Tuesday, June 16, 2009
More on "Talent"
There is a nice article on innate "talent" on neuroanthropology.net. The complete article is here. Enjoy.
Lessons from Phil Jackson
As most everyone knows, the Lakers won the NBA title this year, giving Phil Jackson his record 10th NBA championship as a coach. Jim Thompson of the Positive Coaching Alliance recently sent out this email detailing how Coach Jackson is a role model for youth coaches. By the way, you can sign up for the PCA newsletter, become a member of the organization, etc. here.
Phil Jackson: Role Model Coach
By Jim Thompson
Watching the Lakers win the NBA title, last night I began to count the ways that Phil Jackson is a model for youth coaches.
1) He builds players' self-confidence. Trevor Ariza, who came up big in the playoffs, said he knew he wasn't going to get pulled from the game if he missed a shot, which fueled his confidence to keep playing hard. Jackson's players don't tighten up in the clutch, worried about what will happen if they miss. They play to win, not to avoid looking bad. Players don't do that if they are worrying about their coach giving up on them.
2) He develops players as leaders. Michael Jordan never won a title until Phil showed him how to make his teammates better. And now even those who called Kobe Bryant the most selfish player in the NBA, can see how Bryant has grown under Phil as a leader who makes his teammates better.
3) He doesn't let the emotion of the moment control his behavior. Phil has been called the Zen Master, sometimes mockingly, but I believe his meditation practice provides a detachment that allows him to keep his head when those around him are losing theirs (full disclosure: I meditate daily and find it helps me deal with my challenges, which admittedly are much less than those of an NBA coach).
Jackson was pummeled by the press during the playoffs-for not coaching enough, for going through the motions, for mailing it in. I took his calmness instead as a sign of someone who sees the big picture-that life is filled with unavoidable ups and downs. Overreacting to a loss can disrupt a team's momentum and damage its self-confidence. Phil retained his equanimity and didn't.
4) He is a community builder. In a videotaped talk Jackson gave for PCA nine years ago, he rarely used the word team. He talked again and again of creating a community that players wanted to be part of. His masterful handling of Dennis Rodman with the Bulls was an example of bringing out the best in a troubled and talented individual by showing him what he could be part of if he bought into the team's culture.
5) He has a sense of humor about life. At some level life is absurd and recognizing that helps keep us sane. Phil is able to keep perspective with his jokes and use of irony (which, I notice members of the media often don't get!). His splicing of popular movies with game film is both fun and effective in making points more effectively than banging a player over the head with a lesson he needs to learn.
6) He's a learner. By his own admission, he started out as a control-freak, a nasty-snarly coach, like so many others, but he realized that it wasn't working for him. He embodies what PCA calls a "teachable spirit."
I first met Phil when he wrote me asking permission to use some of my ideas in his coaching clinics. Our mutual friend Rich Kelley had sent Phil the manuscript for my first book, Positive Coaching, and Phil had actually read it. He is constantly looking to learn new things, even to the point of reading a book by a guy (me) who never coached beyond the high school level.
7) He fills Emotional Tanks. Phil latched on to a PCA staple, the "Magic Ratio" (5 Emotional Tank Fillers for every criticism), and used it to turn Horace Grant's career around. Grant became a key player in the Bulls' multiple championships under Phil, and he chose to come back to play for Jackson in LA late in his career.
I often think that if we could get every youth coach to bump up his/her plus-minus ratio toward the magical 5:1, PCA could fold up its tent and declare its work over. By the way, it's called the Magic Ratio because kids with full E-Tanks do things that do indeed seem magical.
8) He grows on his players. So many coaches have an unpleasant intensity that grates on players to the point that they soon want to move on, even if they've had success with that coach. Phil's style of treating players as total human beings causes players to feel better about him the longer they play for him. Derek Fisher after last night's final game: "He doesn't try to control you as a coach. He empowers you to be who you are...He doesn't put himself in the way. He let's us do it." Earlier he said, "I love that man." Wow.
9) He's competitive in the truest, best sense of the word. Contrary to what some believe, PCA is not anti-competitive. Life is full of competition and kids need to learn to compete effectively. It is the win-at-all-cost mentality that is the enemy. Phil embodies competition in the original sense of the word: a "striving together" to be our best, rather than the degraded form of competition that David Shields calls "De-Competition," in which anything goes if it helps you win.
10) He Honors the Game. No, he is not perfect and yes, he did criticize officials' calls in the playoffs, which led to fines from the NBA. But, as much as any coach in pro sports, he coaches with an underlying respect for officials and opponents.
