Opportunities Lost...

She stood there listening intently. Granted, it was spoken in English and she was not, but a team of translators got the point across. Game like training! Don't waste valuable practice time on things that will have NO transfer to the game of volleyball. 

She was a former professional club coach who had years of experience. And she nodded enthusiastically as the conversation encompassed practice: drill design, warm ups, transfer, engagement and retention. She looked like she understood!

When the clinic ended and her U18 girls team took the court, she instructed them on their warm up. And 15 girls grabbed a volleyball and began to dribble it as they ran around the court several times. The athletes, just following orders, seemed unengaged and for sure had done this warm up before.

Opportunity lost.

How about the pickleball instructor at the indoor facility in the west valley. What a gig! With your pink shoes displaying your brand, you have 8 kids, ages 7-12 maybe and teach them a sport that they can play with their parents for years to come. 

And how did pink shoes start practice?

First, of course, they ran around the facility. Jogging a few times around 12 or so courts when the actual pickleball court is the size of a large dining room table seemed to be overkill but it took 10 minutes of his one hour of lesson time. 

Next, he put cones down the middle of one side of the court, and with the kids standing on the sidelines, shuffled to the cones, touching the top and shuffling back. Over and over. Then they stood the other direction to make sure they were shuffling from both sides of their bodies.

The time at the end of this "warm up" was 19 after the hour. As we left, there was still not a single racquet or pickleball taken out or on the court.

Opportunity lost.

There is no telling how many kids will go through these worthless practice session and realize that pickleball is  not the game for them. ALL because a coach doesn't understand simple skill acquisition! 

Dear Parents. How are you okay with this? How are you good with a coach who uses 1/3 of the hour YOU are paying handsomely for to reinforce movements that quite simple could be better transferred and retained if done within a game like scenario? How is this okay?

Parents will complain of having to drive 45 minutes to a tournament to watch their daughter play, but they are okay getting ripped off by coaches pretending to be good trainers yet NOT training the game they are being paid for?

Parents, hold your coaches accountable! Learn more about how athletes acquire skill. Look into the ideas of motor learning and ask lots of questions. You may find those club dues you have worked so hard for have gone to waste with a coach who is pulling his drills off of Instagram and has no concept of how to actually train a sport.

Coaches, when will you stop following the path of dependency, doing what YOUR coach did to you training, practice and discipline wise because it is the easiest road to travel? What has to click in you that if you are asking your athletes to come out of their comfort zones, to try new things, to fail and learn, why are you taking the hypocrite's way and doing just the opposite?

For parents and coaches that fall under these categories, your young athletes will be the ones that pay the price. Maybe quitting the sport, maybe never reaching their potential, maybe both.

Opportunity Lost.