Certain patterns of targeted behavior build skill. Making progress is a manner of small steps of advancement or failure coupled with modification and changes in behavior till you get what you want. Coaching has been called the process that "eliminates mistakes." You point out behaviors that could be improved, how to, and help move the individual & team to better performance that will lead to achieving goals. Done properly AKA the 'Talent Code' this process is called "Deep Practice." Each day as a coach you should structure practice to move the individual & team to choose behaviors just beyond present abilities; to target certain struggles. Thrashing blindly about doesn't help achieving desired behavior. Reaching does. It is your job to provide the proper focus & direction.

The Ultimate Success Formula

Coyle's "Talent Code" first identifies 'Deep Practice' as the first, essential ingredient to going where you want to go, doing what you want to do & having what you want to have. It's all there - It's all available. You just have to be willing to pay the price. Deep Practice is a major part of the price. Deep Practice, to me, is the result of applying 'The Ultimate Success Formula' to what you establish the goal as being. Points follow - First one being: How long should you try? Jim Rohn provided the answer, "Till." Till you get what you want.

How long is that? Studies by Erikson make this a true statement: It take 10,000 hours & ten years. Therefore the requirement is: If you want your children to perform their best & to compete at the highest levels as an 18 year old Senior in high school, training has to begin at age 8 & that is not just training on the club soccer team. It is developing all the skills necessary to compete at the highest levels. Soccer players have to run, so proper running technique is a requirement of training. Soccer players have to jump, so strength exercises & teaching kids how to jump are necessary. If you soccer players can jump higher in front of the goal on a corner kick, is that an advantage?

Soccer players must kick the ball, so leg strength is vital. A corner kick is no good if it does not get in front of the goal. Just like shooting foul shots in basketball. If the player does not have enough strength to get the ball to the hoop on a foul shot it is not worth shooting. Or if you cannot field the ball at 3rd & throw the guy out at first before he gets there, you team is in trouble. Every sport has certain fundamentals particular it. You must master them. You are an Athlete first. In order to be athletic, you have to be as big, as fast, as strong as the best athletes for your age group. Then you have to work on your skills.

Charles Darwin said:" I have always maintained that excepting fools, men did not differ much in intellect, only in zeal & hard work." The zeal you exhibit & how hard you work are personal conscious decisions that you make. Genetics are not the determining or limiting factor.

If you don't love it [whatever your IT is] you'll never work hard enough to be great. Struggle is not optional - it's neurologically required: in order to get your skill circuit to first optimally, you must by definition fire the circuit sub optimally; you must make mistakes & pay attention to those mistakes; you must slowly teach your circuit. You must also keep firing that circuit [use it or lose it], i.e., practicing in order to keep 'building your circuit.'

We each have more potential than we might ever presume to guess. We are all born with the opportunity to become Lords of our own Internet. The trick is to figure out how to do that. AND that is our jobs as coaches; to bring it out of them; to get them to reach down & discover the ability they thought they never had & to practice & perfect those skills.

It is our job as teachers & coaches to develop programs that allow kids to express themselves. Everyone whats to be somebody special; & everyone wants to be somebody's special somebody: academically; musically; in theater; speech & debate. Most of you who are reading this are fortunate to be coaches and develop programs where kids express themselves athletically. Sadly, our present society the adults of whom are the children of the 'ME' generation who learned their lesson very well, have & continue to be shortchanging their kids' development. We no longer offer the programs for kids to express themselves that we once did - not JHS athletics - No Marching Band - fewer electives - larger classes. It is my belief that in the not too distant future that if you want a breathing educator to head your child's class, you will have to go to private school & pay extra because public school is head to a virtual classroom where lessons are delivered by computers making athletics & activities even more essential.

