tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-733155631566254562024-03-13T17:37:04.926+00:00Developing Golf Coaching BlogIdeas, articles and resources to support coaches working to develop the skills and qualities of young people with golfing ability.developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-17432764566678080382014-04-23T13:37:00.000+01:002014-04-25T10:35:09.499+01:00Nature v Nurture in youth sports - blog post from Phil Loomis - IYCA<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hi all, <br />
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I wanted to share with you this really well written <a href="http://iyca.org/nature-nurture-youth-athletic-development/?inf_contact_key=241f57e8c9fa9d8e85b3153d21ddad303d4efc6950d5ec661c095ca387cc5c89" target="_blank">article</a> from Phil Loomis that was posted on the International Youth Conditioning Association website which looks to outline the how young players and athletes develop and to unpick some of the myths and misinformation surrounding the subject. In my opinion the article is really well measured and balanced and gives a well structured viewpoint on the challenges faced by parents and coaches in a landscape that is very outcome driven. <br />
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The article chimes with many of the sentiments I have previously expressed on the <a href="http://developingsportingtalent.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/is-talent-natural-or-nurtured-who-cares.html" target="_blank">nurture vs nature debate</a> on this blog previously and so i thought that it should have a place here so that I could share it with anybody that is interested in the subject. <br />
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developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-49942905540862284172014-02-25T21:20:00.000+00:002014-04-25T10:34:44.206+01:00What is talent? Excellent article by Scott Barry Kaufman<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I wanted to share this article I came across by Scott Barry Kaufman, <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">an award-winning psychologist and author. He is adjunct assistant professor of psychology at New York University and has written a number of excellent books on talent and expertise including <i>Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined </i>and <i>The complexity of greatness: beyond talent or practice. </i></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">The article is one of the the most well written, accessible and balanced accounts of the research relating to talent that I have read. It takes an extremely complex area and manages to package the key findings into a really neat and well written package. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">From my perspective Kaufman has superbly outlined the delicate interplay between innate characteristics as defined by nature through genetic inheritance and the socialising influence of the developmental environment. </span></div>
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<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jul/07/can-science-spot-talent-kaufman" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light", HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jul/07/can-science-spot-talent-kaufman</a></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">I have written a previous blog post on this subject which gets nowhere near as close to Kaufman in terms of a well reasoned and written article but hopefully provides a slightly different slant on the same theme. </span><a href="http://developingsportingtalent.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/is-talent-natural-or-nurtured-who-cares.html" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light", HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">http://developingsportingtalent.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/is-talent-natural-or-nurtured-who-cares.html</a></div>
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developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-87145446418633819212014-02-19T07:22:00.000+00:002014-04-25T10:35:18.280+01:00When to start specialising in sport - the debate rages on!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In the excellent <a href="http://thetalentcode.com/2014/02/06/hey-parents-quit-raising-specialists-and-start-raising-omnivores/" target="_blank">'The Talent Code'</a> Blog, Daniel Coyle posted the following passage discussing the potential pitfalls of kids specialising early in sports...</span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><em>"In the glossy heart of the 1980s, in the dimly lit halls of East Anchorage High School there walked a god. He was rangy, blond, and bore the cinematically perfect name of Trace Savage. And Trace Savage was awesome</em></span></div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><em>(Just say it out loud: Trace Savage.)</em><br /><em>Trace Savage was awesome partly because he was cool, partly because he was nice, but mostly because he was the best all-around athlete any of us had ever seen: quarterback of the football team, starting forward on the basketball team, and track star. He was living our American sports dream, and the dream of everyone we knew.</em><br /><em>Then, in the space of a few years, that dream changed.</em><br /><em>Maybe it was the rise of superfocused prodigies like Tiger Woods, Andre Agassi, and the Williams sisters. Maybe it was the rise of parenting as a competitive sport. Maybe it was the ESPN-ification of youth sports, which lost its community base and morphed into a free-market bazaar of travel teams, trophies, and tournaments, with each kid (read: parent) seeking the holy grail of success: the college scholarship.</em><br /><em>By the time the mid-nineties rolled around Trace Savage had vanished from the landscape like the white rhino. In his place stood a different species: the specialists.</em><br /><em>Every sport became a highly organized year-round enterprise: indoor soccer in winter, hockey in summer, baseball all year round. Suddenly kids had to choose before they turned 10 or so, or risk falling behind the pack. The logic seems straightforward: if you want to be good at a sport, you should play intensively year-round. It makes perfect sense.</em><br /><em>It was also, in retrospect, a perfectly bad idea. While early specialization works for a lucky few, an increasingly large wave of research has provided </em><a href="http://changingthegameproject.com/is-it-wise-to-specialize/" target="_blank"><em>proof that early specialization doesn’t work so well</em></a><em> for the rest of us. Let us count the ways:</em></span><br />
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<li><em>1) early specialization increases </em><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20131111/entlife/711119995/" target="_blank"><em>the chance of injuries</em></a><em>.</em></li>
<li><em>2) early specialization creates </em><a href="http://www.momsteam.com/5-7/kids-who-play-multiple-sports-early-more-coordinated-physically-fit-study-finds#ixzz2sOpcW0oS" target="_blank"><em>worse overall athletes</em></a><em> (more evidence </em><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/22974248/" target="_blank"><em>here</em></a><em>).</em></li>
<li><em>3) early specialization makes kids </em><a href="http://www.thesportinmind.com/articles/specialization-in-youth-sport/" target="_blank"><em>less likely to participate in sports as adults</em></a><em>.</em></li>
