Who are you?
I'm currently watching the Fiesta Bowl between Oregon and Kansas State while working on the second month of spring practices and I see something interesting. So I stop and I watch.
I see Oregon jump out to a 15-0 lead, but then see them stall on offense while K State reels of 10 straight points. As the first half is coming to a close, K State stalls and missed a 40 yard field goal. Oregon, known for their quick strike offense and general speed on offense, goes and scores a TD - a 10 point swing - in 46 seconds. As Chip Kelly is running off the field, he's stopped for an interview by the sideline reporter and says that he needs to call the offense faster.
That is Oregon's identity under Chip Kelly. Speed. They score incredibly quickly. They play solid defense, but their best defense is the fact that you could be down 21-0 or in this case 15-0 before you know what happens. That is what Oregon is known for, and yet during the first half, Oregon got away from that.
I put this into rowing terms. When you go to a rowing conference, particularly if you go to the annual convention, you will meet coaches, some times big name coaches, and definitely coaches who have accomplished more than you. They will talk about what they do, how they do it, etc. and you, as I was, when you are younger, will be tempted to write down everything and try and emulate what they do. Even when they are telling you that this works for them, but probably won't work for you, you do it. After all, here is a multiple national championship winning, Olympic gold medalist, World Champ coach telling you how he or she does it, why wouldn't you follow?
Something that I remember from my very first conference, the Level I certification at Green Lake in Washington, is this:
Forge your own identity.
In the football game, I'm watching as Oregon tries to be something it's not - a grind it out football team. And when the game is closer than it needs and Oregon needs to score, they go to their bread and butter, and just like that, a 15-10 score jumps to 22-10.
The same goes for coaching. Identify what works for you, either as a coach and your coaching philosophy, or your program, and stick with it. It doesn't mean that you can or shouldn't adapt. My coaching philosophy has changed over the years, and while the core has remained the same, what it is now is certainly not what it was.
Forge an identity, work to understand it through trial and error, and then go with it. Change when you need to, don't change simply for the sake of change, and don't try and do it, "just like they do."
When I was in high school, I played soccer. I remember spending hours working on fundamental moves: wall passes or 1-2 passing, triangles, defensive formations, formation discipline, etc. And it was boring at times. When would we be able to start doing those fun set plays? When could we start really going forward on offense? Why couldn't we work on trick plays? My coach said, fundamentals. Fundamentals are what you revert to when things aren't going well. The same with your coaching philosophy, and your identity. When things aren't going well, I firmly believe that you revert to your base. If you don't know what your base is, if you don't know who you are, you are in some serious s***.
I know what my team base is. It's changed per team and per program, but the overall core of my philosophy, my team base is the same. And when things don't go well, I know where I should start looking to figure out where to make some adjustments, or where I need to get back to if I've gone too far off track.
Don't be like someone else. Don't try and do it, "exactly like them." I met Kevin Sauer. The Virginia Women are incredibly good. I wish we were that fast, and I have some notes on how they run some of their training, and I've adapted some things they have. But I'm not going to train like them. I don't know it, I don't understand it - because I'm not coaching there - so emulating it exactly, getting away from my identity, isn't going to work, even if it is Kevin Sauer.
Bottom line here kids. Just like Oregon against K State, just like my soccer coach, know who you are, and work to develop that.
I see Oregon jump out to a 15-0 lead, but then see them stall on offense while K State reels of 10 straight points. As the first half is coming to a close, K State stalls and missed a 40 yard field goal. Oregon, known for their quick strike offense and general speed on offense, goes and scores a TD - a 10 point swing - in 46 seconds. As Chip Kelly is running off the field, he's stopped for an interview by the sideline reporter and says that he needs to call the offense faster.
That is Oregon's identity under Chip Kelly. Speed. They score incredibly quickly. They play solid defense, but their best defense is the fact that you could be down 21-0 or in this case 15-0 before you know what happens. That is what Oregon is known for, and yet during the first half, Oregon got away from that.
I put this into rowing terms. When you go to a rowing conference, particularly if you go to the annual convention, you will meet coaches, some times big name coaches, and definitely coaches who have accomplished more than you. They will talk about what they do, how they do it, etc. and you, as I was, when you are younger, will be tempted to write down everything and try and emulate what they do. Even when they are telling you that this works for them, but probably won't work for you, you do it. After all, here is a multiple national championship winning, Olympic gold medalist, World Champ coach telling you how he or she does it, why wouldn't you follow?
Something that I remember from my very first conference, the Level I certification at Green Lake in Washington, is this:
Forge your own identity.
In the football game, I'm watching as Oregon tries to be something it's not - a grind it out football team. And when the game is closer than it needs and Oregon needs to score, they go to their bread and butter, and just like that, a 15-10 score jumps to 22-10.
The same goes for coaching. Identify what works for you, either as a coach and your coaching philosophy, or your program, and stick with it. It doesn't mean that you can or shouldn't adapt. My coaching philosophy has changed over the years, and while the core has remained the same, what it is now is certainly not what it was.
Forge an identity, work to understand it through trial and error, and then go with it. Change when you need to, don't change simply for the sake of change, and don't try and do it, "just like they do."
When I was in high school, I played soccer. I remember spending hours working on fundamental moves: wall passes or 1-2 passing, triangles, defensive formations, formation discipline, etc. And it was boring at times. When would we be able to start doing those fun set plays? When could we start really going forward on offense? Why couldn't we work on trick plays? My coach said, fundamentals. Fundamentals are what you revert to when things aren't going well. The same with your coaching philosophy, and your identity. When things aren't going well, I firmly believe that you revert to your base. If you don't know what your base is, if you don't know who you are, you are in some serious s***.
I know what my team base is. It's changed per team and per program, but the overall core of my philosophy, my team base is the same. And when things don't go well, I know where I should start looking to figure out where to make some adjustments, or where I need to get back to if I've gone too far off track.
Don't be like someone else. Don't try and do it, "exactly like them." I met Kevin Sauer. The Virginia Women are incredibly good. I wish we were that fast, and I have some notes on how they run some of their training, and I've adapted some things they have. But I'm not going to train like them. I don't know it, I don't understand it - because I'm not coaching there - so emulating it exactly, getting away from my identity, isn't going to work, even if it is Kevin Sauer.
Bottom line here kids. Just like Oregon against K State, just like my soccer coach, know who you are, and work to develop that.
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