Coaches must be generous in praise and always upbeat
A father of three children, my friend was updating me on his offspring. The last time I was talking to him one of his sons was starting to show an aptitude for football and hurling.
But sadly the boy’s interest in the games has ceased to exist. The father explained to me that his son is a sensitive soul and that he can’t hack criticism. When the boy was ridiculed for making mistakes at training or in games, it would send him into an immediate funk. In fact, the criticism had such an effect on him that he quit.
Yet, much to my friend’s surprise, his son has found another sport which he truly loves. The first time the boy ran in a cross-country race, he came second last.
As a footballer and hurler, the lad was actually blessed with a lot more natural talent. Crucially, however, no-one ridicules him when he runs – and he loves it.
He has since joined an athletics club. On Saturday mornings, he competes in the 5km park runs which have sprung up all over the country.
“When I am standing at the side of course, he doesn’t even see me,” said his father. “When he goes past, it’s as if he’s in a different world, he blots out everything else.”
Clearly the boy has found his sport. Or, to be more precise, the local athletics club, which nurtures a different coaching philosophy, has found him.
Surprisingly, my friend never once criticised the local GAA club. A dyed-in-the-wool GAA man, he considers the negative attitude adopted by many underage coaches, to be par for the course.
Although he didn’t admonish his son in any way, he simply took the view that his boy was too thin-skinned, and therefore wasn’t cut out for a career in the GAA.
Maybe my friend is right. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to discover what would have happened if the boy had joined a GAA club whose coaches made a conscious effort to praise rather than criticise.
At the GAA’s recent Games Development Conference it was announced that from 2016 all club management teams must contain an Award One coach.
Evidently, the GAA’s hierarchy appreciates the massive influence that a coach can have on a child.
A good coach can build confidence, provide enjoyment and improve skills. A bad coach will do the reverse, causing untold damage.
Paudie Butler, the GAA’s National Hurling co-ordinator, is an enlightened man. At the conference in Croke Park, Butler delivered a presentation called, ‘Developing Competent, Confident Children’.
On the GAA’s website, Butler provides a synopsis of his talk. He says: “Humans are slow developers, and if we want to coach successfully then we must be aware of the developmental stages.
“When the brain and the body are ready, it is no bother to learn something. If the brain and the body aren’t ready, then life becomes very difficult. Confidence is eroded. Self-esteem is eroded. And the whole thing becomes very difficult. Confidence comes from the feedback which coaches provide. Coaches need great precision in their language. They need to be generous in praise and they need to overlook a lot of little small mistakes which children will make naturally.”
Consider the theory which Butler is expounding, and the grim reality practiced up and down the country.
At U10 games, we have parents leaning over the wire baying and screaming like maniacs.
As for the precision of language, many of our coaches do indeed possess a gift for conveying the maximum abuse with the minimum amount of words.
“Mickey, you eejit, don’t do that.”
“Aggghhhhh. Seán, how the hell did you miss that? “Conor. You haven’t touched the ball yet.”
The huge problem facing the GAA is that there is a natural distrust and antipathy towards ‘qualified coaches’. Too often, men like Paudie Butler will be dismissed as ‘high falutin’ theorists.
Ultimately, their emphasis on praise and positive feedback is regarded as being too namby-pamby. To win medals, you need to go into the trenches and tell it like it is.
Consequently, if the GAA is to succeed in its mission to create a new coaching culture, then it must achieve one simple task. Croke Park must prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that the approach advocated by the likes of Paudie Butler will generate success. Because in the GAA, managers will do anything if they think it’ll help their side win.
Fortunately for the GAA, their job is actually quite an easy one. Last week, the most successful manager in the history of the game announced his retirement.
Studying Mick O’Dwyer from a distance, I have always had the impression that he embodied all the basic principles which Croke Park wants to instil in every coach in the country. For the purposes of this column, I contacted Eoin ‘Bomber’ Liston to find out if my suspicions were correct.
A Kerry footballer for 15 years, ‘the Bomber’ spent 12 of those seasons with Micko.
In those 12 years, Liston was adamant that he never once witnessed O’Dwyer lambasting a player in the dressing room.
“Any criticism was always done in private. He would never criticise anyone in front of the other players. He would never humiliate anyone like that. He would pull you to the side and have a word.”
Bear in mind that O’Dwyer was dealing with mature men, many had a drawer-load of All-Ireland medals. Contrast O’Dwyer’s acute awareness of his players’ feelings to the imbecilic behaviour of men put in charge of 12-year-olds.
Let’s not forget that Mick O’Dwyer wasn’t just a success in Kerry. In Kildare, he won two Leinster titles and guided them to an All-Ireland final. The Lilywhites haven’t won anything since. The same applies to Laois. In 2003, he guided Laois to the only title they have won since 1946. Before the GAA starts to convince people about the necessity of positive coaching, they must first demonstrate its benefits.
Mick O’Dwyer should be their primary case-study. And Eoin Liston’s description of the Kerry legend should be the model conduct for anyone in the GAA who aspires to coach children.
“Always upbeat. Always positive.
“Always good fun.”
