The Dangers of Coaching, Part II: Theocracies

In Coaching by Brock Bourgase

As a basketball coach and a teacher, I endeavour to focus on the big picture. Did the team win? Did individual players improve? Did students achieve the overall expectations for the course? When all is said and done, did we meet our mastery and performance oriented goals?

Throughout our studies, we create theories to make things easier. Why continually reinvent the wheel when there is a perfectly good drill to develop the skills required or a practical classroom routine to facilitate student learning? But we should be mindful not to become dogmatic.

Suboptimal scenarios include Master Practice Plans which eliminate most of the fun from the sport or classroom management techniques which alienate students. It’s okay to deviate from the exact path as long as we’re moving in the right direction. However, a coach or teacher should not stray too far.

I had recently been thinking that basketball warm ups should neither consist of static stretching nor free throw shooting because these activities deactivate the very muscle groups that are meant to be energized. I was generally correct but specifically wrong. Though not the best warm up routine, nobody was hurt when the low intensity elements were limited to small quantities. My overreaction proved counter-productive to the ultimate aim: preparing for the game or practice which was to follow.

In The Checklist Manifesto, Atul Gawande writes of the benefits of lists but cautions that regulating every step is impractical when time is limited and performers (such as surgeons or pilots) are skilled experts. Too many points overwhelm the user and the list loses its value.

In The Black Swan, Nassim Taleb writes about the case of Ignaz Semmelweis, who observed a link between hand washing and lower rates of infection during childbirth. He was discredited by the establishment because his work clashed with the theories of the time.

Frames of reference should always be fluid as change is constant. So long as we get there, the precise journey is immaterial. Flexibility is a trait that is challenging to develop; self-talk is required and self-evaluation is paramount. Robert Frost was mostly correct, except there were a dozen paths diverging in the wood, which is actually the hardwood on the basketball court.