In his videotaped remarks to PCA nine years ago, Phil talked about being influenced by Native American culture and how tribes valued their opponents because without them they would have no one to fight. Crucial to the Bulls being able to defeat the Detroit Pistons was getting his players to respect the "Bad Boys" as worthy opponents who were giving them a gift by forcing them to play their very best to be able to compete.
11) He demonstrates moral courage-standing up publicly for what one believes is right even when it's not popular. When his (and my) alma mater, the University of North Dakota, gave him an honorary doctorate last year, he used the event as a platform to stand up for Native Americans who feel the UND nickname dishonors them
Noting the positive influence Native Americans have had on his spirituality, he said, "We have to rethink our nickname...the Fighting Sioux because it's not a beneficial nickname to these people. It's not beneficial to us." Phil noted that UND would still be powerful whether called the Sioux or the Flickertails. "I propose in this year of change we do the right thing."
12) He supports the PCA Movement. Phil is PCA's National Spokesperson and he donates his time and money to building the PCA Movement. When I am asked, "How much do you pay Phil Jackson to be your spokesperson?" I get the satisfaction of saying, "Nothing! He pays us!"
In Houston after a tough game against the Rockets in the Conference semifinals, he finished his press conference and walked out of the room. A reporter said she had one more question to which he replied over his shoulder, "I'm done." She said, "It's about Positive Coaching Alliance." He immediately turned and said, "I'll talk about that any time." (You can see the interview on the PCA website) Phil sees the transformation of youth sports as part of his legacy. I hope you will join the PCA Movement and help Phil Jackson and PCA make history by turning youth sports into the very best youth development experience possible.
Phil Jackson: Role Model Coach
By Jim Thompson
Watching the Lakers win the NBA title, last night I began to count the ways that Phil Jackson is a model for youth coaches.
1) He builds players' self-confidence. Trevor Ariza, who came up big in the playoffs, said he knew he wasn't going to get pulled from the game if he missed a shot, which fueled his confidence to keep playing hard. Jackson's players don't tighten up in the clutch, worried about what will happen if they miss. They play to win, not to avoid looking bad. Players don't do that if they are worrying about their coach giving up on them.
2) He develops players as leaders. Michael Jordan never won a title until Phil showed him how to make his teammates better. And now even those who called Kobe Bryant the most selfish player in the NBA, can see how Bryant has grown under Phil as a leader who makes his teammates better.
3) He doesn't let the emotion of the moment control his behavior. Phil has been called the Zen Master, sometimes mockingly, but I believe his meditation practice provides a detachment that allows him to keep his head when those around him are losing theirs (full disclosure: I meditate daily and find it helps me deal with my challenges, which admittedly are much less than those of an NBA coach).
Jackson was pummeled by the press during the playoffs-for not coaching enough, for going through the motions, for mailing it in. I took his calmness instead as a sign of someone who sees the big picture-that life is filled with unavoidable ups and downs. Overreacting to a loss can disrupt a team's momentum and damage its self-confidence. Phil retained his equanimity and didn't.
4) He is a community builder. In a videotaped talk Jackson gave for PCA nine years ago, he rarely used the word team. He talked again and again of creating a community that players wanted to be part of. His masterful handling of Dennis Rodman with the Bulls was an example of bringing out the best in a troubled and talented individual by showing him what he could be part of if he bought into the team's culture.
5) He has a sense of humor about life. At some level life is absurd and recognizing that helps keep us sane. Phil is able to keep perspective with his jokes and use of irony (which, I notice members of the media often don't get!). His splicing of popular movies with game film is both fun and effective in making points more effectively than banging a player over the head with a lesson he needs to learn.
6) He's a learner. By his own admission, he started out as a control-freak, a nasty-snarly coach, like so many others, but he realized that it wasn't working for him. He embodies what PCA calls a "teachable spirit."
I first met Phil when he wrote me asking permission to use some of my ideas in his coaching clinics. Our mutual friend Rich Kelley had sent Phil the manuscript for my first book, Positive Coaching, and Phil had actually read it. He is constantly looking to learn new things, even to the point of reading a book by a guy (me) who never coached beyond the high school level.
7) He fills Emotional Tanks. Phil latched on to a PCA staple, the "Magic Ratio" (5 Emotional Tank Fillers for every criticism), and used it to turn Horace Grant's career around. Grant became a key player in the Bulls' multiple championships under Phil, and he chose to come back to play for Jackson in LA late in his career.
I often think that if we could get every youth coach to bump up his/her plus-minus ratio toward the magical 5:1, PCA could fold up its tent and declare its work over. By the way, it's called the Magic Ratio because kids with full E-Tanks do things that do indeed seem magical.
