A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are.

Dear...

"A good coach will make his students/athletes see what they can be, rather than what they are. "
- Ara Parasheghian

I think no one will dispute the positive effect sport plays in the development of a person.  In addition to improved physical health, active sporting has proven to lead to higher academic achievement, higher self-esteem, fewer behavioral problems, and better psychosocial. Sports contribute positively to the five 'C's: competence, confidence, connections, character, and caring. All these are considered to be critical components for personal development. The many facets of playing sport like: the discipline of training, learning teamwork, following the leadership of coaches and captains, learning to lose, can provide lifelong skills for athletes. Beside all this sport stresses the positive effects of participation in learning the important life skills of goal setting and time management combined with enjoyment; the development of a strong sense of morality; and the development of an appreciation of diversity.

Understanding the importance of sport combined with the fact that the majority of athletes see their coach as the number one influential element in the their competitive experience begs us to look closer at the role and responsibilities of a coach.

It is the coaches role to help their students to improve their skills, perform to their best ability, develop strong character, and build confidence. They can maximize the positive value of sport and competition, and they can enhance the intrinsic motivation to play sport. An athlete with the right intrinsic values of sport and the positive experience of mastery is more likely to apply fair play, good sportsmanship and is more likely to have a healthy attitude towards the sport, the fellow sporters and itself.  However when winning is overvalued it can create an environment in which unsportsmanlike behavior flourishes and it often breeds a mentality where one thinks that results justify the means.

Bad coaching can push the psychological, emotional, and physical limits of students to the point of harm, create a hostile and unfair environment, and turn athletes away from sport forever.
Even coaches who love the sport and have respect for their students can lose perspective in the quest to win. This is especially true when coaches are under incredible pressure to produce winning results.

What makes a good or effective coach?

The role of coach is a complicated one. Surveys show that coaches serve as instructor, teacher, motivator, disciplinarian, substitute parent, social worker, friend, manager and therapist. Ideally, coaches should understand the developmental stage and limits of their students in order to tailor practices and learning appropriately. In addition to these expectations, coaches are expected to have an in-depth knowledge of the sport they are coaching, including the rules and the skills and techniques needed to play the sport. At more advanced levels of competition, they need to understand basic kinesiology, sport psychology, nutrition, and basic first aid. It has to be said that at a higher level,  athletes are more likely to work with a team of 'specialized coaches' and to have access to a better 'support teams'.


This blogpost is partly an excerpt from "True Sport Report - Psychological and Social Benefits of Playing True Sport". You can read the full article at http://www.truesport.org

Jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD

Progress yourself into mastery...

Dear...

Confident is when you fully believe in your own capabilities, when you trust that you can overcome any obstacle and that you can fight any fear.  Having confidence means that you are well set to achieve your goals, but it doesn’t stop there. You still have to do it and come into massive action. But now with confidence, with willpower you will follow through and achieve your goals, you will reach mastery and even then you don't stop.

Let's say you are learning new dance steps. You have full belief that one day you will be able to dance them. With confidence you practice and learn... And then the day comes that you are able to dance the steps that at first looked almost too complicated to perform. Your confidence is growing so you try new, even complexer steps and routines. You practice them with the same believe and confidence that one day you can dance these step as well. With each new step that you are able to dance, your belief in yourself will be reinforced and you won't stop their either. Your confidence and belief in yourself is growing and you are no longer afraid to push your boundaries further.

In this example, you have literally progressed yourself step by step into mastery, all because your confidence was high and you had full belief in yourself. Successful people will tell you that once they gained confidence they started to achieve goal after goal. It is like pushing through a wall, once the firs brick starts to fall, the rest will almost fall by itself. So if you go after your goals with high confidence and an unshakable belief in yourself you will achieve your goals and get what you want.

Jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD

Have the mindset of a champion...

Dear...

In her book, 'Mindset the New Psychology of Success', Carol Dweck says: "In sports everybody believes in talent. Even -or especially- the experts. In fact in sports is where the idea of 'a natural' comes from, someone who moves like an athlete and is an athlete, all without trying. So great is the belief in natural talent that many coaches search only for talents".
She continues to write: "As much as our culture talks about individual effort and self-improvement, deep down we revere the naturals. We like to think of our champions and idols as superheroes who were born different from us. We don't like to think of them as relatively ordinary people who made themselves extraordinary".
Malcolm Gladwell in his book 'Outliers' suggest that: "people prize natural endowment over earned ability". Gladwell shows that champions on average put in at leas 20% more training hours than the performers one tier below them.

There is an almost endless list of 'non natural' athletes who made big achievements against all odds and despite all recommendations to "do something else". Among them are: - Glenn Cunningham, the great runner, who when he was young, burned and damaged his legs badly. He discovered that running for him was less painful than walking; - Michael Jordan, who was cut from his high school basketball team and refused by two NBA teams before he became the best basketball player ever; - Muhammad Ali, from which boxing experts said that he didn't have the right physical measurements to be a top boxer.

