A. Gorilla
Omono
love Smoke....
Not saying he is a dick.
But I keenly observe the effects of positive and negative coaching.
(Baseball)
Time and time again I get signs that these coaches think a child knows something, simply because THEY know it themselves....not because it is something they properly instructed and practiced with the child.
Sometimes they even Say things like, "I wish I was on the field", which is proof, they think their child knows all they know, as their image of their child on the field is THEM and not their child.
They've "projected" themselves onto the field and when they yell at their child, it is truly them yelling at themselves, for something they knew they should have done.
I don't do this.
A proper method...
Coach and support prior. Allow. View and note individual mistakes. Speak of corrections later.
(Volleyball)
Same kid just started Volleyball, my mom coached and played for years and I was there, I played and Coached, Reffed and kept score.
So I figured my kid would be a natural...just like baseball! (Me projecting...noted!)
He wasn't! Sat most of the first game they got crushed in and he looked like a fish out of water!
So I applied my method of just cheering loudly, with bits of appropriately timed encouragement. (Since yelling real time instructions is proven useless)
And talked with him briefly after the game.
"Haha! I thought you would have played better than that! You guys gotta get your first bumps to the setter higher, you're wearing them out too fast. Those guys were good! You see how they were talking? You know how in baseball you are like a block away from another guy and you have to call it? The difficulty built in to the game of Volleyball is that you are ALL so close, able to cover the same area, it's even more important to talk, or you collide, or watch!"
Quiet Boy, Lead and Don't lead. Like me!
Can't say he got to talking much....
But he hasn't sat another second since that talk, and I believe they haven't lost again, except for HIS school pants at an away game! Lol!
Anyway....back to Baseball...
For 6 years I've been lured into trusting my child's future with these "coaches".
With their Grandiose Plans of A Killer team!
We finally have a Solid team, but most of the out of state and other early games have been played without their regular coaches.
And the teams that continue to beat us, are the same ones that ALWAYS HAVE....
The ones where you here simple, appropriately timed messages of encouragemt from the coaches....
"Put your hips into it"
"get a rip kid!"
"Step step"
"Look alive"
"Where's the play?"
"Drive it"
And in every instance the losing side does the ole, yell as it happens and bitch later.
"Two two, aawww...what are you doing?"
"Come on, you could have hit that"
"Would you stop watching the ball!?"
"What were you thinking?"
Makes me wanna go punch a motherfucker in the mouth and tell em about what the kid is thinking ...
He's Fucking sad and that don't help him!
Makes it even more shitty to do it here....
Since 1....this is not really in real time.
2. In real Bonsai, time? We have all the time in the world to properly coach.
3. Any piece if shit stick previously diced, killed, or EVEN bought dead, is still an opportunity to COACH.
SO LONG AS THE TEACHER HASN'T PREVIOUSLY PROJECTED HIS KNOWLEDGE INTO HIS STUDENT AND QUESTIONS WHY THEY DON'T GET IT!
That shit is impossible and makes you look like a moron!
Sorce
Anyone with good intentions, trying to learn something new, the coach should perceive that someone's screw-up still represents that kid's 100% ability for that moment. It might have been 50% wrong, but it's also 50% right. Question is, are you going to hit the brakes and mention the bad, or hit the gas and praise the heck out of the good? The only thing which should be mentioned is recognition of their effort and what TO DO; as opposed to mentioning what went wrong.
Classical conditioning is what turns people on or off to things. For too many kids, sports are just a venue for grown-ups to express their chronic disappointment.
Developmentally, kids having fun doing kid stuff is inherently transient. As they get older, they know damn well where they stand in the pecking order of their peers, and will take it upon themselves to get serious when the time is right for them. But if baseball is just a venue for dad to get pissed off about picking dandelions in the outfield, then this baseball career is over before it started. And that's a mild version.
I work with two ex-baseball pitchers. One college, one minor leagues. They coach pitching as a side job. They get parents of wanting excessive work during off season. He has to remind them: "Nobody is throwing at this time of year. Not college. Not pros. Nobody. Nobody should be throwing. At all."
You don't need a good attitude to simply show up I suppose....but you do need functioning shoulders!