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28 Oct 2015 David Hill, USGTF Level IV Member

COACHING VERSUS TEACHING – A DIFFERENT TRAJECTORY

By: Dave Hill, WGCA contributing writer Today, the term “coach” is thrown out there more often than ever, as opposed to “teacher” when referring to whom touring professionals are working with regarding their swings. Aaaah…wrong term, folks! One who teaches the golf swing, but rarely, if ever, enters into a holistic approach to game improvement, is not a coach but a teacher. A golf coach is a “jack of all trades and master of one.” The “one” happens to be golf technique instruction. However, a coach has a broad enough knowledge in many areas to recognize where help is also required. Furthermore, a coach is geared toward working with future or competitive athletes, be it a child, an adolescent, amateur competitor, or touring professional. Coaching is not reserved for the recreational golfer for a couple of important reasons, time constraints and physical constraints. Okay, time constraints one can understand. Career, family, other interests, etc., are factors, but physical constraints? One could perceive such a notion as insulting. Many adults are good athletes, so why wouldn’t one be able to tackle the demands it takes to become a better player if it fits into his or her schedule? Some may, but the easy answer is physical literacy. So, what is physical literacy? Physical literacy is a well-known term in the world of coaching. It covers three distinct movement groups or categories of movement that humans can perform, but more importantly, should perform within key windows of development starting at birth to approximately to the age of pre-pubescence. Most of these key movements can be achieved via simple play time with an introduction to all sorts of games and sports in a non-formal, non-instructive environment. It is well researched that humans learn best when at play, and children love to play. As an adult, we love it, too. Hence, the reason we play golf and many other games. When introducing formal instruction accompanied with one-sport specialization too early in a child’s development, a recipe for failure later on is almost certain. A few exceptions to the rule are body balance and control sports such as gymnastics, figure skating, and diving. We, of course, wish to focus on golf, which involves other skills along with different development timelines and career longevity. Fundamental Movement Categories Stability – Involves balance and body coordination including rhythm, balancing, centering, falling, spinning, floating, etc. Locomotion or traveling skills – Running, jumping, skipping, swimming, climbing, skating, etc. Object manipulation/control skills – Throwing, catching, dribbling, hitting, kicking, etc. What’s interesting is that not only are many of the movements incorporated through children’s play, but all enhance each other, helping a youngster become physically literate to excel in a sport of his or her choice. Without these fundamental movements learned within the opportune time frames of a child’s development, the percent chance they become a high-level performer in their chosen sport decreases. This is why, for those who teach golf to adults only, there are often be many questions as to why two athletic-looking 40-year-old men taking up the game can differ vastly in ability. Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones have never played golf in their lives, yet Mr. Smith picks it up with ease, but not Mr.Jones. By delving into their respective histories, one would discover Mr. Smith did it all in terms of play and sport during the magic years of physical literacy, while Mr. Jones did not. This isn’t assumption; this is science and fact. The moral of the story is when coaching an individual who is attempting to climb the competitive ladder, their physical literacy history is the first place a coach needs to research together with his or her athlete. Please see the diagram below to further understand the magic years for Fundamental Movement Development.  

28 Oct 2015 Gregg Steinberg, USGTF Level IV Member

POSITIVE SELF TALK

By: Gregg Steinberg, WGCA contributing writer Serena Williams almost had a tennis season for the ages. In September, she came within two matches of winning the calendar grand slam for 2015. Williams won the first three majors, but lost in the semi-finals at the U.S. Open. Although disappointing, Williams has had a fabulous year, as well as an amazing career. When you look at Serena Williams, you see an amazing-looking athlete. She is extremely fit and muscular. She regularly out-powers her opponents, and according to most experts, Williams has the greatest serve of all time. Underappreciated, however, is her supreme mental toughness. And one of her key mental toughness weapons is her positive self-talk.  A wonderful example of her self-talk process happened when Williams was playing doubles with her sister Venus Williams. They have won 21 titles together, but on this afternoon, they were losing decisively. They needed to grind it out to win this match, but Venus was not particularly focused and looked despondent about their chances of winning. Usually during a changeover, the sisters talked about anything from movies to shopping, but during this changeover, Serena gave her older sister an earful. She said, “Listen, I don’t care what you do on your side of the court, but I’m not going to miss on my side. We will not lose this match.” Then Serena went on to say, “Look, Venus, no matter how you feel about your game, you have to show up at the court, right? You have a choice about whether you want to compete well or compete badly. I’m going to make the choice to compete well. Why don’t you do that, too!” All champions use positive self-talk. All successful golfers use self-talk. They routinely pump themselves up with the right words at the right time. Serena Williams talks herself and everyone around her into a winning mentality. Here are two key methods to help your students talk themselves into becoming a champion on the course: 1. Develop a Best Friend’s Journal. Get a small notebook and call it your best friend’s journal. At the start of every day, write one positive self-statement like:

• I will have great confidence today.
• I will have great energy today.
• I will focus well today.
• I will have a great attitude today.

But do more than just write one positive statement. Reread them over and over again. Then, when the pressure hits, your habit will be to talk yourself into greatness — just like Serena. 2. Snap out of it. Get a rubber band and wrap it around your wrist. Every time you say something negative, snap it. Then replace the negative thought with a positive self-statement. Over time, you will find your negativity diminishes while your positivity increases. You can keep wearing the rubber band for a fashion statement, if you wish. There is a reason why greatness happens. And it all starts with positive self-talk. Dr. Gregg Steinberg is a professor of human performance at Austin Peay State University. He is the sports psychologist for the USGTF. He is the author of the golf psychology book MentalRules for Golf, as well as the Washington Post bestselling business book Full Throttle.  Steinberg speaks about emotional toughness to Fortune 500 companies, as well as coaching business executives to develop greater confidence and creativity. Please email mentalrules24@msn.com with any questions and visit www.drgreggsteinberg.com.