8) He grows on his players. So many coaches have an unpleasant intensity that grates on players to the point that they soon want to move on, even if they've had success with that coach. Phil's style of treating players as total human beings causes players to feel better about him the longer they play for him. Derek Fisher after last night's final game: "He doesn't try to control you as a coach. He empowers you to be who you are...He doesn't put himself in the way. He let's us do it." Earlier he said, "I love that man." Wow.
9) He's competitive in the truest, best sense of the word. Contrary to what some believe, PCA is not anti-competitive. Life is full of competition and kids need to learn to compete effectively. It is the win-at-all-cost mentality that is the enemy. Phil embodies competition in the original sense of the word: a "striving together" to be our best, rather than the degraded form of competition that David Shields calls "De-Competition," in which anything goes if it helps you win.
10) He Honors the Game. No, he is not perfect and yes, he did criticize officials' calls in the playoffs, which led to fines from the NBA. But, as much as any coach in pro sports, he coaches with an underlying respect for officials and opponents.
In his videotaped remarks to PCA nine years ago, Phil talked about being influenced by Native American culture and how tribes valued their opponents because without them they would have no one to fight. Crucial to the Bulls being able to defeat the Detroit Pistons was getting his players to respect the "Bad Boys" as worthy opponents who were giving them a gift by forcing them to play their very best to be able to compete.
11) He demonstrates moral courage-standing up publicly for what one believes is right even when it's not popular. When his (and my) alma mater, the University of North Dakota, gave him an honorary doctorate last year, he used the event as a platform to stand up for Native Americans who feel the UND nickname dishonors them
Noting the positive influence Native Americans have had on his spirituality, he said, "We have to rethink our nickname...the Fighting Sioux because it's not a beneficial nickname to these people. It's not beneficial to us." Phil noted that UND would still be powerful whether called the Sioux or the Flickertails. "I propose in this year of change we do the right thing."
12) He supports the PCA Movement. Phil is PCA's National Spokesperson and he donates his time and money to building the PCA Movement. When I am asked, "How much do you pay Phil Jackson to be your spokesperson?" I get the satisfaction of saying, "Nothing! He pays us!"
In Houston after a tough game against the Rockets in the Conference semifinals, he finished his press conference and walked out of the room. A reporter said she had one more question to which he replied over his shoulder, "I'm done." She said, "It's about Positive Coaching Alliance." He immediately turned and said, "I'll talk about that any time." (You can see the interview on the PCA website) Phil sees the transformation of youth sports as part of his legacy. I hope you will join the PCA Movement and help Phil Jackson and PCA make history by turning youth sports into the very best youth development experience possible.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
MPSF Awards
Congratulations to Kevin Ring, men's head coach at UCSD for being named the MPSF Coach of the Year. The MSPF release is here. To follow that up, Kevin also received the Volleyball Magazine Coach of the Year award as well.
All indications are that the voting wasn't even close - Kevin and the Tritons had, by their standards, a wonderful year and overachieved big-time. Congratulations to Kevin and the UCSD program.
Kevin's complete bio is here.
All indications are that the voting wasn't even close - Kevin and the Tritons had, by their standards, a wonderful year and overachieved big-time. Congratulations to Kevin and the UCSD program.
Kevin's complete bio is here.
Monday, May 4, 2009
New Hire at UCR
Ron Larsen, on staff here at Gold Medal Squared and one of our favorite guys of all time, has just been named the new women's head coach at the University of California at Riverside.
Ron leaves his most recent post as a Gold-Medal-Winning assistant with the USA Men. You can read the UCR press release here.
And there is a really nice article in the local paper here.
Ron leaves his most recent post as a Gold-Medal-Winning assistant with the USA Men. You can read the UCR press release here.
And there is a really nice article in the local paper here.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
New Hire for USA Women
Unless you have been under a rock, you probably already know about this news item.
If you are an elite female volleyball athlete right now, you have to be pretty much giddy at thought of being in the gym with Hugh and Karch. It will be interesting to see how things develop with the girls over the next four years.
If you are an elite female volleyball athlete right now, you have to be pretty much giddy at thought of being in the gym with Hugh and Karch. It will be interesting to see how things develop with the girls over the next four years.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
GMS at Men's Final Four, Italy
AVCA SPRING CONFERENCE
Dr. Carl McGown is one of four headline presenters at this year's AVCA convention at the Men's Final Four in Provo, Utah (BYU). His presentations include:
Thursday, May 7th - 4:45pm
Scouting an Opponent: What Tendencies are Most Critical and Why
Friday, May 8th- 8:30am
Swing Blocking: Why it Works for Both Men and Women
Friday, May 8th - 11:00am
Semi-Final Match Analysis
Saturday, May 9th - 1:00pm
Statistics: The Key to Good Coaching Decisions
You can see the complete AVCA Conference Schedule here.
