Attached is a recent story from Jeff Carlisle on Juergen Klinsman and how he is attempting to change the US Men's National Team. The story in itself is worth a read, but if you are a scanner then take note of the quotes from some of the coaches. They all say the same thing...we need problem solvers!
In a culture where our high profile coaches get paid alot of money to win, we look to them for every answer. Most of our sports allow for this as well. We have about 25 timeouts a half or the play stops every time someone trips or goes out of bounds. The ironic thing is the players we (as a culture) admire the most are the ones that rely on the coaches the least - Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Brett Favre and so on.
We admire these players because they have the ability to improvise and turn something out of nothing. Yet as parents and coaches, we never allow our children and players to develop this critical part of the game. We "joystick" their every move.
"Pass it here," or "cross it," or "Shoot!" is heard from many coaches every weekend. It is difficult to watch our young ones make mistakes (and that includes losing), but we need to keep in mind that mistakes are what enables these kids to learn what doesn't work.
With the passing of Steve Jobs (Apple) yesterday, it made me think of the many great inventors. How many times they must have failed in order to get it right. How many failures turned out to be great inventions. So keep this in mind the next time, and every time, you are coaching your children or watching them at the game. That boy (or girl) who seems to be doing things the wrong way will eventually figure out it doesn't work. Or they might just change the way the game is played.
