Goal Confusion... Still
Confused
My article last week on ‘Goal
Confusion’ seemed to have sparked a great deal of debate and, well…
confusion!
Frankly, I think that’s
great.
My email box was literally flooded
with messages all week long from coaches, trainers and parents –
worldwide –seeking clarification.
Let me lay the ground rules
first…
… I love it when you email
me!
I am not like other trainers
online who expect you to eat up my concepts unconditionally.
I have bragged to industry folks
the world over about how passionate and insightful you are – and
quite honestly, many other trainers who have online newsletters are
jealous of the fact that you care enough about the topic of youth
sports and training to TAKE ACTION!!!!
I can’t promise to return each of
your emails personally (there were over 125 this past week!), but I
do promise to read them all, and certainly strive to address your
comments, concerns and questions in subsequent
articles.
So… let me try to explain the
whole Goal Confusion concept again…
Soccer is no different than any
other sport at the youth level - and I am not inferring that anyone
suggested otherwise - but every youth coach of every sport,
seems to think that the technical nuances of their sport are some
how more intricate or specialized than the skills of other sports...
and that is not the case.
And you can replace ‘Soccer’ with
‘Baseball’, ‘Basketball’ or any other sport in the above
paragraph.
The point of the Goal Confusion article can be
summed up in one sentence -
Coaches and Trainers must learn
how and when to apply certain teaching techniques and when to let
kids 'learn' things for themselves - and that is especially true
when we design drills in which we tell our players that the success
of a drill is based on the outcome rather than the form.
If
you have been a subscriber for any length of time, you know exactly
how I feel about teaching skill - it is imperative and an ability
that frankly, many Coaches and Trainers lack (when in consideration
of pedagogical science and individual player temperament).
Having said that, by not letting young kids simply 'have at
it' on their own once in a while or at certain phases of
development, we risk limiting free nervous system adaptability at
large - and this has been a prevalent problem in North American
sports for years.
We over-teach our youngsters and
do not allow them free exploration (which is at the crux of sport
development) but then marvel at how much more 'naturally skilled'
international athletes often tend to be.
In Canada, very
often the best hockey players are not in organized competition at a
very young age or under the technical instruction of a coach, they
are playing on the pond or local outdoor rink with their friends or
family and doing little more than guided discovery.
The same
is true of Latin American baseball players and Brazilian soccer
players.
If you are not familiar with
Guided Discovery, it can be best summarized as the pinnacle of
outcome-based coaching.
It is when an adult (coach, big
sister or Dad) simply presents a youngster with an
idea.
“Here Johnny, I’m going to set out
some cones. I want you
to take this soccer ball and use your feet to bring it with you
around and through these cones – when you get through them all, see
if you can kick it into the net and aim for the lower right corner
of the net”.
Now… let the kid (or kids) have at
it. Offer encouragement
and positive feedback, but let them learn the ‘how’s’ and ‘why’s of
making that drill work’.
At a certain point, if
quality-coaching instruction is not entered into the equation, the
potential of that young athlete to excel in the sport in question
will certainly diminish.
However, sport exploration and
guided discovery should be the essence of youth sport participation
(especially during the young pre-adolescent ages).
And herein may be the
confusion.
You have read many of my articles
that discuss the fact that Coaches and Trainers never TEACH kids how
to perform certain drills or exercises, but then get upset if the
youngsters aren’t performing the drill
properly.
And of course… that is 100%
true.
The Goal Confusion article
however, was in reference to YOUNG kids.
We have started having organized
and lesson-oriented league play (in a variety of sports) at the age
of 4 and 5.
At this age, the entire premise of
sport exploration should be based on guided discovery and nothing
more – while the nervous system is at the height of its
adaptability, kids should be encouraged to explore on their own, and
under the ‘rules’ of outcome-based activities
only.
As the child reaches the age of 9
– 10 (although this can change based on the kid in question), now
more formalized instruction can be added to the equation.
The
problem I was stating in the article is that many Coaches and
Trainers will tell there young athletes that the purpose of the
drill is to 'kick the ball into the bottom right corner of the net',
but than proceed to correct every technical problem they see - that
amounts to goal confusion for the child.
And if this type of coaching
occurs at the truly young ages (as outlined above), it can be
disastrous from an optimal learning perspective.
I hope that
this has helped in some way.
’Till next
time,
Brian
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