Linking Lesson Plans to Practice Plans

Earlier this summer, Carol Tomlinson helped me form a bridge between the teaching and coaching worlds in her article, "Mastering the Game". Her article is based on a radio talk show conversation that featured Sven Groeneveld, a renowned tennis coaching legend, and his insight as to why he is so successful as a coach. Although the connection between the traits of a successful coach and an effective teacher may not be all too obvious at first, there are eight indisputable traits that help separate the haves and havenots in both the coaching and teaching worlds.

Tomlinson summarizes the eight traits that are essential for any coach or teacher to keep in mind if they truly want for their athlete or student to exceed expectations.

1. Recognize that everyone possesses the ability to achieve far more than what they think they are capable of reaching. 
2. Know the difference between dreams and goals. Dreams are intangible thoughts and goals are tangible outcomes that you can chase down. 
3. It is vital to master both hard skills (mechanics and fundamentals) & soft skills (grit, dedication, desire...). 
4. Hold athletes and students accountable for their actions. 
5. Refuse to give in when an athlete/student gives up on a challenging task.
6. Recognize differences in learning strategies and adapt to these differences in order to teach most effectively. 
7. Observe and analyze athletes/students to identify their strengths and weaknesses, so that you can form an effective plan of action. 
8. Remember that it is not about getting our names in the limelight, we do it all for the kids.

While these eight traits may seem relatively simple in nature, they work together to form the foundation of a teacher or coach, who is both successful and meaningful. You can view the original piece here on Edutopia. 

Icing on the Cake

Since the first week or so of March, I have been fortunate enough to work with a group of young men on the lacrosse field, as both the lead coach at the junior varsity level and as an assistant coach at the varsity level. While I sincerely enjoyed reconnecting with the lacrosse community, which I feel head-over-heels for nearly fifteen years ago, it has become clear that there is a strong connection between my coaching responsibilities and my objectives in the classroom as an educator.

My ultimate goals this season were to pass on my love for the game and to set the JV players up for success on the field come game-day, both of which required quite a bit of intentional planning and careful thought before ever setting foot on the practice field. The effort that I put forth into each practice plan shares similar traits to that of an effective lesson plan.

As in most academic settings, it is necessary to gauge what each student-athlete already knows, as well as consider the most effective way to convey the skill or idea that I want them to develop, and lastly, clearly illustrate why it is important to strive for each student-athlete’s utmost best in practice each day.

While I could easily go on about the similarities present between the crafts of coaching and teaching, I benefited from another experience to a much greater degree. Throughout the course of the JV season, I made it a point to confer with the varsity coach every so often to make sure that I was not making any massive mistakes during my first season with a well-established program and he would offer a few bits of advice here and there. These snippets of veteran wisdom were helpful to a point, but I could only take so much away from these passive interactions.

Going over the game plan during a break in the state championship.

My real period of growth did not come about until after the JV campaign had ended when I asked to join the varsity coaching staff. During this time, I was far less active as a coach and took on a role along the lines of an observer for the remainder of the regular season and the playoffs. Although I was not responsible for plotting the course of action each day in practice, I had far more opportunities to engage with Coach C, the varsity coach, and take note of how he engaged with the athletes and structured each workout. My experience on the field during practices and on the sideline during games was a rich learning experience due to Coach C.’s willingness to let me work alongside him and actively observe how he went about engaging with his trade.

The time that I spent on the field during practice and on the sideline during games was meaningful and valuable in many ways. However, I would not have taken away as much as I did had it not been for Coach C’s attitude, openness, and commitment to helping me refine my coaching methods. Furthermore, it is safe to say that I sincerely learned more from Coach C through our conversations away from the field. Although our conversations off the field did not always directly relate to lacrosse or coaching, I managed to usually walk away wanting to try something different in practice or re-think my current approach to guiding the development of the athletes under my supervision.

My alma mater retreats off the field after my new lacrosse family emerged victorious in the State Championship!

Overall, my experience with Coach C is a near perfect example of an effective mentorship. However, the quality of the mentorship could have been better if Coach C had had an opportunity to observe my coaching methods in person, but scheduling conflicts between practice times for the varsity and JV teams made this difficult. Regardless of Coach C’s inability to observe my coaching tactics on more than just a couple occasions, he made it a point to welcome me onto his field and share his wealth of experience with me. Most importantly, he was flat out passionate about helping me, a young coach, develop and mature as a leader and guide on the field.

Careful Planning

While I realize the value of putting forth a solid effort when it comes to lesson planning, I just recently recognized the true worth of these meticulous plans when I put together the first weeks worth of practice plans for my lacrosse team. With just five days of practice until our first game this weekend, I became a little anxious since I have yet to install a base offense or defense, and just thinking about running a man-up and man-down unit makes me shiver. Regardless of the short period of time before our first game, it is simply a matter of conveying my lacrosse knowledge to the players so that they can compete to the best of their ability come Saturday.