<li><em>4) early specialization creates a falsely high barrier to participation, eliminating kids who might otherwise succeed in a more open system.</em></li>
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<em>I think the bigger point is this: when it comes to athletic skills, we are natural omnivores. Our bodies and brains are built to grow through variety of activities, not just one.</em><br /><em>Think about what happens when you play multiple sports. You develop whole-body skills like balance, quickness, core strength. You cross-train skills from one sport to another.</em><br /><em>It is not a coincidence that many top performers were multiple-sport kids growing up. Roger Federer played soccer until 12; Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant did the same. The reason they possess such brilliant footwork and vision is because they built those skills, over time, by being omnivorous.</em><br /><em>Most important, multi-sport kids develop a far more useful skill: how to learn. They learn how to adapt to different situations, make connections, and to take true ownership over the improvement process.</em><br /><em>I’d also argue that multi-sport kids have a better chance to stay emotionally healthy, because they’re free of the all-the-eggs-in-one-basket pressure that goes with specialization — a pressure that can lead unhealthy patterns when it comes to relationships and emotional stability. (See: Woods, Tiger.) They are free of the sense that, should they fail, they are at risk of losing their identity, and letting down their parents.</em><br /><em>So the real question is, what do you do? How do you nurture a Trace Savage in a Tiger Woods world? Here are three useful approaches, courtesy of Ross Tucker of </em><a href="http://www.sportsscientists.com/" target="_blank"><em>The Science of Sport</em></a><em>, who’s </em><a href="http://www.sportlive.co.za/opinion/article10891621.ece" target="_blank"><em>written widely</em></a><em> on the subject.</em><br /><ul>
<li><em><b>Delay</b>: wait as long as possible before choosing a single sport to pursue. It varies according to sport, but research puts the ideal age for specialization around the early teenage years. (That doesn’t mean you start at that age, of course, but rather that you start getting serious.)</em></li>
<li><em><b>Diversify</b>: embrace all possibilities to broaden skills. Experiment and cross train.</em></li>
<li><em><b>Co-operate</b>: seek ways to build connections between the silos of individual sports, so that families are not forced to choose one over the other too soon.</em></li>
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<em>I’d add one more word: <b>Connect</b>. One of the main reason specialization is hard to resist is the parental peer-pressure that comes with joining any “elite” team. When every other family on the team is skipping school to travel to that “prestigious” out-of-state tournament, it’s awfully hard to say no. So I’d suggest seeking out other parents, kids, and coaches who share the multi-sport view, and working together to create fun, homegrown, omnivorous alternatives."</em><br /><em></em></span><br /></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>This post cause a massive ammount of debate in the comments area and I put forward my own view (as you might have guessed I would) I thought I would share it here. <br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For me...this is actually a moral argument as it raises questions that relate to the best way for us to bring up our children. Some think that they need to provide opportunity and put investment into their children from an early age to give their kids the best chance in life. Others are fearful that this approach will have the opposite effect in the long run as a generation of 'pushy parents' sees a generation of kids fall out of love with a sport that they have been doing for too long. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Within rugby we have researched this area as we have a major problem with kids leaving the sport between the ages of 16 and 24 and we have discovered that the earlier kids start playing the more likely they are to drop out. We also discovered that the main reasons for drop out relate to burnout due to boredom or the attraction of other sport which suggest to us that the varied diet of sport for as late as possible is very important. We are working very hard to ensure that our talent selection systems are now starting much later (i.e. post maturation) so that we keep windows open to kids who have great athletic ability and drop out of other sports. From our perspective we hope the other sports keep going with their early specialisation models as we may well benefit long term! </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Much of the problem stems from the fact that kid's sport has become big business. The weight of evidence in support of the late specialisation model (see this link for some more http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130423172601.htm) is pretty heavy and yet people are still finding spurious arguments in support of it...why...because their livelihoods depend on it! </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The problem is that every time we get an elite star that came from a early specialised background that this is presented as the case for this model, the media love to report this and it then takes on a bit of a folk following as a story. What nobody will consider is the 100's of kids that did the same but didn't make it and dropped out. It comes down to a straight trade off...the odd elite star and the risk of large scale drop out or a healthy sport full of lifelong participants and the promise of more elite stars as a happy by product. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The challenge for sports administrators is that we try to use research and logic to strengthen our argument but we are fighting against a powerful triumvirate of the hard line opinions of a commercial industry fueled by parents who are emotionally attached to the futures of their children which is in turn powered by the media's delight in a romantic story of the 'boy or girl done good' by trying hard from early childhood. </span></div>
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developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-38374242762965190412013-11-24T20:17:00.000+00:002014-04-25T10:35:38.877+01:00Great video explaining Carol Dweck's Growth and Fixed mindset concept<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hi all, <br />
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I found this great video which explains Carol Dweck's concept of a 'Growth Mindset' and thought I would share it with you. <br />
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I think that this aspect of developing young sports participants is the bit that I see being missed so often. Everywhere you go in kids sports there are people who are bombarding them with external influences that foster a fixed mindset. The way we praise, the fact that it is always about winning and losing, the things shouted by parents from the sideline all drive children into having fixed mindsets. <br />
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Anyway I will let you take a look for yourself. <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/y5ZBItSb7jw" width="420"></iframe><br /></div>
developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-14948766321084468122013-08-14T10:39:00.003+01:002013-08-14T10:39:58.394+01:00Golf Boys 2.Oh!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Some of you might remember the original 'Golf Boys' video when Hunter Mahan, Ricky Fowler, Ben Crane and Bubba Watson got together to produce a spoof music video called 'Oh, Oh, Oh' which went viral and got over 6.5 Million views. If you missed it here it is below...it is also worth watching the 'making of' series which is just as hilarious. <br />
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Well they are back with Golf Boys '2.Oh!' this is really slick and the lyrics are really clever. <br />
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Enjoy and share<br />
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developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-32402787150998790052012-08-03T14:40:00.000+01:002012-10-17T09:45:26.314+01:00Rudy Duran - A master coach in every sense of the word, the ultimate unsung hero<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: white;">I was once fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to listen to a gentleman called Rudy Duran talk about his coaching. You maybe forgiven for not knowing who Rudy Duran is as not many people have heard of him, he was Tiger Wood's golf coach from the age of 4 to 10. Firstly, I have to say that you can not imagine a more self effacing, humble and genuine person. Rudy was honest and open and prepared to admit the mistakes he made as much as the good things he did. In many ways he underplayed his involvement in Tiger's development often just suggesting that all he did was get out of the way of a genius being nurtured. For me he played an absolutely critical role in enabling Woods, who was undoubtedly well above average in his golfing abilities as a four year old (much of this can be put down to his early experiences with his father who was a recent convert to golf and a total golf nut) as Rudy recalls, "not many 4 year olds can read their own putts".The amazing thing is that I'm not even sure if Rudy himself, fully appreciates the role he played.To me the story is a fascinating one because, as with most stories about exceptional talent or outliers there are so many aspects that contribute to the development of Woods. It is my belief that Rudy Duran was at heart of many of them, I will try to list them as best I can below:</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">1. Rudy's coaching philosophy is based on the fact that he believes golf is a pretty easy game to play. With a little time and practice most people will improve quickly. The game is very hard at the elite level with tiny margins deciding success and failure but the key for Rudy is to let people experience the joy of the game so that they develop a love for the activity which will then drive them into lifelong participation. The rest takes care of itself. - <strong>Rudy wants his pupils to fall in love with the game - a critical ingredient to intrinsically motivated future improvement. </strong></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">2. Rudy was the owner operator of an 18 hole par 3 public golf facility in southern calafornia, as such he had complete control over timetabling of the course and was so committed to junior golf that he would block out the 1st tee on a Saturday morning for junior competitions even though he could have sold the green fees to adult players 3 times over. As the owner operator his income was mostly derived from green fees, coaching was a sideline and something he did mostly for fun. In this respect taking 2 hours or so at a time to coach Tiger and play golf with him was no problem and meant that Tiger had a unique opportunity to play alongside his coach, observe, experiment and explore. Rudy had such freedom that he would often play games with Tiger that involved curving the ball around the club house or hitting a shot under a picnic table! -<strong>How many kids get the opportunity to play games with their coach and to have the freedom to experiment with a guide at their side? </strong></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">3. Rudy's coaching took place 85% of the time on the golf course and 15% away from the course on the practice areas. On the infrequent occassions when they were on the range they would be going through all aspects of the game working backwards from the putting green to the full swing. . - <strong>Tiger learned to play the game and to develop his own solutions to getting the ball in the hole, he learned this before he tried to refine his technique and as such he developed the ability to score and play instead if just learning skills outside of the context of the game which can often be the experience of many youngsters.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">4. Tiger, his father and Rudy would spend about an hour after each session chatting about the session and Tiger's game. These post game chats were also described by Rudy as 'brainstorming' sessions where they would create practice programme designed to enable Tiger to play his best in competitions. There were typically 5 or 6 sessions per month sometimes more if Tiger was leading to one of the major junior tournaments which were 8 to 10 a year. - <strong>Rudy ensured that Tiger took his learning away with him and work on things when Tiger was at home. This way he was able to guide the Tiger's practice time between coaching sessions and make that practice time more deliberate. </strong></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">5. Rudy said that his coaching was based on challenging Tiger to achieve certain goals. An example of this was the way Rudy created Tiger's 'personal par' where Tiger would be trying to play a hole in less shots than the number set for him by Rudy. Rudy says that the biggest difficulty for him in this was to kep coming up with things that pushed Tiger enough to maintain his interest. - <strong>By setting challenges and obstacles for Tiger to overcome he maintained his motivation and also allowed him to develop skill more rapidly through guided experimentation.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">6. Rudy describes his coaching style as "waiting for the coachable moments" where he would wait for Tiger to stumble at something and then ask him questions about how what he could do to acheive the goal. <strong>- this questioning approach has been shown to be a route to giving the player/athlete ownership of their development which means that they learn new tactics and skills and they reatin the knowledge much more effectively than if they are merely told how to solve the problem. </strong></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">To me, so much of what Rudy Duran explained about the way he approached coaching Tiger Woods points to him being a highly accomplished coach of children as well as being a high performing coach of talent. I find it difficult to imagine that these early experiences did not provide the foundations for Tiger's future development and gave him a major headstart over so many of his contemporaries. I often wonder what might have happened if Tiger hadn't found Rudy. </span></div>
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developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-35549019972190884532011-11-28T16:25:00.001+00:002011-11-28T16:32:46.922+00:00When is a coach a good coach? When they talk less....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Those of you who follow my posts will know that I coach a hockey team as well as work with performance golfers. Well this season my team has been struggling...well by struggling I mean we are rock bottom of the league. I have been busy with work and haven't really been able to do enough with them or be focussed enough to get them to understand what needs to be done. They are talented but young and inexperienced and we are losing games that we should be winning because they are not really able to execute game plans effectively. Anyway, I haven't been doing the rounds of the blogs that I follow very much recently and I have been missing out on some really good bits of information consequently.<br />
