November 14 coaching

I’ve only got a small sample to to work from , but it ties in with my suspicion . The yanks are much tougher than I thought . I think they push first and then add technique and skill second .Take Leroys swimming , he has to scramble up and down that pool first before his stroke is then refined . Back in Mornington it was the opposite , and it frustrated me know end watching your kid stuck at a certain level because their arm wasn’t in the right position . Leroys teacher came to me to ask my permission to push him harder , to jump on his excuses and to get him to push himself to get up and back in the pool . Leroy went through a couple of weeks of anxiety and didn’t want to be there . It was uncomfortable to watch , I had my doubts Soon as he lifted and fought a bit harder his attitude shifted 180 degrees . So has his swimming . It wouldn’t have been the route taken back in Aus . A slowly , slowly approach with a softer tone would’ve been the way .I’ve got no doubt he would be well ahead of where he’d be in Mornington . Tennis is a similar story , it’s hitting balls repetitively for an hour straight with their coach continually tinkering with their stroke so as it moulds into the right form . Back home there was a lot of analysis and drills without hitting balls . As I blogged previously bball wasn’t refereed to the letter of the law . The kids were encouraged to compete and to work hard without fear of being penalised for technicalities . The kids are encouraged to have fun but competition is an underlying fundamental to the American psyche . Don’t underestimate the Yanks when it comes to world sport , they are tough and we Aussies don’t really know it . From an early age the kids are fine tuned to beat each other . I’ve got a lot of admiration for their competitive instinct , I think it’s why they beat us in the pool at the Olympics. They’re not mollycoddled or shielded from the pressure . Sure it’s a big country and that is a massive factor when it comes to their dominance but by the time their top athletes have fought their way to the top they are as tough as nails . On a side note the hype on Ben Simmons is obviously big in Aus , it has been more subdued here , until now .He is now a hot topic of discussion as being the best rookie ever . Comparisons to even Lebron are being made . Dare I say it ….. Simmons is on the cusp of being Australia’s best ever basketballer but bigger than that he might be our most famous sportsman of all time . The hype is coming and they think he’s the next superstar of American sport .