I've been asked to coach my mens team this year (reason being is that I've had more experience than the others!)
Over the years I've picked up a few coaching tips but not that many. Certainly not enough to keep people interested and committed to paddling. Last thing I want to do is go through the same few drills every time we go out on the water - it'll bore me into wanting to quit, let alone what it'll do to the rest of the crew.
So I've come here to ask you lot what new coaching ideas you've doing/trialing.
Many thanks.
On another note: Proof that paddling is an international sport. This morning, out on the water at 6.30am, brilliant sunshine, flat easy water and it struck me that out of the six of us in the boat, we represented 6 different countries (from 1-6: USA, England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa & Canada) & 4 continents and were paddling in a Polynesian-inspired canoe around an island in a 5th (SE Asia).
How many other sports can claim that sort of internationality? :-)
Submitted by smoog on Thu, 07/24/2008 - 7:22pm
Aloha Smoog;
Whatever inspired you to even start is the reason why you should coach. If you love the sport, it will give back to you.You will learn tons by coaching and, because you feel reponsible for them and the sport, you will do like you're doing here and seek information.Keep searching for people to bring into the sport. If people aren't passionate about it, then they're not the ones. your passion will be proof to them.Some come to experience and participate, others come to experience and compete against themselves, or others. Either way,it will show itself to you, smoog. You must believe in the force...I mean sport.
#1 Thu, 07/24/2008 - 8:49pm
As a beginner I am still in the midst of learning but I am sure you could pick up some new ideas by reviewing the teaching videos on http://outriggercanoe.blogspot.com and other sources, and of course video tape your boat.
#2 Thu, 07/24/2008 - 10:30pm
I'm also still learning the sport, but I have some coaching experience in other sports - remember that coaching is as much about the details besides the technical paddling skills. There is the psychological / motivational aspect to it as well. That's what I remember most about my first experiences paddling - the "coach" we had was great at setting a motivating, positive atmosphere and getting us excited to do the work on the water.
#3 Fri, 07/25/2008 - 5:16am
Coaching is more important at the kids/novice level. At the top level, if you don't have the right paddlers, it don't matter if you get Knute Rockne to coach you. A good coach can get the best performance out of the ingredients he has, that's it.
#4 Fri, 07/25/2008 - 5:46am
I’m relatively new to outrigger coaching as well. I’ve only been doing it for the past 3 years. (I have years of prior coaching experience in cross country and track.) There are some things that are truly unique to our sport, but for the most part you can lean on tried-and-true methods of other sports coaching approaches. There are some great sport-specific resources (Rambo’s locker, any of Steve West’s books, Mindy’s blog, etc.) There is also an abundance of applicable scientific research done in related sports. Look into some of the primary literature for rowing and endurance cycling when attempting to develop a training schedule for the club. Cycling literature is great because, like us, they incorporate repeated ballistic power generation over an extended aerobic period.
As far as coaching fundamentals, there are a few things you’ll want to do to make your life a little easier and to help you make a bigger positive impact:
1. Put some of the responsibility for success back on the paddlers. If your paddlers don’t train, don’t come to practice, and don’t participate in drills properly, they’re not going to improve no matter how much time and effort you put in as a coach. Let them know that you’re in it together and that (pardon the cliché) the club is only as strong as the weakest link.
2. Come up with a common language. Meaning that when you are coaching or a steersman is coaching their crew or paddlers are attempting to motivate each other, make sure everybody is using the same verbiage so that everybody knows what everybody else is talking about. I’ve found “keywords” for certain concepts help people to understand and correct easier on-the-fly once that concept has been presented by you.
3. Learn to engage paddlers of every ability level. You’ve got to learn to “be everything to everyone” in that you need to be able to present the basics to the newbies and offer opportunities to challenge the experienced guys. You need to be able to devote sometime to each level.
4. This one super simple, but is huge: Don’t just run practices. COACH. What I mean by that is that you can’t just send the guys off to do piece after piece (unless they’re already elite and have the tools necessary to be successful). The middle-of-the-packers and on back need input to improve. Have a purpose for everything you have your crews do. And if you see something that needs improvement, point it out and offer a solution immediately. Paddlers needing improvement won’t improve if they don’t know what needs improvement.
I agree with Jim when he says, “A good coach can get the best performance out of the ingredients he has, that’s it.” But also keep in mind that a bad coach can burn the biscuits no matter how good the ingredients.
#5 Fri, 07/25/2008 - 7:18am
six as one, I disagree with #1. It might be better to put ALL the responsibility on the paddlers. Intrinsic retrospection rather than extrinsic retrospection.
WHOA, I totally blacked out. Where did those big words come from? I must have been possessed. Or poopessed.
#6 Fri, 07/25/2008 - 7:57am
Poops, you're right. The more personally invested the paddlers are, the better the results as a whole.
And thanks for taking it easy on me on my first post.
#7 Fri, 07/25/2008 - 8:06am
Don't forget some of the most important aspects while coaching - Confidence & Listening. Your troops will follow and do whatever you tell them as long as they "feel" that you are correct. Notice I said "feel", you can be wrong, but they'll believe you if you're confident about it, just make sure you correct it later on. Listen to your troops so that you can empathize with their concerns, even the ones not paddling related.
I'm an assistant coach for a different sport, and I never ask my team to do something that I am not willing to do. In my opinion, I think they respect you more if you're right in there with them running laps, doing pull-ups, sprints, etc. till you all puke.
-B
#8 Fri, 07/25/2008 - 10:01am