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Here is another great nugget from Dan Coyle author of <a href="http://thetalentcode.com/">The Talent Code</a> on how great coaches communicate. <a href="http://thetalentcode.com/2011/11/08/a-word-of-coaching-advice-talk-less-matter-more/">http://thetalentcode.com/2011/11/08/a-word-of-coaching-advice-talk-less-matter-more/</a><br />
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I know I am going to be applying this from now on and hopefully our fortunes might change around.<br />
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Happy reading. </div>developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-44319591527361603712010-10-07T14:38:00.000+01:002010-10-07T14:38:33.072+01:00PDS Performance Coach Training - Amazing coach developmentI have been doing some personal development recently and I am 2/5 of the way through the Performance Coach course run by Mark Bennett MBE from <a href="http://www.pdsisthe.biz/">Performance Development Systems</a> and I have to say that it is one of the most transformational coach development experiences I have had to date.<br />
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The focus of the PDS programme is all about the human aspect of coaching and really looks in depth at the interaction between the coach and the participant. One of the main drivers behind the programme is getting people to take action and to get them motivated to take action, by utilising a number of highly skilful communication tools and by exploring how and when to use these tools most effectively I have found that my coaching is now 100% better than it was previously. I thought I was a good communicator and considered this to be one of my strengths, through this course and through watching Mark at work I have discovered that I am about 20% of where I should be in order to be truly effective.<br />
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I know that in the past I have looked for the technical or tactical or physical aspects when looking at coach development options. I realise now that I should have spent much more time on how I engage with the players I work with as the results I am getting now are so much better than previously.<br />
<br />
It is truly powerful stuff and something that I would recommend to any coach looking to develop themselves and to work with high performance players.<br />
<br />
The EGU has formed a partnership with PDS to enable coaches working in the England Talent Pathway (county academy, county, regional, national) to access the course at a 40% discount. Courses are running at the end of October, go to the <a href="http://www.pdsisthe.biz/">PDS</a> website to find out when the next course is running near you.developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-24776819276165818492010-09-03T11:17:00.000+01:002010-09-03T11:17:15.624+01:00look at the skill of these guys!!This is really good to see and shows just how skilful these guys are. Watch how close they are on so many of the shots...<br />
<br />
<object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Pu3OIT7mxDQ&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Pu3OIT7mxDQ&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-38217370775404279862010-05-16T20:50:00.000+01:002010-05-16T20:50:14.627+01:00The W.I.G. GameHere is a practice game I got from Dave Alred (www.davealred.com or www.performingunderpressure.com) at a seminar recently. For those of you who don't know Dave he is Johnny Wilkinson's kicking coach and since he has stopped working with England Rugby full time he has become a free lancer working with quite a few performance athletes including a couple of performance golfers. Dave is also a part of the British Olympic Association elite coaching team that is headed by Clive Woodward...they did some pilot work with one of our leading amateurs Melissa Reid who has since gone on to turn professional and is having a lot of success on the LET.<br />
<br />
Dave says that he designed the WIG game (which stands for 'WOW I'm Good') as a game which helps players learn what they are capable of and develops their belief in themselves. In the WIG game the player has an allocated number of attempts at each shot (in this case 3). The player takes their tee shot and ask themselves if they could play that shot any better, if the answer is yes they put an X on their scorecard and try again, if they think they could improve on that they record another X and try again, the 3rd shot they must take the result of regardless.<br />
<br />
The player continues like this for the entire round recording the Xs as they go.<br />
<br />
Having 3 attempts at each shot means that players are likely to record a pretty good score which builds confidence and belief. The player works to improve by reducing the number of Xs on their card over time and getting into a state when they can hit the right shot first time. <br />
<br />
Good luck with it and enjoy.developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-31767319499336313762010-04-23T11:42:00.002+01:002010-04-23T11:42:36.423+01:00Titleist Performance Institute on LTADHere is a presentation on Long Term Athletic Development from Dr Greg Rose at the Titleist Performance Institute. It is interesting stuff and exactly in line with the philosophy and model we are adopting in the County Academies. Greg puts it across much better than I could so here he is.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div><br />
<br />
<h3 style="margin: 3px; padding: 0px;"><br />
<a href="http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/tpigreg-264945-parentnightvideo-tpi-junior-golf-parent-workshop-sports-ppt-powerpoint/" style="font: normal 18px,arial;" target="_blank">ParentNightVideo</a></h3><br />
<object height="354" id="player" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.authorstream.com/player/player.swf?p=264945_633928020303692500" /></p><p><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /></p><p><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/></p><p><embed src="http://www.authorstream.com/player/player.swf?p=264945_633928020303692500" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="354"></embed></object><br />
<div style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><br />
See more <a href="http://www.authorstream.com/" target="_blank">presentations</a> by <a href="http://www.authorstream.com/User-Presentations/tpigreg/" target="_blank">tpigreg</a> | <a ="" href="http://upload.authorstream.com/multipleupload/" target="_blank">Upload your own PowerPoint presentations</a></div><br />
</div>developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-19213247142481945032010-03-08T09:31:00.002+00:002010-03-08T09:31:30.308+00:00Becoming a champion - what it takes!Check out this snapshot of the training regime of Apolo Anton Ohno, a World champion and Olympic Champion short track speed skater. I wonder how many young golfers, who have aspirations to make it on the world stage, realise what it takes to achieve greatness!<br />
<br />
