PSYCHOLOGY OF COACHING - DAN ABRAHAMS

Earlier this year I did a 3 part post of Dan Abrahams tweets (give him a follow!) and I'll go again with plenty more here.

Each day I scroll through my socials then copy a bunch of content that I want to read and paste it in my files and then go back and read it later.

Everyday I would copy at least 1 of Dan's tweets in there so I put them all in their own file and 17 pages long!

I especially love the way he breaks down specific aspects with in the psychology of sport and provides very actionable thoughts on developing players and coaches but leaving plenty ofroom for self interpretation as to what solution/s you yourself can come up with.

Today we have a coach-based post and I strongly encourage all coaches to have a go at seeing what you can do with 1 - 2 of these tweets in regards to how you coach, why you coach like that and can/should you make some alterations to it to be a better coach.

INSIST v TEACH – don’t insist on great attitude, rather teach players the mental skills to cultivate great attitude...don’t insist on effort, rather teach players the mental skills to exert effort when exhausted...don’t insist on energy, rather teach players the mental skills to build energy for the game

COACHING TEMPLATES - make a template of experimental evidence (what has worked), empitical evidence (what does research tell us) and exploratory ideas (what can we create)...these 3 e’s can interact w/ objective info (rules) and context (who/where)

COACHING for LEARNING – engage...turn up the volume on their interest...help them pay attention...then stretch them by taking them out of their comfort zone with an eye for support at all times...finally test their understanding, behaviourally and verbally

COACHING WHY P’s – participation x I want to help my players engage now and over time...progression x I want to help my players learn and improve...performance x I want to help my players build the capacity to compete

COACHING ENVIRONMENT  – is it psychologically informed?...are you considering player thoughts/emotions/experiences?...Is it psychologically safe?...can all of your players participate and be vulnerable?...what’s the motivational climate?...is it mastery or ego orientated?

COACH to PLAYER QUESTIONS – what do you want to focus on improving in the next activity?...what 1 thing can you change to make this activity more difficult?...how can you improve this skill on your own?...how can you help a teammate improve?

PLAYER BEHAVIOUR – to assist in helping your players change/manage behaviour is to help them develop a set of values/goals, an identity and a process

COACHING a NEW TEAM – what biases do I possess that influence these players?...how can I best establish positive relationships?...what will an optimal environment look like here?...what coaching practices should I engage in?

COACHING – is a psycho-social discipline 1^st...is a process of engaging people...is a process that helps players learn...a negotiation between themselves and the players...is a clever combo of instruction and questioning

COACHING – team sports require an external focus of attention for pattern recognition, yet focus of attention regularly shifts inwards...players start to forget straight after you’ve taught them...the ball may be the biggest distraction

WHAT/HOW/WHY of COACHING – what do we want?...how do we want to do it?...why are we doing it this way?

COACH SELF SKILLS – self awareness via objectives, beliefs/values, strengths/weaknesses, personality characteristics...self regulation on and off the ground...self relfection looking at what’s working, what can improve, what else?

COACHING TOOLBOX – use them when you need them...be directive/non-directive...design representative/less representative...challenge the group and the individual...allow autonomy/support or authoritive

COACH SELF REFLECTION – what happened?...what thoughts/feelings did you experience?...what was good/bad about them?...what can you make of this?...what else could you have done?...what will you do next time?

COACH KNOWLEDGE – declarative knowledge is knowing about something such as "I know ways to lose a defender"...procedural knowledge is knowing how to do something like "I lose the defender using my knowledge"...conditional knowledge is knowing when/why like "I use this knowledge in this situation because..."

COACHING LENSES – wide lense looks at the group as a whole and their interactions...narrow lense looks at individual players and their multiple actions (with relation to ineractions)...internal lense looks at what are they thinking/feeling...self lense looks at am I optimal right now?

COACH SELF SKILLS – self reflection looking at critical thinking/biases...self awareness looking at character traits, do they help/hinder, purpose, values, coachinb weaknesses...self control looking at tools to manage traits, to work towards a purpose using your values and to manage self around coaching weaknesses

I've got a bunch of other categories of his tweets do if you like these look out for the other posts as they are posted.