| COACHING ESSENTIALS |
‘That’s the key – not saying too much and overdoing it. He knows exactly the level to pitch at and doesn’t overcomplicate it. I can hear it in his voice, a kind of certainty. It is an immense feeling. Sometimes I can’t see things on the court that Malc can. That’s where he can turn matches around – one important factor, such as you have to get your cross-courts wider into the deep court or wider into the side wall. That one tactical thing can often change the way a game is going.’
Willstrop snr reiterates his son’s vital point – keeping it simple. He explained: ‘Doug Sanders (American golfer of the 1960s) once said, “They feed you so much stuff, you forget how to use the fork”... in other words, the idea is to hit the ball properly in the right places, and if you overcloud things you might lose sight of that. That’s very wise, because there’s always that danger of over-complicating.’
Tony Smith, who has led Super League club Warrington Wolves to victory in three Challenge Cup finals, says the same is true in team sport. ‘There are only two or three things that anybody can take on board, particularly once you’re in the game,’ he explained. ‘A great test is to ask a player post-game what the coach said at half-time. Most of them have no idea.
‘What I say is never technical, rarely
tactical. Often it’s supportive.’ Malcolm Wilstrop
‘They may remember one or two things, or they may just remember the essence of it or the mood of the coach. If you need to have some influence, it needs to be simple and there can only be a minimal number of changes, if changes are needed at all.’
Smith, a straight-talking Aussie (is there any other kind?), speaks with great authority on coaching techniques and philosophies across all sports. It’s his assertion that, in pre- match speeches particularly, varying your approach is vital.
‘If you do the same routine it wears thin pretty quickly. Do you always need to raise your voice? No way. If you do the same thing all the time players become immune to the way that you end up speaking to them. It needs to be varied and appropriate to that occasion. I like to get my players to build it up themselves leading into a game. If I feel that they haven’t built in the right way, that the mood isn’t right, that’s when I intervene. I make it their responsibility to get each other ready. It’s not just the individual, they’d better make sure that the person next to them is ready to play too.’
Team talks are essential for in-game support to supply an extra boost
Fostering this collective responsibility for pre-match preparation takes time, but Smith’s laissez-faire approach seems to work, if his trophy-rich stint at Leeds Rhinos proved anything to go by.
Specific philosophies on half-time team talks are more difficult to pin down. Clearly their content depends entirely on what has occurred during the first period of play. Adapting quickly, therefore, is essential. For Smith, the key is to decide almost immediately what elements (tactics, execution, morale etc) need changing and to use all the short amount of time available to prepare your speech.
‘I try not to let it be too reactionary, to have it well thought out before I deliver. If it needs to be a bit emotional, I’ll let it be emotional, but I’ll have already thought that through. It’s fine to show emotion, but I think it needs to be controlled emotion.
‘The content depends on how well they’re performing and how well the plan is being executed or how the opposition are handling the plan. It’s the duty of the coach to read what is needed on each occasion. Quite often I will speak to my assistant coaches about that and ask, “Do I need to alter these people tactically or is it mentally?” I try to go into it with some sort of plan and control over the delivery of it. ‘One of the things that a lot of coaches become guilty of is a commentary of what’s just happened,’ added Smith. ‘That’s the last thing they need – they already know that. What we need to do is work on the future, rather than what’s just gone by.’
This feature was previously published in COACHINGEDGE magazine. Edited for publication in Coaching Matters by Craig Smith
9
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16