<object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xdKiY92WE40&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></p><p></param></p><p><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></p><p></param></p><p><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></p><p></param></p><p><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xdKiY92WE40&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-17406864087036164802010-02-19T11:18:00.000+00:002010-02-19T11:18:23.340+00:00How Coaching WorksI love this, it kind of puts the process in a nutshell for me!! It is based on the emerging 'life-coaching' industry but it isn't hard to see the parallels between this and the work that we all do. It does make you think whether you effectively go through this process with every player you work with though!!<br />
<br />
<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UY75MQte4RU&hl=en_GB&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UY75MQte4RU&hl=en_GB&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-83552192261116517832010-02-19T11:07:00.000+00:002010-02-19T11:07:13.746+00:00What does a coach make?We are lucky as coaches that we we are seen in relatively high esteem by the public...Teachers have somehow gone down in people's estimation even though what they do is so important to the future of our society.<br />
<br />
Coaches play an important role in kids lives too...anybody want to have a go at writing something like this for coaches?<br />
<br />
<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0xuFnP5N2uA&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0xuFnP5N2uA&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-13280871864566578882010-02-16T21:25:00.003+00:002010-02-16T21:27:55.893+00:00Want to develop skill? Define your own performance measures!!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3b3434; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"></span><br />
More stuff from the Talent Code Blog....<br />
<br />
Instant proverb of the day:<br />
<em>You are what you count.</em><br />
<em><br />
</em><br />
Many of the talent hotbeds I visited for the book don’t rely on conventional performance yardsticks. Instead, they design their own.<br />
The other day I met Graham Walker and Steve Robinson, who coach many of England’s fast-rising crop of junior golfers. Their most important teaching tool? A long piece of rope, which they use to mark off distances for accuracy-improving games they’ve designed. For instance, players make a series of wedge shots from 10, 20, and 30 yards, marking each result on specially designed scorecards.<br />
Or there’s the technique of Pinchas Zuckerman, the great Israeli violinist, whose practice method consisted of a two jars and a bunch of marbles. Each time he played a piece perfectly, Zuckerman transferred a single marble from one jar to the other. When the second jar was full, he was ready.<br />
In both cases, the strategy is the same: to realize that conventional measures (scoreboards, for instance, or hours of practice time) are far too loose and vague, while homemade yardsticks connect to real practice goals — improving accuracy or perfect repetition. All well-designed yardsticks share a few common features:<br />
<ul style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="list-style-image: url(http://thetalentcode.com/wp-content/themes/talentcode/images/bullet.gif); margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong>Clarity</strong>. There are no gray areas; just cool, inarguable, trackable numbers.</li>
<li style="list-style-image: url(http://thetalentcode.com/wp-content/themes/talentcode/images/bullet.gif); margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong>Stretchiness</strong>. A well-designed yardstick can accomodate a variety of abilities, and there’s an improvement ladder implicitly built in.</li>
<li style="list-style-image: url(http://thetalentcode.com/wp-content/themes/talentcode/images/bullet.gif); margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong>Ownability</strong>. Feedback is direct, not filtered through a higher authority.</li>
</ul>It’s not just what you keep track of — it’s also what you <em>don’t</em> keep track of. Unlike virtually every other company in the world, dot-com shoe company Zappos doesn’t keep track of how long its employees talk to each customer. Instead, it actively encourages its employees to spend as much phone time as they need to make their customers happy — even to the point of helping arrange a pizza delivery to a hungry customer. The longest call so far? Four hoursdeveloping sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-53147840330819758242010-02-12T13:49:00.000+00:002010-02-12T13:49:16.637+00:00Thoughts from The EGU Director of Coaching on County Coaching networks<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Hi all, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I thought I would share these thoughts from Peter Mattsson the EGU Director of Coaching with you all. He was invited to deliver a session for the coaches in Sussex and this is what he had to say afterwards...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i>"Last night I did a session for the so called Sussex County Coaches network. This network is part of the initiatives supported by the County Golf Partnership which in turn is supported by funding from Sport England through the England Golf Partnership. Pretty much each county that has formed a partnership should have one of these networks, designed to train, educate and develop the coaches and the coaching that operate within the county. What last night’s session made me realise is what a complete paradigm shift this is. Coach education has always been considered the job of the PGA by the amateur bodies. Even though it still is, these amateur bodies like the county unions and the national unions are now starting to realise that if we want the world’s best players, we will need the world’s best coaches. What I found last night was a group of young, aspiring, motivated and willing to learn people that almost without exception work full time in coaching. The times of the pro running the pro shop and giving lessons for a few hours per week are gone, at least if you really want to get into coaching. Coaching is a full time job that requires specialist training!"</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I couldn't agree more!!</span>developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-50255151104240594142010-02-02T10:13:00.001+00:002010-02-12T14:01:59.417+00:00Subtle ways we can create and nurture talentYou might want to check out this link from the Talent Code website. Daniel has an interesting take on how talent is inspired and nurtured and I think it points to ways in which we can do the same.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://thetalentcode.com/2009/12/23/lighting-fires/">Lighting Fires � The Talent Code</a>developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-61863210670948085802009-12-14T20:56:00.000+00:002009-12-14T20:56:17.039+00:00Take the England Golf 'Attitudes to coaching survey' - you could win an 'England Experience' at the National Golf Centre, Woodhall SpaHi all,<br />
<br />
England Golf is conducting a survey of peoples attitudes towards coaching. It should only take 5 minutes and everybody who provides their opinions will go into a draw to win a unique coaching experience at Woodhall Spa with the England national squad coaches. <br />
<br />
