How & Why You Need to Coach 'Why?'

No matter what walk of life you come from you have heard "Why?" You could be a parent and have fielded that question hundreds, if not millions, of times from your wee beastling, or at work from an employee or peer. The question 'why?' is everywhere in our lives, yet we struggle to incorporate it in the one place we are most passionate about.

Coaching.

But why?

Why Not Why?
We struggle to bring 'why' into our teams or sport for a variety of reasons. We have the obvious reason that we ourselves, in our former lives as athletes, were not use to asking why to the coach. If you came from football, you are familiar with the conversation that happens among team mates;

Player 1: "Hey, why are we doing this?"

Player 2: "Because coach said to do it."

Then you did it with no questions. You often did it so many times you didn't have to think about doing it let a long the reason for why you were doing it. We are also love our X's and O's and the simplicity of knowing what step we were in the process of the play. You knew the overall reason of why you were running the play, to score or to stop them from scoring, but we never really knew why the whole process was set-up the way it was. Both of those things are the reason why we are a nation of emerging (that is a polite way of saying slightly better than average) coaches. We have a bad coaching culture. We are trapped in a cycle of "Because I said so" or "We've always done it this way" that has lasted for generations of coaches. These traits are passed down through the coaching tree because it once worked in the 60's for that one coaching great. Those two statements above might have worked for coaches in the past but now, we are dealing with different kinds of athletes.

Information Overload is one Reason Why...
The last two generation of players no longer respond to the old "Because I said to do it this way" mindset. Athletes, heck ALL of us, have the answer to any question at our fingertips. Think about it, any question you have can be answered by the internet and that is everywhere all the time.

Boom! In your face, sucka!

The traditional path of information gathering, which includes trusting our coaches, is obsolete. Even you as the coach are constantly looking for the reason of why. When you see a move,  or technique on TV, the internet, or from an opposing team your first thought is usally "Holy shit that was awesome!" quickly followed by the important question "Why did they do that?"

This takes us down the information rabbit hole, it starts with a few scribbles on a notepad, then a google search, followed by a few YouTube videos, and then maybe an actual coaching website with a fee. You do all of this in the search for the answer of why they did it and you come to your own conclusions.

Now, do a bit of personal reflection. How do you present it to your team? Does the process include why they are doing it?

How to Coach the Why

There is no one right way to achieve coaching the why. The important thing is to coach it and coach it well. Below is a quick list of ways I've been able to coach it successfully;

Coach it like a boss, son!

- Before you plan your session stop and ask yourself 'Why are we doing this?'. Whatever the conclusion is, make sure it is included in your brief to the squad. Why they are doing it should be a short and clear presentation lasting no more then 30 seconds. This will help with not over explaing it and losing the focus of the group.

- Make sure you include it in your practice plan. Use it as a question to your team and see what you get back. This is often a good way to see it from a different point of view. It also gives you an idea of how well you're explaning it to them. Don't forget to listen, they might teach you something.

- Highlight why you are doing something on film. Look for examples, either in your games or pro games, and draw attention to it. Don't just explain one point or action but expand on it to include how it effected the next couple of phases. Film doesn't lie so it is a great tool to catch real time results of what you coached in the week building up to match day. Create a dialogue around the why of an action.

- Make asking why a part of your coaching staff's culture. You should be looking to constantly develop yourself and the coaches around you. You would be kidding yourself if you thought you and your staff had all the right answers, and this is often a death blow to a team who's staff  share that mindset. Encourage your coaches to ask why of you and each other in a constructive way. This has often brought some good debate and new ideas to an old technique that made players and coaches alike better.

Regardless of how you get there, never forget to coach the why. We as a whole need to change our coaching culture and it starts by creating a positive dialect between players and coaches on why we are doing the things we do on the pitch. These are different athletes now, so we need to be different coaches.

See you pitch side

40 Questions for 1 on 1 Sessions

We are just wrapping up the season here and the final step to putting 2014 to rest was the full team 1 on 1 conversations. I try to stay away from words like 'assesment' or 'evaluation' simple because I want it to be a conversation about the season, both good and bad, and those words often carry negative associations when attached to any meeting.

It is often hard to start conversations with players, especially some younger college players, because they view you as an authority figure no different than a teacher or parent. So, you simple get answers like 'it was fun', 'yep', or my favorite 'No, we did everything good/perfect'. This is an evasion tactic to avoid answering hard questions or addressing subjects some players think will upset you (I did it with parents and coaches when I was that age too). So, if you're truly invest in improving as a coach and team you need to hear what they have to say and how to get it out of them. They know the social dynamics, personal and team struggles that we as coaches aren't privileged to and can give us an honest view of ourselves as leaders and our systems as they pertain to the team that uses them.

Below are some tips and forty questions that will help you start the conversation with your players. I hope you find them as helpful as I did when using them.

