"A ground ball with eyes."
I came across this the other day and of course, I love it.
One of the parts of my coaching philosophy is that details matter. I know that I have stressed this many times in this blog, and I'm doing it again. I believe strongly that details matter, and that those details are not simply confined to work at the boathouse or in the erg room or weight room. The excellent speech from "Any Given Sunday," about adding up inches speaks to this.
Things matter, the little things matter. I've told my crews that it's not the boat stopping crab that's going to kill us in a race - yes one of those will probably eliminate us, but let's not state the obvious - it's your tank getting rolled up in a seat wheel because you forgot to tuck it in, or that you forgot to tighten your top nut and now you're back stay is about to pop free.
I believe that every one of my crews has asked me at some point, "How can we be better/faster?" And to the crew or athlete, they have all expected me to start with something big, or a "secret" that they weren't aware of, as though I'd be holding back a secret when my crews aren't doing so hot. No. I rarely talk about the big things because athletes are smart, and they know when one of the big things - fitness, technique, etc. - isn't working properly. I talk about hydration, recovery, sleep - big thing, sleep - staying on top of their school work, etc. I talk about the nagging discomfort in the shoulder that they refuse to see the trainers over. Yes, there are other things to that will hurt or help our performance, but I start with the smaller details that get overlooked.
And this is where I believe this quote is heading or this is how I'm choosing to look at this quote. As Kevin Costner is saying, it's one extra hit a week. In rowing terms, it's doing one of those little things right. It's getting proper recovery and not building a deficit which will hit right as we're starting to crack for championships. It's staying on top of your homework so that you can focus on practice, and not your 35 page paper due tomorrow you didn't start. It's eating properly and staying hydrated - I never understand how athletes dehydrate especially when you give them water bottles. There are the bigger things - retooling a lineup or a rig, changing practices, etc. - but those are the big things. Those are the "miracles" that just happen to make a boat temporarily faster, and glaze over the small details that will give you sustained speed and success.
This to me is the "ground ball with eyes," the one extra hit that means the difference between Yankee Stadium and the minor leagues, or the difference between boats with potential and grand final boats.
One of the parts of my coaching philosophy is that details matter. I know that I have stressed this many times in this blog, and I'm doing it again. I believe strongly that details matter, and that those details are not simply confined to work at the boathouse or in the erg room or weight room. The excellent speech from "Any Given Sunday," about adding up inches speaks to this.
Things matter, the little things matter. I've told my crews that it's not the boat stopping crab that's going to kill us in a race - yes one of those will probably eliminate us, but let's not state the obvious - it's your tank getting rolled up in a seat wheel because you forgot to tuck it in, or that you forgot to tighten your top nut and now you're back stay is about to pop free.
I believe that every one of my crews has asked me at some point, "How can we be better/faster?" And to the crew or athlete, they have all expected me to start with something big, or a "secret" that they weren't aware of, as though I'd be holding back a secret when my crews aren't doing so hot. No. I rarely talk about the big things because athletes are smart, and they know when one of the big things - fitness, technique, etc. - isn't working properly. I talk about hydration, recovery, sleep - big thing, sleep - staying on top of their school work, etc. I talk about the nagging discomfort in the shoulder that they refuse to see the trainers over. Yes, there are other things to that will hurt or help our performance, but I start with the smaller details that get overlooked.
And this is where I believe this quote is heading or this is how I'm choosing to look at this quote. As Kevin Costner is saying, it's one extra hit a week. In rowing terms, it's doing one of those little things right. It's getting proper recovery and not building a deficit which will hit right as we're starting to crack for championships. It's staying on top of your homework so that you can focus on practice, and not your 35 page paper due tomorrow you didn't start. It's eating properly and staying hydrated - I never understand how athletes dehydrate especially when you give them water bottles. There are the bigger things - retooling a lineup or a rig, changing practices, etc. - but those are the big things. Those are the "miracles" that just happen to make a boat temporarily faster, and glaze over the small details that will give you sustained speed and success.
This to me is the "ground ball with eyes," the one extra hit that means the difference between Yankee Stadium and the minor leagues, or the difference between boats with potential and grand final boats.
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