Click the link below to go to the survey<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 11px;"><a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9LKBCS5">Click here to take survey</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Thanks </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Stuart</span></span>developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-79162930552151987722009-12-03T13:14:00.000+00:002009-12-03T13:14:33.977+00:00The Toyota Way - 14 Management principlesI have a friend who works for Toyota, he is a mid level manager and has been there for a good number of years. He lives and breathes the Toyota management philosophy and whenever I get together with him we will chat about the principles behind the philosophy and he will give me his latest insights into how this amazing organisation puts these principles into practice.<br />
<br />
I thought I would share this slide show with you as it gives an interesting insight that I think would benefit us all an whatever area we work, hope you find it interesting.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; white-space: pre;"></span><br />
<div id="__ss_381417" style="text-align: left; width: 425px;"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/ckvkarma/the-toyota-way-14-management-principles" style="display: block; font: 14px Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; margin: 12px 0 3px 0; text-decoration: underline;" title="The Toyota Way- 14 Management Principles">The Toyota Way- 14 Management Principles</a><object height="355" style="margin: 0px;" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=the-toyota-way-1209560536107588-9&stripped_title=the-toyota-way-14-management-principles" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><embed src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=the-toyota-way-1209560536107588-9&stripped_title=the-toyota-way-14-management-principles" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><div style="font-family: tahoma,arial; font-size: 11px; height: 26px; padding-top: 2px;">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" style="text-decoration: underline;">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/ckvkarma" style="text-decoration: underline;">C.K. Vishwakarma</a>.</div></div>developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-19202167428277509442009-12-03T09:44:00.000+00:002009-12-03T09:44:06.155+00:00Deep practice in action<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"></span><br />
<div style="color: #666666; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Hi all,<br />
</div><div style="color: #666666; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">I thought I would share a blog I am following with with you. The following passage is from a blog called 'The Angle of Reflection' by Michael Reddick. Michael is on a 2 year journey to transform himself into a professional pool player. The blog URL is www.angleofreflection.wordpress.com if you are interested in reading more about his mission.<br />
</div><div style="color: #666666; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Anyway onto Michael's story....<br />
</div><div style="color: #666666; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"I recently experienced a set of events so profound, which excited me so much, that it took me a full two days to calm down enough to allow me to sit and write about it. Where do I begin with this story?<br />
</div><div style="color: #666666; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In Daniel Coyle’s book <em style="font-style: italic; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The Talent Code</em>, Daniel describes a curious phenomenon that he refers to as the HSE (Holy Shit Event). If you’ve read chapter 4 of his book, you’ll know what I’m talking about. The HSE is the feeling you get when a person who is “just like you” suddenly displays a quantum leap in skill level. It’s the feeling of, “Where did that come from?” Daniel describes the scene well: A person in the process of developing talent is being watched by an outside observer, and the outside observer, while watching, is “…dumbstruck, amazed, and bewildered, while the talent’s owner is unsurprised, even blasé.”<br />
</div><div style="color: #666666; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">I experienced a mini-HSE event on Monday afternoon, then another one on Tuesday. As described in my blog posts from last Friday and Saturday, I’ve spent a lot of time recently thinking about shot making fundamentals and practicing away from the table (see October 28 & 29 posts). This Saturday, I conducted a two hour deep practice session at Santa Clara Billiards working primarily on my stance, stroke, and bridging as they relate to rail shots (see my November 28 post). The Saturday deep practice session was fantastic, and I thought about it all day Sunday. On Monday, I stopped by Edgie’s Billiards in Milpitas, CA with the intention of doing another hour of follow-up work from the Saturday session. When I walked into the room, guess who was already waiting for me? Mike! (See my post “Eating Humble Pie” from November 16).<br />
</div><div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_461" style="-webkit-border-bottom-left-radius: 3px 3px; -webkit-border-bottom-right-radius: 3px 3px; -webkit-border-top-left-radius: 3px 3px; -webkit-border-top-right-radius: 3px 3px; background-color: #f3f3f3; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; float: right; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center; width: 180px;"><a href="http://angleofreflection.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/eureka-shot.png" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 204); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #333333; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-461" height="300" src="http://angleofreflection.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/eureka-shot.png?w=170&h=300" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 4px;" title="Eureka Shot" width="170" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text" style="color: #666666; font-size: 11px; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;">The Eureka Shot<br />
</div></div><div style="color: #666666; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Mike asked if I wanted to play a few games. I had originally intended to do some deep practice work that day, but I didn’t want to be antisocial, so I accepted. I broke the first rack but didn’t make any balls. Mike made a couple balls, calculated that the table was too difficult to run, and decided to play a safe and leave me with a very difficult shot. The shot that he left me is diagrammed to the right. (There were other balls on the table, but they aren’t relevant for this discussion.) I stood from my chair, walked to table, and an eerie calm feel over me. I thought, <em style="font-style: italic; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“Hummm. This shot looks familiar doesn’t it?”</em> It was almost the exact same shot that I had practiced on Saturday; it’s my “new friend”! I carried out the exact same pre-shot routine that I conducted during my deep practice session; focusing on the approach, foot positioning, stance, level cue, rock solid rail bridge, smooth calm stroke, and then I pulled the trigger. Cue tip and cue ball collided, the cue ball traveled up the table, cue ball and object ball met with a gentle click, the object ball rolled slowly up table at “pocket speed,” traveling to the far right corner pocket without touching any rails and with just enough energy to barely fall into the pocket. A perfectly executed very difficult shot! But here’s the funny thing: I wasn’t at all surprised; I was just doing what I had practiced on Saturday. I stood up without saying a word, walked around the table, and kept shooting, and shooting, and shooting. An hour later I looked up, and I was leading 8-1. It wasn’t until I started unscrewing my cue stick that I realized that I had just played a nearly perfect match.<br />
