember to say six words:

I love to watch you play.

Active for Life

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Sports Psychology Has an Evidence Problem

Of course every coach uses methods from sport psychology to improve ultimate performances.

But we don’t really know how or why methodology works: self-talk, mental focus, attention, etc.

The brain is complex. Each athlete is different from the next.

A mental training plan for one might well be quite difficult for the teammate training beside them.

Sports Psychology Has an Evidence Problem

The benefits of training your mental skills are, by definition, all in your head. So how do we prove that it works?

Perfect Balance by Julia Konner

Review by Gymnastics Coaching editor Rick McCharles

Pacific & Court Publishing sent me a review copy of a new book by Julia Konner — Perfect Balance.

Published August 2024.

It’s very good. I recommend it for coaches, parents, and serious older gymnasts.

It’s science based, but easy enough to read for every teenager.

Coaches can read this book to remind of important principles for being successful in Gymnastics and Life.

Gymnasts can treat it as a fill-in-the-blank workbook, if they prefer.

Honest and up-to-date. I found nothing with which I could disagree. 😀

I liked the section titled Handling the Hardships of Gymnastics.

The chapter on Quitting, best of all. This should be recommended to any older gymnast contemplating hanging up the grips.

Gymnastics is a master teacher of how to fail. More important, it is a master teacher of how to overcome failure. As a gymnast, you deal with so much failure that after a while it doesn’t seem so scary. Many people avoid challenges because they are so afraid to fail—but not you. You know that when you fail you are one step closer to success. You also know that failure is a normal (and helpful) part of life.

Julia Konner, MPH, CHES, is a former collegiate Division 1 student-athlete and coach with over 16 years of competing as an artistic gymnast. Through her many years as a club athlete, collegiate athlete, and team captain, she has faced her own adversities through injuries, body image issues, and impact that training 30+ hours/week has had on her social life.

Over the years she has helped countless young and college-aged athletes navigate the ups and downs of the complicated, arduous, and time-consuming sport of gymnastics.

Through her personal experience and intricate knowledge of the sport, Konner provides evidence-based advice for young gymnasts at every level. She holds a master’s in public health (MPH) from the University of California, Davis.

During and after finishing her graduate work, she worked in research and program management related to prevention and mitigation of chronic diseases through healthier lifestyle habits.

She remains active as a competitive CrossFit athlete, focused on both the physical side of strength as well as the mental. She currently lives in Washington, DC, and works in public health.