3 Tips:
1. Shut your mouth and open your ears- Its a common problem in any conversation, people listen but don't hear what is being said. What does that mean? We love to sound smart and polished, so we often are thinking of our witty response as someone is speaking to us. Important nuggets of information go unnoticed and chances for you to ask a question, that might open the mysterious black box of your player, are missed. So, listen to what they are saying and then think of your response to when they just shared with you. Yeah, about that response...

2. Ask the 'W's' often- Who, What, Why, When, Where and hoW. Overuse 'why' and 'how' too. Questions like "What was your best game?" are easy to answer but the follow up of why or how will give you an insight to the process that lead to the positive result, and that is what you should be looking for.

3. Leave the ego at home- We coaches are a narcissistic bunch by nature. We are as good as our ego lets us believe and its not a bad thing, most of the time. But, during these sessions you need to check yourself and that ego because your players need to trust you to say what they feel.
Will you also agree with it? Hell no.
Will it sometimes hurt your feelings? Yep.
But at the end of the day this is how your players feel about you. They are entitled to those feelings and if they have something to say you better dang sure listen. Nothing can be more destructive then trying to argue your point about their view on something. So shut up, write it down, and move on. Than listen to what other players say, are they giving you the same feedback? If that is a yes, you might have found what you were looking for, a way to be better.

Here are my Top 40 questions:

1. What was one of your “worst” games this year? Why?

2. What was one of your “best” games this year? Why?

3. What has been one of your biggest disappointments as a rugby player?

4. What has been one of your greatest accomplishment as a rugby player?

5. What has been one of the best teams you have been on and why?

6. What has been one of the worst teams you have been on and why?

7. What has been a hardship in your life?

8. Who is a “hero” in your life and why?

9. What has been one of your greatest disappointments? What was the best team you have been on?

10. What was the most lopsided loss?

11. What was the most lopsided win?

12. If you didn’t come to rugby, where would you be?

13. When are you the most nervous while you are competing?

14. How do you tend to workout/train when by yourself?

15. In your family, who “likes” your sport the most? Why?

16. What other sport would you like to compete in if you were not playing rugby?

17. If you could be the head coach of a team for a year, what would you change?

18. What is something that is unique about rugby?

19. What is difficult about rugby?

20. What is satisfying about rugby?

21. What is the most challenging thing for you to do in rugby?

22. What was the scariest thing you have had to do? Are you glad you did it?

23. What was the last thing you saw someone do that really impressed you?

24. What is your favorite hobby? Why?

25. What are you goals for the winter?

26. Did you fill out the coach survey?

27. What are your goals for next spring? 7s? Developmental 15?

28. How do you communicate best with people? Them with you?

29. Are you considering running for an officer position? Which one?

30. How do you plan to help progress your club this year?

31. What Position do you want to play? Why?

32. Favorite thing we do at training? The least?

33. Giving your commitment level, what can we do better as coaches to help you stay engaged?

34. Do you want to play representative rugby?

35. Are you going to keep playing when you leave school?

36. Do we honor the tradition of (Club Name)? How?

37. How can we honor the tradition better?

38. Toughest player on the team? Why?

39. What are you doing to work on your mental game?

40. Are you having fun?

Did I miss one? Share it in the comments.

See you pitchside,

Basic Drill of the Week: Four Corner Keep Away

This game can be used for either a warm-up or in practice. The goal is to allow players to create/find space and make quick decisions on when to pass. Add a time limit to it and challenge players to see how many times they can get it around the square.

Needs:
- 9 cones
- 1 ball
- 4 players each team (8 total)

Set-up:
- 4 10mX10m grids

Action:
- On The whistle, players look to pass the ball counter/clockwise to their team mates
- Defense can only play a 'basketball' style of D
- Passing players must stay in the grid

Key Factors:
- Fast passes
- Move to create space
- Communicate your movements
- Have fun

Build-Up:
- Add a time limit
- Penalize teams for dropped passes
- Put a time limit on how long a player can hold the ball

7 Coaching Rules You Won't Find in Books

I love leadership books, all of them. Even the bad ones have at least small nuggets of wisdom that can make you better. But, no matter how many you always find yourself in a situation no author has every addressed before. Heck, the list below might even be something you've never even thought of before! Either way here are my 7 coaching rules you never needed until now...

1. Take your sunglasses off when addressing your team/player
Its no secret that eye contact can help with effective communication. If you don't know that then this blog isn't for you and you're beyond any help you can find here. But, if you're like me and like to rock the shades take them off when your talking with your squad. No one enjoys talking to a person of authority when they can't see their eyes. Need an example? Think of the last time a cop talked to you and kept his glasses on, it makes the whole interaction feel inhuman. So next time take your shades off and see the difference in eye contact and retention when they get back on the field.

