Wholesale change or just a little bit at a time?

We all flirt with change.  We know that change is important either to ensure progress or because our lifestyles or choices are not balanced enough.  We don't, however, cope well with big change.  It can be frightening and, besides this, our minds and bodies actively work to maintain things largely as they are.  Is this a problem?  Not necessarily.  To begin with, we may have sufficient resources already to reach the goal without massively extending or destabilising ourselves.  There may be no way to know whether this is true without jumping in and discovering hidden resilience and resourcefulness.  Don't assume the worst.  How often do our worst fears ever actually come to pass?  Not often.  Almost always, we find a way and a new day dawns.  If the deep end is too much then there is a plan B: small steps.
Big change doesn't necessarily require one big step.  Most of the time, the big goal can be achieved with lots of small incremental changes.  There are two things to keep in mind with this plan.  Firstly, we lose contact with initial motivations and feelings quickly.  The front page of our mental newspaper likes to move the story forward.  Write your goal down as well as why it's important.  Emotions associated with goals are powerful motivators so don't forget them.
The second challenge for large time scale plans is how disconnected the steps can become.  The pathway veers off on a tangent when another interesting experience excites us in the moment.  There is nothing wrong with this.  Goals don't have to be mutually exclusive pathways or processes.  One of the wonderful characteristics of humanity is the multiplicity or scope of who we are.  What might help, however, is to prioritise.  If something really is 'the most important thing' or 'essential' then the balance of our actions have to make sense for it. We can step off from time to time but our big goal only functions to the extent that it 'fits' each week. 
So, what helps?  Honesty, patience, and persistence. 

If I own something does it hold more value?

Simple question with a simple answer: yes.  I met with a coach on Friday night and we chatted, as we tend to do, about what we believe matters in sport for children.  The answer we decided was that children feel, when the end arrives, that the journey was a good one.  I call this 'glass half full'.  Too many kids exit sport 'glass half empty'; unfulfilled and disappointed.  That's the ultimate shame for me.
This question is a simple litmus test for any sport or athletic program.  Instead of asking yourself (the coach) whether your program has value, ask the participants if the glass is half full or half empty.
In the course of our conversation last Friday, I has a moment of clarity and it's this: there is no ownership if engagement is not voluntary.
Our program involves the kids driving their own sessions.  We compose the sessions and then move around the kids as they are exercising, to make technical adjustments or to talk about why we're doing the task.  The kids are responsible for reading and executing the plan.
The most obvious outcome is comprehension.  The kids learn the language and the detail, in addition to the physical concepts (training targets and a variety of solutions).  This system also requires voluntarily engagement.  We get weak engagement from time to time but we don't micro-manage behaviour or 'drill' kids.  If someone is wasting time, they are asked to pull finger.  Only one specific circumstance has ever involved children being asked to leave the gym.
For a number of years, we provided gym services for a sports club and the arrangement involved compulsory enrolment in the gym program.  I had many low moments under this arrangement including grumpy, ungrateful/ disengaged parents and (unsurprisingly) disengaged and hard to manage children.  The problem was that enrolment was forced on parents and children.  It wasn't voluntary so they didn't own the decision.  The effect was a massive drop down from the very high engagement levels in all other gym programs.
I am certain that voluntary ownership improves outcomes for our participants.  I would go further to suggest that it's essential to helping children mature, and the raft of higher outcomes that extend from this.  The lessons I have learned also tell me that ownership and engagement are not outcomes of a program, but a function of expectation moment to moment and day to day.

Super exercise: JUMP ROPE (skipping)

There is a handful of exercises I rate above all others either because they comprehensively raise function (e.g. the deadlift), or because they target a single critical function.  Jump rope (skipping) falls into the later category.  The ankle stretching shortening cycle (SSC) is a critical biomechanical function.  All jumping skills, and that includes running, depend on it.  The SSC is a reflex that stores gravitational energy in elastic elements of the calf-Achilles muscle tendon unit and releases it immediately to provide spring.  Ankle function is primary in human locomotion because the feet and ankles 'feel' ground reaction forces first.  Our entire locomotive response depends on how well the feet and ankles cope with loading on foot strike.
Skipping is a simple and very effective tool for enhancing the ankle stretch shortening cycle.  Begin with 50-100 singles (one circuit of the rope for every hop) two-three times/week.  Rest throughout as needed.  A weak hopping action will result in the body flicking the feet behind the body to allow transit of the rope.  As the ankle SSC strengthens, the body will hop higher and flick behind less.  The mechanical goal of skipping is to develop a high hop with tall/ vertical posture:

• bouncing off the balls/ toes - no slapping or crashing of the feet on the ground
• no flicking back of the legs 
• minimal dropping into the knees and hips - the better the energy production from the ankles, the less the hips and knees will be needed

Once it is obvious that the process is strengthening (goals above), progression can be made by increasing reps, extending rope skills, and with doubles (two circuits of the rope for every hop).  The body strengthens as a response to stimulation but skills are subject to habit.  It helps to assist the process by trying to exert the outcomes you're after.  It helps to watch someone with good skills to know what you're trying to achieve.

