by Paddy Heaney
First Published March 17 2009
“If they haven’t learned, you haven’t taught them.”
Anonymous
ANYONE who wants to become a better coach or teacher should read at least one of John Wooden’s books. Mickey Harte swallowed them up years ago.
Wooden was the basketball coach at UCLA. He won 10 National Championship titles during his last 12 seasons, including seven in-a-row from 1967 to 1973. His UCLA teams had a record winning streak of 88 games and four perfect 300 seasons. They also won a record 98 straight home games at Pauley.
A pious, good-living, sober individual, Wooden lived a simple life, teaching and coaching.
Although a ball of energy on the training court, he sat still during games and rarely expressed any emotions. Does this ring any bells?
I’ve only read one of Wooden’s books, but a friend of mine is digesting them on a weekly basis (they are easy to order through Amazon.com). He is now a fully-fledged Wooden disciple.
During a recent conversation, he tried to recall one of Wooden’s coaching principles, which is: ‘You haven’t taught until they have learned.’
My friend got it slightly mixed up and came up with his own version. It’s printed at the start of this column – and I think it is far better than the Wooden original.
John Wooden would certainly approve. One of his constant maxims is that coaching is teaching. A good teacher makes a good coach, and vice-versa.
Sport provides us with plenty of examples. This weekend an Ireland rugby team will try to complete a Grand Slam for the first time since 1948. They’re managed by Declan Kidney, formerly a maths teacher at Presentation Brothers College, Cork.
The legendary Vince Lombardi started out at the blackboard, as did many of the ground-breaking coaches in the GAA, such as Mickey Harte, Pete McGrath, John O’Mahony, and Ger Loughnane.
In football management, the net effect of good coaching is easy to measure – trophies. It’s not as easy to quantify in the classroom, but it hasn’t stopped the Americans from trying.
The leading US journalist Malcolm Gladwell recently wrote an article for the New Yorker which examined how academics are trying to identify the qualities that characterise a good teacher.
They believe it’s a worthwhile venture because educationalists are discovering that the difference between very good teachers and very poor teachers is “vast”.
Gladwell’s article cites the findings of an economist at Stanford University who estimated that the students of a very bad teacher will learn, on average, half a year’s worth of material in one school year. The students in the class of a very good teacher will learn a year and a half’s worth.
Think about that. The difference is a full year’s worth of material. ‘But what has all this got to do with the GAA?’ I hear you plead.
It has got everything to do with the GAA. Because if we accept the comparison with coaching and teaching, and if we accept the astonishing chasm that can lie between good coaching and poor coaching, then the implication for every club in the country is obvious.
The identification, training and appointment of quality underage coaches is the single most important function of any club that hopes to enjoy success at any level.
Find a club that keeps failing, that keeps underachieving, that keeps going nowhere, and you’ll probably find a club with a string of poor underage coaches.
You know the sort. Coaches who do the same old thing every year – and keep getting the same mediocre results. And each year they never fail to be astonished at their team’s ineptitude.
Each year they prefer to blame referees, their players, and other outside factors rather than turning the searchlight inwards and onto themselves. Unwilling to learn and resistant to new ideas, they stick with the old routines that bring the same outcome – failure.
Sometimes the coaches are genuinely ignorant. Parents often get involved with a GAA club via their child. Often they have no background in the GAA or coaching. Although willing and eager, the club fails to coach the coach. This is an equally inexcusable mistake.
Again, if we look at the two clubs competing in today’s All-Ireland Club Senior Football Championship final, their emphasis on underage coaching is evident.
A total of 13 players on the Crossmaglen squad have completed a Grand Slam ofunderage Championships, winning medals at U12, U14, U16, and minor level. Another dozen have won medals at U12, U14 and U16 but missed out at minor level.
Kilmacud Croke’s come from a different universe to Crossmaglen. South Dublin. Urban. They rely on imported talent such as Brian Kavanagh, Liam McBarron and Adrian Morrissey.
But they also produce their own players, a fine achievement in an area where rugby, golf, foreign holidays and cappuccino-sipping provide huge rivalry.
There were no imports in the Kilmacud Croke’s team that won last year’s All-Ireland football Feile competition. Tommy Lyons, the former Offaly and Dublin manager, was one of the team’s mentors.
Given the consistent link between quality coaching and the production of quality players, there is no excuse for clubs to persist with individuals who refuse to improve their methods.
Ignorance is no excuse either. The Ulster Council and Croke Park have a library of manuals and coaching DVDs for anyone eager to learn new ideas. There are also coaching tutorials and forums held throughout the country.
There will always be excuses for losers. But if, 10 years from now, your club hasn’t moved on, don’t blame the players. If they haven’t got better, it’s because your club had no-one there to teach them.