2. Don't mess with another team's roster
We all have favorite players who enriched the coaching experience. Be it high school, college, club, or pro you build a bond with that player who embodies what your program is about and becomes the poster child for how it should work. Now, that player will go on to do bigger and better things and you will cease to be their coach. Its your duty as the past coach NOT to interfere with their career or their team's flow. Now, that doesn't mean you shouldn't invite them back for activities that will benefit your team like fundraising dinner or tournaments. But, never should you ask that player to commit to an activity that will have a direct negative effect on their own seasons and their teams. If it is that important that they attend then schedule it around their current commitments. It is disrespectful, selfish and will cause undue criticism of you and your program.

3. Stay out of the locker room/training room
A coach has his sanctuary, its could be his office, a path he walks before a game, a watering hole. Where ever the spot may be you don't like people who normally aren't there in it. Players feel the same way about their locker room. Its the one safe place they can go to get away from everything including you the coach. If you need to go in there make it short and quick (think pre-game address) and get out. Respect their space and you might be surprised how the team dynamic matures and team policing begins. This is also true for the training room. Speaking of training rooms...

4. Find a good Athletic trainer/physio
Besides the obvious reason that you want someone knowledgeable in injury prevention and treatment you also want a trainer who is socially aware of what is going around around them. These professionals often have a better feel for your teams actual pulse then you do, and this could be a huge tool for you. Players speak freely around the medical personnel and the med staff often hear things that can benefit you as a coach. I've had staff members tell me "Coach, the players are complaining about fatigue and we have seen a spike in fatigue related injuries." This is great as I can adjust my training plan accordingly. Other times they have come to me with information that can help me adjust the culture of the team (hazing, bullying, etc). Finally, always make time to meet with them or include them in staff meetings with allotted time to speak on topics they deem important to the team.

5. Don't always believe the stats
We are in the age of sabermetrics, Money Ball team building, and all those other fancy math dominate systems that you see and read about that has helped improve some struggling team. I'm not saying these stats don't have a place in the game because I honestly believe they do. But I'm saying is that statical analysis should work in connection with the eye test. At the end of the day we are coaches and we have been around our respective sports long enough to know when we see a good player. Watch how they handle defeat, interact with team mates and coaches, and their production on the field. Trust your judgment on those things before turning to the stats. Recently I sat in on a selection meeting and listened to half the table argue for selecting a player because she plays good rugby and the other half countering they shouldn't bring her because her statistical numbers weren't as high as some of the other players in her position. Neither side would look at the other's perspective which, in my opinion, only hurt the player. Do yourself and the player a favor and don't just rely on numbers because there is no stat for character.

6. It is OK to give days off and take one off for yourself at the same time
Somewhere along the lines we were brain washed to believe the more we practice the better we will be. Its flat out not true, its not about the quantity its the quality of which you are practicing. I've been on teams and have seen teams be run into the ground by over training. Its why I'm telling you its OK to give days off. Its good for you as the coach and its good for the team as a whole. It helps combat the grind of a season, allows everyone to mentally recharge, and is a good reset button for team morale. What do I mean by a reset button? In my own experience I have had teams where their training sessions have regressed over several weeks. No amount of 'let's go'-ing, 'try harder'-'s seemed to be work. So, instead of trying to grind it out of them I just gave them a day off. The clear, social up-front contract is given that the time should be used wisely and not wasted so when they return we, as a team, will be ready to go. By the next session they are back looking crisp and most importantly having fun. Even the Head Coach of the L.A. Clippers, Doc Rivers, is a fan of days offs. The only time this has not worked is when I have failed to prepare properly and time is wasted at training. Again, the day off is important for you too. So use it to work ahead in your practice planning and make sure its efficient with little time wasted. Don't forget, quality always beats quantity.

7. Hire assistance who are better than you and encourage them to be head coaches
If you read that and thought I was crazy stop reading, close the browser, open Word, and write your resignation letter now to save yourself the embarrassment of being fired later. Your support staff is more important then yourself. They are the ones that keep you employed and your team winning. We are all ego-maniacs and control freaks to some degree so it can be hard to grasp the idea of not being able to do it all by yourself. Identify your weak areas as a coach (or find someone who will, should be plenty of people) then hire people who are strong in those areas. The next step after assembling your coaching team is to foster growth and development. You should want them to be head coaches someday and encourage them to chase those dreams down while developing on your staff. If you have read the book 'Tribal Leadership' you know how helpful it can be to go from a 'I'm great, you're not' mindset (this thinking is common in coaches, listen for the famous 'well, Coach (insert name)'s (insert unit) didn't perform today' comment) to a much more team orientated 'We are great, they are not'. The difference from the first one (where you think you are king of the castle) to the second (thinking more like protecting your castle along side your nights) is a massive shift in philosophy. For ever great coach like San Francisco 49ers great Bill Walsh, who has a impressive coach lineage, you have a million knuckleheads who always tried to be the best coach on the team. Don't be a knucklehead.

I hope these were helpful and caused you to think about some things you might do differently. As always leave me a comment with some feedback.

See you pitch side