So, coaches keep secrets too! I see. Thanks very much. The point is, as I mentioned in the lecture,“ Secret” is a very powerful word. It’ s used in marketing all the time. Kentucky Fried Chicken( KFC) restaurants use a“ secret” recipe. There are advertisements about the“ Secrets of Weight Loss” or the“ Secrets of Becoming Rich” every day in the media. You feel privileged when you’ re let in on a secret. But when you know there is a secret out there and no one is telling you, your hair stands on end, and you become frustrated. The brain can emit an emotional / chemical response in our bodies because of this word and how you interpret it. Is it working for you or against you?
When coaching strikers and goalkeepers, especially as they reach their teens and onward, it becomes just as much a psychological challenge as it is a technical challenge. Most coaches do not deal with this aspect of coaching enough, and many who do, work on it as a team.
Coach Geoff Fleck, who was at one of my lectures, sent me this email.“ Loved your presentation and came away both informed and inspired. On your discussion on the secrets that the coach shares with the strikers alone, reminded me of something I’ d seen in a movie. The scene was an adventure camp. The time was 20 years later, and these 30-something friends were reliving their
summer adventures from 20 years previously. One of them asked another if he could remember the super-secret Indian name the camp coordinator had given him 20 years previously— the camp coordinator had told him,‘ Whispering Eagle.’ Another asked the same question, and the camp coordinator had also given him the name‘ Whispering Eagle.’ The point being that the‘ secret’ was between the camp coordinator and kid— nobody else knew the secret, or so they thought.”
In the“ How to Score Goals” article by Kuper, he stated that former England manager Glenn Hoddle once said Michael Owen, the country’ s best striker, was not a“ natural goal scorer.” Scoring goals can be taught. Michael Owen said,“ Scoring requires a mental quality, especially on entering the penalty box.” Part of coaching that quality is the use of secrets.
Now to find out what some of these secrets really are … but unfortunately, I don’ t have room in this article. Maybe we’ ll see you at one of my future lectures— and don’ t expect to get any answers from coaches who were at my past presentations. First of all, I didn’ t have time to reveal very many secrets, and secondly, I did tell them not to reveal the ones I did because they are our secrets!
Thanks for reading. n
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