RACA in Action
Here is an exchange on Twitter from the other night about what things are generally over rated in coaching. It’s a great question to ask and I responded with Scouting & Adjustments. Check out the thought process and responses in the tweets below. Let us know what you think and how this might challenge some of your existing thinking.
What is the first thing(s) that come to mind❓
— Doug Brotherton (@CoachBrotherton) December 9, 2021
COACHES THINK _______ MATTERS MORE THAN IT ACTUALLY DOES.#ConnectLearnShare #GrowTheGame🏀
Scouting & Adjustments
— Kyle Kavanaugh 🔺💰 (@coachk424) December 9, 2021
I agree with Kyle. The key is understanding what you want to know as a coach to help best prepare your team and what you need the team to be able to execute. Most times it’s overwhelming on the players’ ends
— Jason Fry (@CoachJFry) December 10, 2021
Is this your response based on the allotment of time, the approach coaches take, or something else? I'd love to hear more.
— Doug Brotherton (@CoachBrotherton) December 9, 2021
Yes, yes, and...yes? Ha
— Kyle Kavanaugh 🔺💰 (@coachk424) December 12, 2021
Time is a precious resource. We only have so much. The more we spend on them we aren't spending it on us
We are also putting a lot of stock in assessing them correctly
Then factor in what our kids can handle, process, etc.
Do we even know what we do?
I feel like a lot of the "coaching" & prep that takes place is more for the coach to feel better a/b themselves rather than to help our players learn & transfer the learning
— Kyle Kavanaugh 🔺💰 (@coachk424) December 12, 2021
We spend so much time on "them" to only them see 2, maybe 3x's/yr?
We see/compete vs us every single day
As for adjustments, if what we practice a Plan A that doesn't go well it's hard to imagine a Plan B that didn't get the same attention will work much better
— Kyle Kavanaugh 🔺💰 (@coachk424) December 12, 2021
Chances are it's an execution thing, not a "what" thing
More reason to focus on us and master Plan A
Fair points. I'm under the assumption that you aren't discounting scouting an opponent all together. Is that correct?
— Doug Brotherton (@CoachBrotherton) December 12, 2021
In preparation for an upcoming game, what information do you feel is most important? What are areas where you feel coaches can steal points to help their team?
Knowing of some personnel, who takes the shots, from where, etc can definitely be helpful
— Kyle Kavanaugh 🔺💰 (@coachk424) December 12, 2021
I just think a/b it in terms of ROI
The more I learn, the simpler the game really is
It's all the same, it's complex, not complicated
Don't want to change what we do b/c of what they do
I want to "steal points" by the way we play: pace, score backs; our shot selection philosophy (take more, better shots); out space the other team; win w/in the margins in how we prepare, develop, climate, culture, communication, understanding of situations, train decision making
— Kyle Kavanaugh 🔺💰 (@coachk424) December 12, 2021
(cont.)
— Kyle Kavanaugh 🔺💰 (@coachk424) December 12, 2021
Our health, recovery, pre-hab, availability, mental state, engagement, connections, resolve, grit
Prioritizing spending time on all those things as opposed to what they will run on a side out of bounds maybe a couple times a game, if at all
These are also things that we have a much > degree of control over
— Kyle Kavanaugh 🔺💰 (@coachk424) December 12, 2021
Our opponents change, we don’t
We are the constant
Focus on what we do & master it
Every coach espouses to “control what we can control”
Yet we spend so much time focusing on things that may not even happen
Similar to education
— Kyle Kavanaugh 🔺💰 (@coachk424) December 12, 2021
Do we want to teach our students how to critically think, use inquiry, find creative solutions regardless of what the task may be?
Or teach to the test & cram a study guide only to forget what it was right after?
Over Scouting to me is teaching to the test
One of our goals at Essential Coaching is to generate deep, reflective thought about what we do and why we do it. We’d likely agree that the ‘what’ we do is largely irrelevant as long as it aligns to our larger vision and is communicated with a certain level of clarity to all our stakeholders in the program. A simple question of what is overrated stimulate that reflective thought pattern. A curious coach and a coach that learns, that RACAs, and that develops.
What’s more, the space to explore that curiosity with thought partners who push you to think and challenge you, is crucial to your personal development and ultimately those you coach and teach. It’s not that we want people to argue for the sake of arguing, or what we should always have our minds changed. Rather, the more we reflect and have to defend our position on something, even if we don’t make any changes, what happens is we become more clear and aligned in what we believe. This is true professional development. Development that largely lacks in our profession and in many others.
Thank you to Doug for posing the question, thank you to our #ECFam with whom I interact with daily, who challenge me, and push me to become a better leader, father, educator, and coach. Who is in your RACA circle? If you’re looking for someone, reach out to us, find and join us on Monday nights at 8 Eastern as we go through this exact process on Twitter for our #ecRACAchats, or simply being to reflect and write down your thoughts. Either way, we hope this will stimulate some thinking within you, in order generate the change for those around you.