Coaches Who Never Lose ...... (frank L. Small)

[Bert 0]

Hello again,

Here I am again. My name is Bert Brinkman and I am a dutch youth volleyball coach.

Besides that I am also one of the editors of Volley Techno, the magazine for volleyball coaches in the Netherlands and Belgium.

For my club (Dros Alterno) I am busy to organize a meeting about coaching. The key issue in this meeting will be the book from Frank L. Small and Ronald E. Smith: "Coaches who never lose ..... making sure athletes win, no matter what the score".

I think this is a very import 'book'.

I was wondering:

1. do you know this way of coaching?

2. is there some one who can help me with a powerpoint presentation about 'coaches who never lose' (so I can use some parts of it in my meeting for our coaches?

Thanks for any reaction!

Bert

[fmfjohn 0]

Bert,

I have not read either of the books written by Smith & Small - but since you mentioned them, I have ordered them. Have you already had the meeting you were discussing? If so, how did it go, and what were the other coaches' reactions to "Coaches who never lose..."? I have given a fair amount of thought recently to Jim Thompson's book, "The Double-Goal Coach" published by Quill, 2003. I think they may be similiar in approach to coaching. If you have not had the meeting, I'm sure many coaches who watch this forum would be interested in your thoughts and club approach to this coaching philosophy.

For me, school volleyball begins in two weeks. I can hardly stay away from the gym!

John

[Bert 0]

Hello John,

It's great to read you're reaction! I don't have had the meeting, it will be in the last week of august.

I am very courious about the reactions on that meeting too, just because I know some coaches inside our club have different ideas. The 'book' of Smith & Small is translated in dutch, by a sport psychologist, I have ask here to join this meeting. When I have had the meeting I will tell you in this in this forum!

bert

Bert,

I have not read either of the books written by Smith & Small - but since you mentioned them, I have ordered them. Have you already had the meeting you were discussing? If so, how did it go, and what were the other coaches' reactions to "Coaches who never lose..."? I have given a fair amount of thought recently to Jim Thompson's book, "The Double-Goal Coach" published by Quill, 2003. I think they may be similiar in approach to coaching. If you have not had the meeting, I'm sure many coaches who watch this forum would be interested in your thoughts and club approach to this coaching philosophy.

For me, school volleyball begins in two weeks. I can hardly stay away from the gym!

John

[fmfjohn 0]

Bert,

Well, I've read both of the books - actually, for those who haven't seen them yet, "Coaches Who Never Lose..." is only a 24 page pamphlet and a summary of "Way to Go, Coach!" appox. 205 pages. - and for some reason, I had forgotten about the two authors being part of CET - Coaching Effectiveness Training - a program I had attended a few years ago.

Anyway, it is hard to argue with the premise of the book; that - at least in the US - youth sports have become parent's sports, and for numerous reasons - which the authors list - are not nearly as fun as they ought to be for kids. They go on to recommend a variety of solutions, many of which reduce to having the sport become a recreational sport, instead of a competitive one. However, even for very competitive teams, there are lots of really good ideas, and suggestions that should make for a much more coachable and together (fun) team.

I do suspect that a fair number of coaches will at least think to themselves, if not say to others, that what is recommended is too "soft", or does not fit with "the real world" of sports. And, if you coach for a living, as many of us do, winning and losing may have to have more importance than Smith and Smoll would be willing to attach.

Along with the playing time issure, this has got to be one of, if not the most discussed issue in youth coaching. (and if it's not, it should be!)

By the way, what were you going to do with the PowerPoint presentation?

I'll be interested to hear how this turns out.

john

[Bert 0]

Hello John and others,

I have had my presentation about 'coaches who never lose'. It turn out in a great discussion. The funiest thing was that some of the coaches from our selectionteams uderstand the ideas behind 'the coach who never lose' very well. Some other coaches doesn't agree in the first place and they say that they think there can be other goals to set and other rules to work with. In the discussion it become clear that they also like the ideas behind this filosophy of coaching youth.

I recieved the book 'the double goal coach' last week and I am busy to read it. John would you like the powerpoint presentation? I have also some other, very interesting information, about for example drop-outs in sport and motivation for youth to stop of going on in sport.

Bert

[fmfjohn 0]

Bert,

I would very much like to see your presentation. I have a recent version of Powerpoint, so viewing it should not be a problem. Is it in English, or will I need to translate it? If I do need to translate it, I may have to email you for volleyball specific or technical word translation if you don't mind.

I am not surprised that you encountered some ?resistance? from some of your fellow coaches. I think that that feeling is universal. And I must say that in many ways I have problems with it myself once keeping score becomes important. As you may remember, I now coach a small middle school team that is very non-competitive in everything they do at school, including not giving grades. Anyway, I am always amazed at just how important winning is to the girls themselves, completely independant of their parents. While they may not know exactly how to compete, they want to win, and let you know it. Below age 12, my experience has been that the kids are really ok with playing and not keeping score - most of the time. But by 12 or 13, they - both boys and girls - have begun to play competitive soccer - have probably been playing it for 5 or 6 years - and now they want to win, and playing for "being the best you can be today" doesn't motivate them like it did a year or two earlier.

Well, let me stop before I get my usual long-winded self. Let us (me) hear for you again soon.

After getting off to a slow season start, my girls beat their biggest rivals last Friday 25-19, 19-25, 25-17, so all is right with the world

John

[Bert 0]

Hello John and others,

Here is the presentation I used for that meeting.

It's in dutch, but perhaps you can translate it......

When someone have questions or like to know more please sent me a e-mail.

With kind regards,

Bert