Anonymous
ANYONE who wants to become a better coach or teacher should read at least one of John Wooden’s books. Mickey Harte swallowed them up years ago.
Wooden was the basketball coach at UCLA. He won 10 National Championship titles during his last 12 seasons, including seven in-a-row from 1967 to 1973. His UCLA teams had a record winning streak of 88 games and four perfect 300 seasons. They also won a record 98 straight home games at Pauley.
A pious, good-living, sober individual, Wooden lived a simple life, teaching and coaching.
Although a ball of energy on the training court, he sat still during games and rarely expressed any emotions. Does this ring any bells?
I’ve only read one of Wooden’s books, but a friend of mine is digesting them on a weekly basis (they are easy to order through Amazon.com). He is now a fully-fledged Wooden disciple.
During a recent conversation, he tried to recall one of Wooden’s coaching principles, which is: ‘You haven’t taught until they have learned.’
My friend got it slightly mixed up and came up with his own version. It’s printed at the start of this column – and I think it is far better than the Wooden original.
John Wooden would certainly approve. One of his constant maxims is that coaching is teaching. A good teacher makes a good coach, and vice-versa.
Sport provides us with plenty of examples. This weekend an Ireland rugby team will try to complete a Grand Slam for the first time since 1948. They’re managed by Declan Kidney, formerly a maths teacher at Presentation Brothers College, Cork.
The legendary Vince Lombardi started out at the blackboard, as did many of the ground-breaking coaches in the GAA, such as Mickey Harte, Pete McGrath, John O’Mahony, and Ger Loughnane.
In football management, the net effect of good coaching is easy to measure – trophies. It’s not as easy to quantify in the classroom, but it hasn’t stopped the Americans from trying.
The leading US journalist Malcolm Gladwell recently wrote an article for the New Yorker which examined how academics are trying to identify the qualities that characterise a good teacher.
They believe it’s a worthwhile venture because educationalists are discovering that the difference between very good teachers and very poor teachers is “vast”.
Gladwell’s article cites the findings of an economist at Stanford University who estimated that the students of a very bad teacher will learn, on average, half a year’s worth of material in one school year. The students in the class of a very good teacher will learn a year and a half’s worth.
Think about that. The difference is a full year’s worth of material. ‘But what has all this got to do with the GAA?’ I hear you plead.
It has got everything to do with the GAA. Because if we accept the comparison with coaching and teaching, and if we accept the astonishing chasm that can lie between good coaching and poor coaching, then the implication for every club in the country is obvious.
The identification, training and appointment of quality underage coaches is the single most important function of any club that hopes to enjoy success at any level.
Find a club that keeps failing, that keeps underachieving, that keeps going nowhere, and you’ll probably find a club with a string of poor underage coaches.
You know the sort. Coaches who do the same old thing every year – and keep getting the same mediocre results. And each year they never fail to be astonished at their team’s ineptitude.
Each year they prefer to blame referees, their players, and other outside factors rather than turning the searchlight inwards and onto themselves. Unwilling to learn and resistant to new ideas, they stick with the old routines that bring the same outcome – failure.
Sometimes the coaches are genuinely ignorant. Parents often get involved with a GAA club via their child. Often they have no background in the GAA or coaching. Although willing and eager, the club fails to coach the coach. This is an equally inexcusable mistake.
Again, if we look at the two clubs competing in today’s All-Ireland Club Senior Football Championship final, their emphasis on underage coaching is evident.
A total of 13 players on the Crossmaglen squad have completed a Grand Slam ofunderage Championships, winning medals at U12, U14, U16, and minor level. Another dozen have won medals at U12, U14 and U16 but missed out at minor level.
Kilmacud Croke’s come from a different universe to Crossmaglen. South Dublin. Urban. They rely on imported talent such as Brian Kavanagh, Liam McBarron and Adrian Morrissey.
But they also produce their own players, a fine achievement in an area where rugby, golf, foreign holidays and cappuccino-sipping provide huge rivalry.
There were no imports in the Kilmacud Croke’s team that won last year’s All-Ireland football Feile competition. Tommy Lyons, the former Offaly and Dublin manager, was one of the team’s mentors.
Given the consistent link between quality coaching and the production of quality players, there is no excuse for clubs to persist with individuals who refuse to improve their methods.
Ignorance is no excuse either. The Ulster Council and Croke Park have a library of manuals and coaching DVDs for anyone eager to learn new ideas. There are also coaching tutorials and forums held throughout the country.
There will always be excuses for losers. But if, 10 years from now, your club hasn’t moved on, don’t blame the players. If they haven’t got better, it’s because your club had no-one there to teach them.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment