Coaching in Action Paper

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Nick Oliver

Professor Posig

26 February 2016Coaching Paper

In this paper I will be coparing an! contrasting Coach "ack #enar! of who coache! e

all four years in high school for the Carel Icehoun!s $ockey club% Coach &oug 'runo is the

coach of the &ePaul (niversity )oen*s 'asketball tea% I will be incorporating y

e+periences with both ,inclu!ing y e+perience with Coach 'runo in a previous class where we

hear! hi lecture on e+periences an! coaching- into !ifferent pieces an! practices of coaching%

.he /oues an! Posener lea!ership o!el believe that lea!ership is earne! an! not inherite!

or born with% .he lea!ership o!el is copose! of five practices with each practice given a set

of stan!ar!s to follow% I woul! like to ephasie only three of these principles for the sake of

length% .he first step being o!eling the way3 carries two iportant aspects to it being

clarifying values by fin!ing your voice an! setting the e+aple% 'runo !eonstrates this with his

history of success% $e !oes not nee! to e+plain hiself constantly with strategies or values

because they have been !eonstrate! for years with previous teas% Players coe to hi

knowing what his values are% I ha! the great opportunity to listen to Coach 'runo with one of

Professor Clark*s courses an! shoul! a!it by the tie he finishe! his lecture I was well aware

of what his i!eals an! values were for his players% $e also acts on what his values are% $e note!

how he wants his players to !evelop as woen an! have tools to lea! a life after basketball% $e

e+eplifies this by creating an atosphere of aca!eics are key% $e talke! about how he wante!

to recruit ki!s that even though they weren*t the top of their basketball class or ost flashy3

player they ha! a great I%4% an! sense of the gae% It was their intellect that woul! give the the

ability to becoe great players fro Coach 'runo*s teachings an! lessons% Coparing this to

Coach #enar! is sort of siilar but on a saller scale% Coach #enar! every year woul! hol! a

tea eeting for our tea an! lay out the goals an! e+pectations for us% $e was a bigger guy


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an! cae off as soeone with a strong voice an! also share! the sae lessons of becoing

better people than 5ust better players% Coach #enar! ha! the e+perience but nothing close to

Coach 'runo but that shoul! not take away fro what they both stoo! for% .he thir! step of five

in the lea!ership o!el I feel the nee! to highlight is to challenge the process%3 In this step

lea!ership shoul! search for opportunities an! e+perient an! take risks% Coach #enar! in y

e+perience always searche! for new opportunities an! ways to iprove because of his knack for

changing systes an! lines freuently% In !ue tie we finally cae on a set course but for the

first few onths of the season it never seee! Coach #enar! was ever content with the lines%

$e was an observant coach of who ha! uch intellect in each player*s strengths an! weaknesses

which was goo! for all of us because it woul! ean he coul! !ial everyone in to ake us reach

our full potential% $e e+periente! a lot an! I !i! not have uch of a proble with it% )hen

watching Coach 'runo coach over the course of the season I see for the ost part the sae

starting five% I un!erstan! basketball has fewer players than hockey but it seee! to e even

!uring the latter part of the gae he ha! in the back of his in! which player fit which situation%

.his is an incre!ible trait for a coach but in y instance with Coach #enar! I en5oye! playing

with other forwar!s on y tea an! gaine! a sense of cofort an! trust aong all of us% I

a!ire! Coach #enar!*s way of being innovative with lines an! plays7 it kept the gae

interesting% It ay be Coach 'runo knows his players so well that he !oes not nee! the tie to

e+perient an! I can un!erstan! that this being an NC88 sport with only a han!ful of gaes%

Finally I want to touch on the last practice of the lea!ership o!el which is encouraging the

heart%3 In this step it is the recognition of contributions an! celebrating the values an! victories

that are inclu!e!% Fro y perspective Coach 'runo ha! that recognition but !i! not !isplay it

often% On the court Coach 'runo was whenever a big play happene! or a huge three was a!e

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he never showe! any e+uberance% $e always ha! that uestioning look on his face I always see

to notice% I a!ire this too% I !o not think a coach shoul! be all95oyful an! in high spirits

whenever the gae is going on% I have the opinion of the coach shoul! be cool cal an!

collecte! until the final whistle blows% 8 gae can turn at any oent where you nee! soeone

to turn to who isn*t in awe of the situation of the gae like I was% I know Coach 'runo !oes

bring in the positive attitu!es post9gae as I have coe to fin! out fro listening to hi

especially with the a5or wins he has ha! in his career% On the other han! Coach #enar!

!isplaye! a greater attitu!e !uring the gae that seee! to counter Coach 'runo% :ach goal

score! was followe! by a fist pup or a tap on the helet an! I en5oye! that% It was not only the

players who were celebrating in the glory of the oent but also our coach% I never once

!oubte! his passion or coitent to us which was supporte! by his recognition an!

celebrations constantly%

8nother coaching o!el I woul! like to !iscuss is of being !irective an! non!irective% 'eing

!irective eans the coach takes on the role of the e+pert7 ,s-he e+plains what nee!s to be !one

an! how to !o it% On the contrary a non!irective coach will take a partnership with the

player;coacheee to solve probles an! !evelop skills% .he coach will also take on the position of

a facilitator to accoplish the outcoes as well as the player !eci!es on the goal% I brought up a

point !uring class how professional tennis relates to this non!irective coaching style where the

player an! coach work to beat the copetitor by !eveloping skills an! so forth but ultiately it

is the player who !eci!es on the what tournaents to play an! what goals to put in place% $ere

Coach #enar! was a non!irective coach% 8s note! before about how we et for hi to set goals

he first wante! to hear where we were on what can we achieve% It was our influence that gui!e!

the !irection of the tea% 8s a captain for two years he always face! e with what I thought

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about a certain strategy or a line pairing% It was a uniue relationship I have never really coe

across% I a!ire! that he care! about y opinion an! even ipleente! what I ha! to say% .his

non!irective approach work well for e for the counication between us was fluent% For

Coach 'runo by !efinition I see hi as a !irective coach7 one who takes on the role of e+pert

,'ut not to the !egree of Coach /night fro In!iana (niversity who we talke! about in class-%

)ho coul! argue how Coach 'runo is not an e+pert at the gae of basketball< )ith all the

accola!es an! e!als earne! Coach 'runo provi!es the successful fraework for his players

which in turn provi!e the e+pectations an! hopefully outcoes of winning% 8fter observing

Coach 'runo his tactics see to be pre9calculate! an! knows e+actly what he is !oing% I !i! not

notice anything fro watching hi that he woul! go to his players an! ask for input or help%

.he perforance pyrai! has = parts starting with the Physical Capacity as the foun!ation%

'etween the two coaches it woul! be Coach #enar! who carrie! ore of this entality% 'eing

fro western Pennsylvania Coach #enar! is a han!s9on guy who uses his voice a lot to convey

essages soe less congratulatory than others% 'ut that caters to his style of coaching an!

works for hi% .he secon! piece to the perforance pyrai! is the :otional Capacity% :ach

coach in y un!erstan!ing carries this piece with the but ore so Coach 'runo% >eferring

back to the tie when I listene! to Coach 'runo talk about past e+periences an! coaching he

eventually cae to tears talking about forer players he ha!% .his struck e as soeone who

care! ore about the sport of basketball but the !evelopent of his players on an! off the court%

.he thir! stage in the perforance pyrai! is the #ental Capacity% It is Coach 'runo who I

think has ore of a ental aspect to his players% .hrough observation he talks to his players in a

ore so cal tone without any harsh breakouts% .his is ental to e because he knows that in

any state of the gae a player can break !own or heat up% It his responsibility for the player to

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reach full potential an! when talking to a player being rela+e! an! provi!ing unnecessary stress

is a way to entally affect the player% ?astly the @piritual Capacity peaks the pyrai!% .his

capability is not foun! in all coaches but coe to the un!erstan! in y coparing of both Coach

#enar! an! Coach 'runo they both earn this spot on the pyrai!% 'oth coaches have an

uncanny ability to speak an! teach a player without !isrupting their state of in!% @oewhat

siilar to the ental capacity both coaches !eonstrate! to e how they coul! affect the things

that are intangible in a player% .his is the spiritual ability of affecting the huan spirit% 8 great

e+aple was Phil "ackson an! his uncanny ability to tap into a player*s spiritual state of in!

through yoga or e!itation% )ith Coach #enar! it was his real9life e+aples he learne! fro

e+periences that touche! e spiritually% It was not about the gae but yself an! how I can be a

better person% Coach 'runo note! the sae thing when talking about ol! players he coache! back

in the !ay% $e talke! how he woul! sit his players !own in!ivi!ually an! get to know the

un!erstan! their backgroun! an! what akes the tick% .his is a critical characteristic to have as

a coach an! ipleent it into a gae%

.he i!eal perforance state ,IP@- for athletes is the a+iie! physiological an! also

psychological level of stiulation that is stee! fro heart rate bloo! pressure brain waves

breathing an! uscular tension% IP@ inclu!es copetencies inclu!ing en!urance strength self9

control an! focus% .he key coponent to utiliing IP@ is the ability to obilie energy on

!ean!% Oscillation an! routines are coponents of IP@ that will help with buil!ing a strong

foun!ation% For IP@ to occur all levels of the pyrai! nee! to be working in sync% )hen

watching Coach 'runo an! his tea against @t% "ohn*s the scoring argin was constantly tight

keeping the tea operating at an i!eal perforance state% 8ll copetencies through the whole

gae were being et as they kept in the one with full9court pressing an! uick fast breaks% 8s a

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high school tea our IP@ soeties was not always e+istent% #any factors such as the

opponent or score woul! !eter us fro IP@% It was not ore so on Coach #enar! we were not

operating at IP@ but when we were I feel a little ore stepping back3 an! re9evaluating woul!

have been appropriate% .he i!eal perforance state a+iies teas potential fro any

!ifferent aptitu!es an! in result can have high perforance over a perio! of tie%

Fro the stan!point of both teas an! coaches yes flow has been achieve!% Flow is the

share! ental state which one perfors an!;or learns to the best of one*s ability% I believe I

perfore! y best un!er Coach #enar! an! I see Coach 'runo*s tea also perforing if not at

their best at a very high level% Players fro either teas one way or another characterie!

intense focus an! becae ierse! in it% Flow is what brings a tea or in!ivi!ual to a continual

in!set of play where actual play becoes autoatic an! without thought% Coach 'runo an!

Coach #enar! have both !eonstrate! with their respecte! teas the ability to create flow an!

be successful%

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Coaching in Action Paper

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