DATA PROJECT
James Wilroy will be at the AVCA Spring Conference as well, presenting a DataProject Basic User Course on Thursday from 8:00am to 4:00pm. This course is free to all Conference attendees, and is a good opportunity to learn about the DP products and get some initial training on the software.
ITALY
Dr. McGown will also be in Bologna, Italy on the 24th of May for a clinic entitled "The USA Volleyball System". The clinic is sponsored by DataProject, and if you happen to be in Italy on the 24th, you might consider dropping by.
You can get complete details here.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Canada / GMS Implementation?
Tom Melton, my dad, and I just got back from Winnipeg, Canada after a three-day coaching clinic. Some impressions after the trip:
- Last year when they did a camp in Canada, Mike Wall was pulled aside at customs and grilled after he told them he was coaching volleyball. I got the same treatment this year, and so did Tom. I don't know what dire security threat volleyball coaches pose to Canada, but apparently it's enough to warrant extra attention at the border. Maybe it's just that Tom, Mike, and I look a little shady - they didn't say a single word to my dad in either direction.
- Winnipeg is the coldest city in the world with a population over 600,000. In somewhat of a paradox, it is also one of Canada's sunniest cities, with over 317 sunny days each year. So it was no surprise when we got there and it was sunny and REALLY cold (and windy). We left 65 degrees in Utah to go to cold in Canada (in an additionally cruel twist, it was snowing when we got back to Utah). The rest of the trip it was overcast and raining, and the coaches at the clinic kept telling us how it was the warmest weekend of year - if it doesn't snow, that qualifies as warm in Winnipeg. They don't make pansies up in Winnipeg. If you grow up there, you can take pretty much anything after enduring a few winters.
- The place for coffee and doughnuts is Tim Horton's, which is pretty much the Canadian equivalent of Dunkin Doughnuts. They are EVERYWHERE (like a Starbucks in Seattle), and are jam packed at every hour of the day - think In-N-Out in California. Tom, who is a snooty coffee drinker, told me that the coffee at Tim's was below his lofty standards, but within two days he was addicted to the "double-double" (double cream, double sugar) and we were going out of our way for his fix. Dean, our host, opined that they secretly put something far more insidiously addictive than caffeine in the brew - there wasn't a reasonable scientific or sociological explanation for it's popularity.
- Canada is an interesting mix of the metric system and the imperial. They still talk about people's height in feet and inches, but they couldn't get a handle on a digging target of 20 x 10 or pulling off the net to 10 x 10. We got so we were referring to the digging targets of 6 x 3 (meters) and I had to start talking about getting your setter 1.5 meters off the net, etc.
- The most confusing thing for a volleyball coach going from the US to anywhere else is that rotations don't go 1,2,3,4,5,6. They go 1,6,5,4,3,2 (which zone the setter is in). It would have taken me a lot longer than three days to get used to that. The drill "Opposite Volleyball" took on new meaning.
- Canadian people are some of the nicest anywhere in the world. Not only the coaches at the clinic, but pretty much everywhere you went. My American accent gave me away (I was working on my Canadian, eh, hoser?) and they were instantly gracious. When the economy implodes in a fiery mess down here, I am going to seriously consider moving to Canada.
The clinic was fairly well received, but I could tell that many of the concepts were REALLY out there relative to the general Canadian volleyball experience. One of the better questions (and one that coaches frequently have) was "of all this stuff we learned, what should we implement first?". The question was compounded by the fact that most of the coaches are in the last third of their seasons and changing everything at this point would be a challenge. In thinking about this a little more, here's how I would proceed if I had to change things on my team deep into my season:
- There are some things that would have an immediate big impact that a coach could easily change without changing mechanics or systems. Practice format seems to be the most obvious. Get a whiteboard, eliminate stretching and non-volleyball warmups, and start writing practices that incorporate the principles: lots of game-like reps with lots of feedback, in an environment that scores the drills and promotes training intensity. Even if the mechanics and systems stayed the same, simply running quality practices would be a big upgrade.
- Next, start changing some defensive systems, or start putting people where balls go. This wouldn't take much - instead of standing here on defense, stand there. The hard part, of course, is learning to read from those spots, but at least being in the right spot would make a big difference.
- Serving mindfulness. Start talking to our servers about their mindset when serving - the need to serve it in and serve it tough, developing routines and rituals, etc.
- Passing target and setter's waiting position. Start passing off the net and get the setter to start waiting away from the net.