</div><div style="color: #666666; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">I know there will be good days and bad days. I had a couple bad days recently, but after the Saturday practice session, it seems that I’ve somehow magically rewired my circuits. My arm and body seem to be listening to my brain much better than before, almost on autopilot. I had difficulty falling asleep Monday night. When I woke up on Tuesday, it seemed almost like a dream. I thought to myself, <em style="font-style: italic; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“Is</em> <em style="font-style: italic; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">it really possible to turn yourself around that quickly? Surely not. Probably just a fluke”. </em>I was itching to get back to Edgie’s and practice more. When I arrived the next day during my lunch break, Mike was not there, so I warmed up and hit practice shots for thirty minutes. Everything seemed fine. Everything was clicking.<br />
</div><div style="color: #666666; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Then for fun, I did something that I know I’m not supposed to do</strong>. I grabbed two handfuls of balls, threw them out on the table, and started practicing run outs. Usually when I practice run outs, I throw five or six balls out on the table, then try to pocket them in numbered order, similar to a game of nine ball. This is one way to judge your progress and ascertain where you are in your skill development, but not necessarily the best way to practice. I can usually run out about 40-60 percent of the time with six balls on the table, depending on how seriously I’m concentrating. I looked at the spread in front of me, and realized that I had thrown out eight balls instead of six. I have occasionally run out eight balls, but the percentages are very low, probably in the range of 2-10 percent. <em style="font-style: italic; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“Oh, what the heck,”</em> I thought. I approached the table and started shooting. I ran the table. <em style="font-style: italic; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“Hah! Bet you can’t do that again!”</em>I chided myself. I threw out eight more balls, and started shooting in order. I ran out again. A slight increase in heart beat. A shortness of breath. I threw out eight more balls. I ran the table for a third time in a row. Unbelievable. I threw out eight more. When the balls settled, two of them rolled up next to each other to form a cluster. I was unable to break the cluster during my run, so I couldn’t run the fourth set. I threw out another eight, and ran it out. Now I’m freaking. I stopped, sat in a chair, and looked around. No one else was in the room, except for a handful of three-cushion players who weren’t paying me any attention. I looked at my watch. My lunch break was over, and I had to go back to work. I guess it’s better to quit while I’m ahead."<br />
</div><div style="color: #666666; font: normal normal normal 1em/normal 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">I think this is a fantastic example of how deep practice can transform an individuals skill level as well as transform their beliefs and give them real confidence as they begin to develop that 'unconscious competence' that is so critical to the performance of skills in the sporting domain. It is clear to me that Michael has been able to really challenge himself in certain areas to take himself out of his comfort zone (Daniel Coyle would describe this as the 'sweet spot', the challenge that is just beyond our reach but not beyond our possibilities) which has made other areas of his game seem straightforward.<br />
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</div>developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-86278244730596694862009-10-23T15:37:00.010+01:002009-10-23T15:51:47.563+01:00The Talent Code - Daniel Coyle<div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre;">Here is a trailer for 'The Talent Code' a book by Daniel Coyle. This book is fantastic and really gives a different perspective on the development of talent. The concept of talent being derived from thousands of hours of 'Deep Practice' in places described as 'Talent Hotbeds' which are often pretty basic facilities (which actually encourages the work ethic which goes along with deep practice) and is ignited and encouraged by 'Master Coaches' (which are people that have radically different qualities and skills than the people we would normally think of as being master coaches), is inspiring and really changes your perspective. </span></span><br />
</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre;">Also, check out the talent code website at www.thetalentcode.com</span><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; white-space: pre;"><object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/dY7QNxXbziA&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dY7QNxXbziA&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object></span>developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-23214778564157250612009-08-27T13:14:00.003+01:002009-08-27T13:18:27.497+01:00More Stuff from TED - Dan Pink on Motivation<div>This talk from Dan Pink (who used to write speeches for Al Gore) is a really thought provoking look at our traditional views of motivation. Perhaps we need to motivate people by making them absolutely driven by what they do rather than providing them with external rewards such as praise, money, promotion?</div><div><br /></div><object width="446" height="326"><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"> <param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/embed/DanielPink_2009G-embed_high.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/DanielPink-2009G.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=618"><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgcolor="#ffffff" width="446" height="326" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/embed/DanielPink_2009G-embed_high.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/DanielPink-2009G.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=618"></embed></object>developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-48346776545296530322009-05-29T16:00:00.001+01:002009-06-01T10:15:46.195+01:00'What I learned...' - Coaching and Reflective Practice<div><span style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Hi All,</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div><span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I have been giving some thought recently to the concept of 'reflective practice'. Essentially a key component of any coach aspiring to become a high level or level 4 coach is the </span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">capa</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span></span>city to </span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">cr</span></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">itically analyse thier coaching, have the discipline to document this analysis and then act on the findings in order to bring about changes in their coaching behaviour. But it then got me thinking...how should a coach should go about this process? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Ob</span></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">viously we are all very busy and all actually doing our coaching, is it realistic to expect a coach to reflect and write their thoughts down after every session or every day?