Coaching Principles - are they yours?

I recently received a series of email blogs via about exceptional coaching principles written by Brian Grasso of the IYCA (International Youth Conditioning Association) that he labeled “Back in the Trenches”.


While you read it, ask yourself….. “do I coach this way?”

(For you youth baseball coaches, I’ve edited his blog down quite a bit, because some of the info was too specific and mentioned specific people, or rambled off topic, but I tried to clean up the English to make sense.)


I thought you might enjoy some of the coaching principles. Although it’s not written specifically for baseball. When I read it, I thought about all the mistakes I’ve made. And coaches i've seen, who don't get the results they want. I relate a lot to section #3 and I think it applies to pitching (and other skills).


Anway.....enjoy the read.

(1) Specific Instruction Time
· Don't Train... Teach.
· Instinctively know that young athletes are 'works in progress' and that the urge to 'make tired through hard work' must be tempered by the undeniable need to teach proper execution.
· Don’t equate quality training with leaving them breathless, sweaty, and can't walk the next day.
· Every one of his training sessions is methodical in the way he
teaches complexity through simplicity, prior to implementing an
exercise into a given routine.
· I've been very heartened watching this and believe fully that
more Coaches need to take an honest look at there programming
methods with respect to proper instruction.
(2) Coaching Presence

· A quality Coach has a presence.
· Yet another intuitive intangible that I truly believe cannot be taught… But CAN be improved upon so long as you’re prepared to look in the mirror…
· Not because they are dictators or aristocratic morons who feel compelled to proclaim their dominance, but because they simply have a commanding authority that is automatically respected and impossible to ignore.
· Does not ever demean (however when addressing an individual or the team, full attention was always given).
· Does not demand respect (although received it with 100% certainty).
· He was not a ‘yeller’ (but had a booming voice).
· Any casual observer, who happened upon practice one day to watch, would know EXACTLY who was in charge.
· His own young athletes are where he spends most of his time and attention.
· An absolute commanding man who speaks with great authority, but softens it all with an honest look in his eye that never flinches away from who he’s talking to.
· When players ask him questions, he answers them with passion, vivid detail, and is excited to teach.


(3) Constant Praise
· This one is something I wish more Coaches understood.
· If your young athlete performs an exercise that is 90% incorrect, the
only option you have in terms of making sure he or she eventually
gets it, is to comment on the 10% that was right.
· I know... The urge is to correct the mistakes, but as I've been saying
for years now:
· The human body comes equipped with an auto-regulatory feature that
knows where proper versus improper functional execution lies.
· The goal is to 'allow' the body-brain to relax and find proper execution
for itself.
· That's not to say that we create situations where repeated efforts of
incorrect execution become the norm, but when trying to 'over-correct'
(because their Coach just gave them 12 things they did wrong and have
to do better) young athletes become inhibited and entirely too careful.
· They need to move freely and allow auto-regulation to occur.
· Thus, remind them of what they did correctly first; then spend a little
time discussing the ONE or TWO things you'd like to see differently in
the next set.
· You absolutely must adopt an 'ata-boy' mentality when it comes to
working with developing athletes.
· Remember: Young bodies are growing constantly. What was 'good' form in an
exercise 2 weeks ago may no longer be quality execution today
because of hormonal or structural changes.
· Human emotion (which is terribly inconsistent during the teenage
years) dramatically effects the visceral portion of the body which can
place great strain on associated soft tissue.
· A 'bad' first set could be made 'good' on set 2 by simply reminding the young athlete of what they were doing right, focusing them on proper breathing and helping them reduce an emotional stress they may be experiencing.


How many coaches are the antithesis of these ideas and are guilty of ...
1) under-teaching
2) having the wrong demeanor, and
3) under-praising.


Don't be that guy.