Sadly but true, the list of people with exceptional talent that didn't make it to the top is may be even longer. Things went so well for them early in their career that they never developed a fighter's mentality to overcome any roadblocks or adversity.

As talent can be developed, so can character and mindset be trained. Dweck concludes her chapter on 'the mindset of a champion' with: "Athletes with a growth mindset find success in learning and improving, not just winning".

jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire."




Carol Dweck PH.D. is a world-renowned Stanford University psychologist who did decades of research on achievement and success.

From conscious movement to unconscious movement...

Dear...

Gary Zukav, a renown author says, "Every intention sets energy into motion whether you are conscious of it or not".

For this blog, please pay attention to the differences and relationships between conscious and unconscious movements versus controllable and uncontrollable movements.

There is a constant process of motions in our bodies such as breathing, bloodstream, lymph system etcetera. The majority of motions in our body are beyond most people's ability to control. Although we can bring these movements to a level of consciousness, most of us can only control them to some extent, if at all.

There is little or no reason to bring these uncontrollable motions to our consciousness, but there is rationale in bringing controllable movements from our consciousness to unconsciousness.
Learning to control a movement is a conscious process. After we master the movement, we can bring it into our unconsciousness. A simple example is harnessing one's typing skills. First we teach our fingers where each letter and character is located on the key board.  Once we master this step, our fingers can type with  the speed of our thoughts. Being conscious of every individual movement would only slow down the motions of our fingers. Ergo by bringing 'learned and therefore controlled movements' to our unconsciousness, we can speed up the execution of these individual movements tremendously, especially when performed in succession.

This principle is used a lot by dancers of all disciplines. A dancer constantly practices movements with a conscious mind, then allowing the movements to sink into their unconscious mind. The dancer can now execute endless and complex combinations of individual motions with remarkable speed.  There is however a big caveat here. The higher the quality the dancer practices these individual movements, the higher the caliber of the movements will be when performed in a large sequences.  These sequences are known as dancing.

jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD


One of the strategies that helps dancers successfully imprint movements in their mind and muscular system is called 'marking'.  In one of my later blogs I will write more about it. If you want to read about it already you can look up the following article http://pss.sagehub.com/content/24/9/1732 

A story of talent and passion

Dear...

Talent means you have a natural ability to do something and passion means a strong and barely controllable emotion. So when passion meets talent, it's likely that success will follow and that great things can happen. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that you need to have talent for the things you are passionate about, or that you can only be successful when you have a talent for it. If you have less talent, don't let it stop or discourage you to go after what you want. Talent accounts only for a small percentage to achieve something, the bigger part needs to come from focus, dedication and hard work. The last three can only be reached with passion.

Success should be measured by more than 'being the best in something'. If these were the only criteria of being successful, a lot of passionate people would immediately stop doing what they are passionate about. We can all strive to be a winner, but we will not all be one. I must admit that I walked in that trap and for a while I could only find joy in something when I was the best or at least really good at it. Later in life, I learned to find joy in the process of doing things, instead of making my joy dependent of the results I was after. While as a performance coach I strive to get the best out of people or teams, I also want to make sure that the love for doing things is not killed by the pursuit of success. In the end it is as Steve Job said: "The only way to do great work is to love what you do".

jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD

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New Years Resolutions I.

Dear...

You might think, New Years Resolutions, isn't that a little early? Maybe you are right it's not even Thanksgiving yet. But then again if you know that people who succeed with just about anything, always work with a well defined plan, you might want to reconsider. In the case of New Years Resolutions only 8% of the people who make resolutions succeed to achieve them. I bet you these are the same people who know how to plan their goals before they go after them. So over the course of the coming weeks I would like to offer some tips and tricks how you can succeed with any plan you make and since it is so close to New Year, why not taking 'how to achieve  New Years Resolutions' as an example.

Let me start you of with some hard facts first:

• About 50% of us make new years resolutions every year.
• Half of us never succeeds and fails to achieve their resolution each year. 
• Only 8% actually achieve their resolution.

What are the most made resolutions each year

• Weight loss
• Achieve a personal goal (in business, sport, relationship)
• Relationship (fall in love, improve etc) 
• Be more healthy, fitness more (quit smoking)
• Getting organized (clean, plan) 
• Financial (spend Less, save More)
• Spend more time with family
• Enjoy life to the fullest

Now depending where you're from, the order of these resolutions might change, but the number one through 4 are pretty solid everywhere. 

So follow my blogs or drop me an email if you want to get serious about achieving your 2014 resolution or any other goal you want to achieve.

jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspired." ~JD

The source for the data used in this blog is: University of Scranton, Journal of Clinical Pshychology. Published 12/13/12.

Get unstuck after a good competition

Dear..

