Coaches Must Not Hold Athletes to a ‘Mythical’ Standard of Excellence
In a coach’s mind, as their athletes are drilling skills repetitively, there is a goal for accuracy, speed, and efficiency. Yet, in the athletes mind these goals are vague. The athlete is doing their best to repeat the drills to some mythical standard of excellence that keeps the coach from yelling at them. That’s pretty much all the athlete has to go on.
Over time, all but the most elite athletes lose interest in this type of repetitive drilling. Unquestionably, coaches are missing a huge opportunity when this happens. Athletes view repetitive drilling as boring and boring practice sessions are less effective. However, it doesn’t have to be this way.
Repetitive drilling is only boring when there is no specific end goal and purpose to achieve. What if athletes explicitly new the muscle memory goal the coach was attempting to reach when doing these repetitive drills? What if there was a measurable, specific standard? Moreover, what if athletes could then be recognized and “level upped” each time they hit a muscle memory goal?
Certainly, this would make the repetitive drilling not so boring, as process goals like this drive a tremendous amount of motivation for the vast majority of athletes. While it may not be simple or common for coaches to articulate muscle memory goals to their athletes like this, it’s well worth the effort. Indeed, anytime a coach can turn a “mythical” standard of excellence into a measurable and specific standard it will make their team better.