Emotional overload in sport

Stay with me on this one. There is an excellent point for coaches and parents buried here. Sport is stressful. Some sports - tennis - brutally so. Coaches and parents get this so surely we make an active effort to deescalate and help kids to maintain emotional stability and reserve currency for the important moments??  Nope, parents are at least as unstable and reactive as their children and sometimes more so.  Our kids learn to feel hard done by and powerless from us.  Our kids learn to feel hard done by and powerless from us.

I wanted to link to the original Mark Manson article (referenced by Peter FitzSimons) but I doubt it would get by the FB moderators. Mark's thesis is simple: you have a limited amount of emotional energy to spend, so think carefully about where and when you spend it. Most of what irritates us is not worth the bother. Get your head around this and then teach it to your children. A shameful number of children fail to get even close to their athletic potential because they learn, from us, how to collapse under pressure. It's not about when you should care but when (and why) you shouldn't.

Apologies in advance for the language in one of these links:

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/kyrgios-tomic-hayne-thurston-the-ways-sportspeople-do-and-do-not-give-a-f-20170920-gyl8y2.html

https://markmanson.net/not-giving-a-fuck

How does sport compare to schooling in the maturation of young people?

This is a very big topic (lots to consider) and I will start by admitting that I don't possess a complete point of view or special expertise.  I observe children and their parents over many months and years, and I have developed some strong ideas based on my observations.
I will begin with a statement: intelligence and independence are strongly correlated.  Children have to learn to take responsibility for themselves and they require intelligence (and suitable opportunities to exercise it) to do so.  
Children begin almost entirely dependent on others.  Hopefully, by the time they exit high school they possess some capacity for independent living.  Schooling understands the importance of independent thinking and action, and education builds this into the learning structures and the schooling environments, generally.  Does sport do the same?  The answer is a categorical, no.  
Young sports people have very little operational responsibility in their programs and even less accountability for progress.  They are told what to do and when.  Homework?  Not likely.  Competition (the educational equivalent of exams) measures progress but post-analysis and feedback in sport is poor.  All learning structures depend on feedback to ensure progress.  Schooling involves a mixture of immediate, intermediate, and long-term feedback.  A comprehensive system of checks and balances, in turn, permits the transition of responsibility and accountability for learning to the student.  The weaker the feedback system, the harder it is to ensure progress and develop accountability.
If we compare sport with schooling, we can say without question that children don't mature at the same rate or as completely.  The big problem, however, is drop out.  Sports struggle to provide pathways after high school but the real enemy is immaturity.  Children who cannot stand on their own two feet when required to, stop.
Our role as parents and coaches is to provide opportunities and to reduce as far as possible obstacles to participation.  Our hearts are in the right place but, if we accept that our kids are not growing up within sport as they should, surely we have to transfer more of the responsibility to them?

Super exercise: the PRESS-UP

The press-up or push-up is a bona fide super exercise.  To qualify as a ‘super’ exercise, there must be a big return on effort and the press-up meets this requirement and then some.  The press-up is a strength and power exercise for the shoulders and arms and, because it involves a dynamic bridging motion, it is an important core exercise.

The link below will take you to the full article.

 
Super exercise - the press-up

'Why' is an essential part of the coaching equation

Coaching tip: teaching children ‘why’ is an essential part of the equation: 

• Engage minds 

• Build IP: strategic and tactical comprehension – on-field decision making!

• Underpins technical development

Children are very curious and respond well to meaning.  Experience tells me that there is a 'sweet spot' between talk and activity, but the time spent building understanding is generally underdone.  Children, just like adults, don't love to be lectured so formulate information in the form of questions.

Roger Federer provides a lesson in personal leadership

Roger Federer's post match press conference after his recent 1/4 final loss at the US Open is a lesson in honesty and perspective.  Tennis is a grave yard of the emotionally overwhelmed, and a balanced point of view is usually the first casualty.
The conference can be viewed at the link below.  The section between 3min and 6min35s is a highlight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IpG4bIwMFA
 

It takes a village to raise a child

Drive and work capacity feed each other but the connection is not assured.  Upwards progress depends on the ‘cold’ decisions we make: do I stick with what I am doing or do I choose a new challenge? (and continue to feed the upwards cycle) We all are guilty of making the easy choice, and that’s why we need others; to challenge and motivate us.  Sometimes it’s an energy thing – a constructive kick up the pants, while at other times is a matter of needing someone to instill some belief.  Whatever the need, the more support we have the more likely we are to keep moving

For parents you may be struggling with an unmotivated or unconfident child: check the connection between you.  Get closer and engage together on their level.  Once a connection has been reasserted, add some variety; you’re on your way!