Game Changer

Just saw Richard Sherman "Pick6" to tie up the game. That's a game changer. On every defensive play, you have the opportunity to 'change the game around.' You must position yourself to be that kind of player. To do that you must be FUNdaMENTALLY sound:

More Secondary FUNdaMENTALS online at:

http://www.addy.com/coachfree/Secondary.html

Secondary FUNdaMENTALS

Basic Information for Defensive Backs

More Than Ever, Games Are Won or Lost on Pass Defense

Primary Objectives:

1.     Maintain perimeter - never allowing an offensive play to get outside or behind us.

2.     Prevent the score - stop the TD.

3.     Intercept - cause the offensive turn-over.

4.     Tackle - make the sure open-field tackle.

Must Know For All Defenses:

1.     Call - coverage/force and secondary force.

2.     Alignment - must be exact.

3.     Stance - inside foot up, knees flexed, arms relaxed, head up.

4.     Flow - direction of backfield and/or ball.

5.     Eligibles - key for run/pass pattern recognition.

6.     Responsibility - execute and pursue.

7.     Tackle - square up - eyes on the ball. Get under him. Explode up and through. Wrap him up - knock the ball out.

Things We Must Accomplish:

1.     We must: play team defense.

2.     We must: play the ball at its highest point and intercept.

3.     We must: recover fumbles.

4.     We must: prevent the “bomb”.

5.     We must: use our hands to ward off blockers.

6.     We must: score on defense.

The Value of a Be An 11! Team

THE ELEVEN ATHLETE

Rest & Nutrition
Year Round Training
Record Keeping
Sprint Training
Agility Training
Endurance Training
Flexibility Training
Plyometric Training
Strength Training
Skill Training
Mental Training – Be an 11

All of these things go together. It is a synergistic system. Leave one of the components out, and one achieves far less that what’s possible.

To understand the importance of synergy, I have written the following to try and clarify:

The Value of Being An 11 Team
by CoachFreeb

John C. Maxwell in his new book, The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork,
writes:

As much as any team likes to measure itself by its best people, the truth is that the strength of the team is impacted by its weakest link. No matter how much people try to rationalize it, compensate for it, or hide it, a weak link will eventually come to light That’s the law of the Chain (#5).
Weak team members always take more of the team’s time than strong ones.
One reason is that the more competent people have to give their time to compensate for those who don’t carry their share of the load. The greater difference in competence between the more accomplished performers and the less accomplished ones, the greater the detriment to the team. For example, if you rate people on a scale from 1 to 10 (with 10 being the best), a 5 among 10s really hurts the team where an 8 among 10s often does not.
Let me show you how this works. When you first put together a group of people, their talents come together in a way that is analogous to addition. So visually a 5 among 10s looks like this:

10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 5 = 45

The difference between this team and great ones with five 10s is like the difference between 50 and 45. That’s a difference of 10 percent. But once a team comes together and starts to develop chemistry, synergy, and momentum, it’s analogous to multiplication. That’s when a weak link really starts to hurt the team. It’s the difference between this:

10 X 10 X 10 X 10 X 10 = 100,000

and this:

10 X 10 X 10 X 10 X 5 = 50,000

That’s a difference of 50 percent! The power and momentum of the team may be able to compensate for a weak link for a while, but not forever. A weakling eventually robs the team of momentum – and potential.
Now, what would happen if each of those team members committed to Being An 11? Is that possible? Can ALL team members choose to Be An 11? The answer is, CERTAINLY! Being An 11 is an attitude, an expectation, a commitment. When all team members develop an 11 approach the effect on the team would look like
this:

11 X 11 X 11 X 11 X 11 X = 161,051

That’s a difference of more than 61%! The whole IS greater than the sum of its parts. The power and momentum of the team is accelerated beyond what was previously thought to be possible. Members of the team no longer have to compensate, in fact, they feed off each other and their efforts multiply. The dream, the goal, the vision is achieved in an unbelievably sort period of time. It is the development of this BFS, Be An 11 Attitude that is responsible for those remarkable turnaround seasons that are chronicled in this BFS Journal year after year.
As BFS Clinician Jeff Scuran points out the answers are simple but not necessarily easy, “If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.” Not everyone is willing to put self aside, to make those sacrifices that are necessary, to adopt that BFS Attitude of:

No matter how long it takes;
No matter how hard it is;
No matter how much it costs;
No matter what I personally have to personally sacrifice; I’ll do whatever it takes to achieve our goals.
It’s going to be because of me.
The Best is yet to be!

When you can get a bunch of people together willing to make that kind of commitment, as a group, then you have the makings of a Championship caliber team.

Lifting Standards

STANCE

Watching pop warner football yesterday & even the "Pros" today reminds me how important a player's stance is. Every play begins with a stance. How is your team doing? Here is a link to what we have posted previously on S T A N C E:

http://footballfaxuals.blogspot.com/search?q=STANCE