- Habitual footwork. I would then start working on habitual footwork patterns, specifically for hitters and blockers. Getting the hitters to shuffle outside to hit and to have good transition footwork would be a nice start. Getting blockers to have good footwork would be next.
I think my dad would tell coaches that now is as good a time as any to start making changes in your fundamental skill mechanics. For coaches that lack the confidence to do that in the middle of the season, the above items might be a good place to start. But know that you'll always be way behind if you don't eventually have good fundamental mechanics.
- Last year when they did a camp in Canada, Mike Wall was pulled aside at customs and grilled after he told them he was coaching volleyball. I got the same treatment this year, and so did Tom. I don't know what dire security threat volleyball coaches pose to Canada, but apparently it's enough to warrant extra attention at the border. Maybe it's just that Tom, Mike, and I look a little shady - they didn't say a single word to my dad in either direction.
- Winnipeg is the coldest city in the world with a population over 600,000. In somewhat of a paradox, it is also one of Canada's sunniest cities, with over 317 sunny days each year. So it was no surprise when we got there and it was sunny and REALLY cold (and windy). We left 65 degrees in Utah to go to cold in Canada (in an additionally cruel twist, it was snowing when we got back to Utah). The rest of the trip it was overcast and raining, and the coaches at the clinic kept telling us how it was the warmest weekend of year - if it doesn't snow, that qualifies as warm in Winnipeg. They don't make pansies up in Winnipeg. If you grow up there, you can take pretty much anything after enduring a few winters.
- The place for coffee and doughnuts is Tim Horton's, which is pretty much the Canadian equivalent of Dunkin Doughnuts. They are EVERYWHERE (like a Starbucks in Seattle), and are jam packed at every hour of the day - think In-N-Out in California. Tom, who is a snooty coffee drinker, told me that the coffee at Tim's was below his lofty standards, but within two days he was addicted to the "double-double" (double cream, double sugar) and we were going out of our way for his fix. Dean, our host, opined that they secretly put something far more insidiously addictive than caffeine in the brew - there wasn't a reasonable scientific or sociological explanation for it's popularity.
- Canada is an interesting mix of the metric system and the imperial. They still talk about people's height in feet and inches, but they couldn't get a handle on a digging target of 20 x 10 or pulling off the net to 10 x 10. We got so we were referring to the digging targets of 6 x 3 (meters) and I had to start talking about getting your setter 1.5 meters off the net, etc.
- The most confusing thing for a volleyball coach going from the US to anywhere else is that rotations don't go 1,2,3,4,5,6. They go 1,6,5,4,3,2 (which zone the setter is in). It would have taken me a lot longer than three days to get used to that. The drill "Opposite Volleyball" took on new meaning.
- Canadian people are some of the nicest anywhere in the world. Not only the coaches at the clinic, but pretty much everywhere you went. My American accent gave me away (I was working on my Canadian, eh, hoser?) and they were instantly gracious. When the economy implodes in a fiery mess down here, I am going to seriously consider moving to Canada.
The clinic was fairly well received, but I could tell that many of the concepts were REALLY out there relative to the general Canadian volleyball experience. One of the better questions (and one that coaches frequently have) was "of all this stuff we learned, what should we implement first?". The question was compounded by the fact that most of the coaches are in the last third of their seasons and changing everything at this point would be a challenge. In thinking about this a little more, here's how I would proceed if I had to change things on my team deep into my season:
- There are some things that would have an immediate big impact that a coach could easily change without changing mechanics or systems. Practice format seems to be the most obvious. Get a whiteboard, eliminate stretching and non-volleyball warmups, and start writing practices that incorporate the principles: lots of game-like reps with lots of feedback, in an environment that scores the drills and promotes training intensity. Even if the mechanics and systems stayed the same, simply running quality practices would be a big upgrade.
- Next, start changing some defensive systems, or start putting people where balls go. This wouldn't take much - instead of standing here on defense, stand there. The hard part, of course, is learning to read from those spots, but at least being in the right spot would make a big difference.
- Serving mindfulness. Start talking to our servers about their mindset when serving - the need to serve it in and serve it tough, developing routines and rituals, etc.
- Passing target and setter's waiting position. Start passing off the net and get the setter to start waiting away from the net.
- Habitual footwork. I would then start working on habitual footwork patterns, specifically for hitters and blockers. Getting the hitters to shuffle outside to hit and to have good transition footwork would be a nice start. Getting blockers to have good footwork would be next.
I think my dad would tell coaches that now is as good a time as any to start making changes in your fundamental skill mechanics. For coaches that lack the confidence to do that in the middle of the season, the above items might be a good place to start. But know that you'll always be way behind if you don't eventually have good fundamental mechanics.
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