Just like a lesson plan in the classroom, each drill that I run in practice needs to be meaningful and provide the sense of a game-time situation. This season is a big shift from my experience last season since most of these kids have grown up with the game and have an idea of how to play for the most part. This is blessing since I do not have to start with the pure fundamentals of the game, but it is also a curse since there are higher expectations than what I worked with last year. Aside from the dual nature of this new program, I am hopeful that I can transition the 'power' on the field from my control to the players rather quickly, which means that I will only have to fine-tune things along the way after I get the foundation in place.

The Advantage of the Underdog

The 1980 US Olympic team celebrates their triumph over the legendary
USSR national team in the semifinals of the medal round at Lake Placid.

It seems that nearly every contest today is either evenly matched or similar to the epic battle between David and Goliath whether it is in the classroom, on the athletic field, or at a conference table. Most spectators tend to cheer in favor of the modern day Goliath without question and fail to even acknowledge the possibility that the David archetype may have what it takes to emerge victorious when the dust settles. These superficial mismatches come in all sorts of shapes and sizes: a family deciding between a pure bred dog and a pure mutt, the 1980 US men’s Olympic hockey team squaring off with the Soviet Union at Lake Placid, or a typically reserved student challenging the comment of a standout student in class. These differing levels of ability and expectations often determine how observers perceive the situation at hand, and tend to dictate that the pure bred, USSR team, and the standout student ought to emerge triumphant.

However, the underdogs—the mutt, the US hockey team, and the reserved student—more often than not tend to have some sort of intangible trait that could potentially provide an advantage of some sort over the physically and tactically superior opponent. This intangible, and possibly non-traditional, trait, which I like to think of as an X-factor, is what gives marginalized parties an edge. The mutt knows the true meaning of love, the group of college hockey players traveled to Lake Placid as a band of brothers, and the quiet student observes and takes in what the rest of the class says and does. These three examples, along with Gladwell’s thoughts, offer more than enough support in favor of adopting the practice of pursuing objectives via non-traditional methods.

Going Beyond the X's & O's

During the twelve years that I have duked it out on the lacrosse field, I had the pleasure of learning from a variety of coaches, some were utterly amazing and others were well...let's just say that there was room for improvement. Some of my most memorable coaches epitomize the image of "the blind leading the blind", such that our final record was well under .500, but the overall season was a positive experience and the vast majority of the team grew tremendously. These two traits are hallmarks of successful coaching, because in the end it doesn't matter what the scoreboard reads, but rather how each player compares to where they were at the start of the game, season, or even their entire career.

Penn State's head coach, Coach Jeff Tambroni, reiterates this concept when he explains the philosophy at Penn State. One of the major goals is to ensure that the group of individuals at the start of the season come together as a family by the time the final horn sounds. Further more, the essence of Tambroni's chat peaks when he highlights that it's more than just "X's and O's coaching" since the experience on the field is only temporary, yet the impact and effect of the lessons learned while on the field will last a lifetime.

Coaching Treachery

Last night was the opening meeting for the 2014 lacrosse season, which is not exactly the type of event that I would typically pick to elaborate on, considering that I have probably sat through nearly two dozen of these drawn out talks before year after year. However, this opening meeting was unique since it took place in enemy territory…or at least what I used to consider enemy territory back when I was in high school. It was weird enough to walk through the halls of my storied cross-town rival, and it goes without saying that I did a double-take when I saw my name and photo next to my former rivals crest. In short, last night was nothing less than surreal, and it dances along the line of qualifying as a paradigm shift. Last night was my first experience as the head coach for the school that I had considered my rival for over a decade.

It was plenty awkward, almost unnerving, to find a warm welcome upon taking a seat at the table among those bearing the navy and yellow color combo that I had come to despise as a student, but this experience provided an excellent learning opportunity for a young teacher such as myself. Upon having a chance to observe and absorb my immediate surroundings, I noticed a stark contrast between what what I was currently perceiving and what I could recall of my personal high school experience as a student. This led me to recall a question that countless potential families asked and always stumped me as an admissions tour guide in high school. The gist of the question required me to provide a reason or explanation as to why my school was “better” than our cross-town rivals. As I previously mentioned, this question always stumped me. However, I realized last night that one clear difference between the two schools is the general culture present on each campus, which was blatantly present in my observations of the parents, players, and other assorted individuals in the room last night.

My observation regarding the “cultural” aspect of the experience surrounding my first time engaging with those who I once considered as rivals is nothing more than an idea currently. However, I would like to offer a rough explanation to all of those families who had the pleasure of stumping me with their question of “why is my school ‘better’”. It is possible that it is impossible to determine which school is better based on what each has to offer the student, and the same goes regarding what a student has to offer. Rather, I have an inkling that it is better to determine, or define, the ‘better’ school by means of the experience and interaction between the student at hand with each school.