Two days ago I wrote: "7 things to get unstuck when you have a disappointing competition".
There are also some people who need motivation after they do well. Some suddenly feel that they have to live up to certain expectations, others just need to get their feet back on the ground and some of us simply can't accept that they beat competition and had a great performance.

Hence the following tips are more for those who get stuck after good results:

1. ENJOY THE MOMENT: Everything is a feeling of the moment, even winning, but that doesn't mean you're not allowed to enjoy it. Enjoy, celebrate and share it. 
2. GO ON: Sometimes, winners get in a flow so continue your streak if you can.
3. BE A GOOD WINNER: A good winner is the opposite of a sore loser. Be respectful to your fellow competitors, sometimes you just won by a hair difference. My master always said if you win, you might not have encountered your best competitor yet ... This always kept me sharp and humble.
4. WIND DOWN: Its good to get pumped up after winning but take time to wind down and restore your body and mind.
5. LEARN: See everything as learning. Good results are a matter of perspective and don't necessarily mean everything was excellent. Reflect with an open mind, enjoy your accomplishments, but get also some constructive feedback. Learn to understand what you did well, learn what you can do better... and then improve both.
6. SAY THANK YOU: Your achievements stand never on their own, of course you've put in a lot yourself, but there are others in your team too, don't ever forget that they are part of your success . 
7. TAKE ACTION: Get moving again... preparing for your next 'event' is the best way to get your feet back on the ground. Keep going. Know that results will always be a mix of things you can and things you can't control. Keep focussing on the ones you can control... and keep enjoying the journey. 

jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire". ~JD

Get unstuck after a bad competition

Dear...

We all have been 'stuck' after we got some bad results, whether this was at work, college or a competition. Negative emotions and feelings can be overwhelming. Here are some tips to get 'unstuck'.

1. KNOW IT WILL PASS: Everything is a feeling of the moment, know there is nothing that doesn't change and trust that also a negative emotion will pass.
2. STOP: Look the truth in its face and stop! Losing is sometimes nothing more than your brain and your ego running around to escape bad feelings. Just stop for a moment and end the panicked running. 
3. IT IS WHAT IT IS: Sometimes you just have to accept that sh... happens. Toughen up, if you can't take the fall don't bother to get up.
4. ENERGIZE: Do what energizes you: listen to music, run around the block, read, do whatever works for you.
5. LEARN: See everything as learning. Bad results are a matter of perspective. A bad result doesn't necessarily mean everything was bad. Reflect with an open mind, remind yourself of your accomplishments and get some constructive feedback. Failure ceases to exist if you focus on the learning.
6. SAY THANK YOU: Be grateful for what you have and what you achieved instead of what you don't have and didn't achieve. 
7. TAKE ACTION: Get moving again... preparing for your next 'event' is the best way to get unstuck. Take action. Know that results will always be a mix of things you can and things you can't control. Focus only on the ones you can control. And don't forget to enjoy the journey. 

jeandorff@googlemail.com
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http://www.pinterest.com/jeandorff/inspiration/

"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD

Welcome to acceptance, a lesson for dancers and non-dancers

Dear...

A long time ago, or may be I should say a really long time ago, my partner and I were competing at a small regional dance competition. We didn't use this three letter acronym at the time since this was before the time of mobile phones, but my partner said: "OMG... I forgot my dance shoes". Now the most untactful question I could ask at a moment likes that was: "Didn't you check before we left the house?". So the tone of our comp was set and we went both pretty tensed on the floor.

Now the point is not that we still won the comp and that the couple whom we borrowed the shoes from came in second.  The point is that we've put unnecessary pressure on our dancing by things we had in our own hands: first we were not well prepared, secondly I added useless tension to our communication. This created more competition stress than needed.

You can manage "competition stress" better if you:

• Take care of the things you can control: like being on time, nutrition, sleep, clothes, routine and communication.
• Accept the things you can't control: like the floor, light, temperature, the music and the adjudicators.

You wonder, dancing is not so much different from real life, is it?

Enjoy yours and others' dancing

jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~JD

When the dance becomes all there is

The Creation of Dance

Most creations are captured and saved for many years.

As a writer captures a story in a book,

so captures a sculptor a statue in stone. 

As a musician captures a song by recording it, 

so captures a painter an image by painting it. 

Once these creations are captured you can read them, touch them, look at them or listen to them, if you wish over and over again, but they won’t change and are there to stay. 

But not a dance, this beautiful creation, this merge of body, shape and forms, rhythm and music, is not meant to be captured. 

It’s meant to set free, it’s meant to be consumed at the same time when it is created. It’s meant to appear and disappear in one moment. 

A dance lives for that moment and that moment only. A moment that plays all your senses as a dancer and as a spectator. 

A single moment that can trigger the deepest emotions and unleash the strongest passion. All facets of life come together in that one moment. 

In that one moment when the dancer becomes the dance, the dance is all there is and perhaps it is all there ever will be. 

Jean Dorff

March 2009

"Be inspired and you shall inspire" ~JD