</span></span></span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The answer to this is probably not, however an expert or high level coach would be expected to record their key learning experiences over a period of time. This may well be done in the form of an article, journal, presentation, video diary, podcast, interview, question and answer session or practical session which highlights the ideas and elements learned and can be shared with other coaches and </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">then critiqued and appraised. This process of having the piece analysed by others will refine the thoughts and make the ideas stronger. Too m</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">any coaches are reluctant to share their learning experiences with others as they feel that they will be giving away 'their secrets' or allowing others t</span></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">o gain an advantage in what can often be a commercially competitive market place......these </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">coaches will never be able to fully develop their capabilities because the same thought process which limits them from sharing will be the one that linits them from receving the thoughts of others and therefore strnthening their own knowldge in the process. </span></span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Dr Paul Schemp of the University of Georgia in the US often states that one of the things that sets an expert coach apart from a less able coach is the desire to constantly learn and improve. The high level coach recognises that the best way to gain knowledge is to be willing to give knowledge and as such benefits from the </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">exchange process. He or she should also be seeking to innovate and create new programmes </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">and delivery methods, the only way that these methods and programmes can be effectively analysed and evaluated is for others in the same situation to provide their feedback. This turns a coaching theory or opinion into a coaching methodology....golf is full of opinions and theories....lets have more critically appraised and evaluated methodologies.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">So where do you start? Try this as a starting point...most high level coaches are always reading things about the game they coach or looking to pick up tips. The next time you read an article or book or see something interesting on TV or at a seminar write a short 1 page review of the book/article/programme/seminar putting across your thoughts and what you took from it. This will demonstrate the knowledge you have gained and also highlight what your own thoughts on the subject are. If you can get into a habit of doing this once a month you will be well on your way. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;"><br /></span></div>developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-54822902077705638712009-05-16T10:58:00.007+01:002009-06-17T08:36:02.578+01:00Rory McIlroy, a talent nurtured<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;font-size:10px;"><p style=" line-height: 1.38em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size:1.3em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 255, 255);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">At the Masters the bubbly and ever engaging past Masters champion and genuine legend of the game, Gary Player said this about the young Irish star, Rory McIlroy...</span></span></p><p style=" line-height: 1.38em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size:1.3em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 255, 255);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“This young man is brilliant. His golf swing is unbelievable and his theory side, his swing, is better than Tiger Woods."</span></span></p><p style=" line-height: 1.38em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size:1.3em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 255, 255);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“He’s an incredible talent and has excelled already at a very young age. I believe he’s a very nice young man too and I hope he goes from strength to strength."</span></span></p><p style=" line-height: 1.38em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size:1.3em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 255, 255);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What this doesn't tell is the story of how Rory got to where he is now and the impact that a number of people had on his career.....</span></span></p><p style=" line-height: 1.38em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size:1.3em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 255, 255);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Back in 2001 I was working for the Golf Foundation and covering Ireland, I was invited to deliver a 'Golf Leaders' course by the junior organiser of a club in Belfast called 'Shandon Park'...the organisers' name was Ronny McNeice and a kinder, more generous and fun loving gentlemen you would find it hard to meet. </span></span></p><p style=" line-height: 1.38em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size:1.3em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 255, 255);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ronny had researched on the internet and found that the GF provided Leaders courses which had only been launched the year before and he had asked me to come over and deliver the course for him and a number of other organisers from his club and clubs in the area. He arranged everything and saw to it that the club provided for our every need including the cost of our accomodation. The 2 day course was a great success and the people on it were really keen and enthusiastic to support the young people in their clubs. </span></span></p><p style=" line-height: 1.38em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size:1.3em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 255, 255);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Half way through the 1st day during the lunch break Ronny asked me to come and meet one of the junior golfers that was practicing on the putting green outside the club house. He called him over and this curly haired little 10 year old enthusiastically bounced over to me, Ronny introduced me and the little boy calmly and confidently held out his hand and said 'my names Rory...pleased to meet you!'. We chatted for a little while and Rory told me that he had just returned from the World Junior Golf Championships, which he had won and the various other things that he had done in his short career. I made a mental note after we chatted to keep an eye on this young man's progress!! </span></span></p><p style=" line-height: 1.38em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size:1.3em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 255, 255);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I wonder how Rory's development would have been affected had he not been at a club that was so committed to junior golfers. I also wonder what would have happened had he not had a junior organiser like Ronny who was so committed to youngsters and wanted to do the best for them at any cost? </span></span></p><p style=" line-height: 1.38em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size:1.3em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 255, 255);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I don't work in Ireland anymore but if I did I would ensure that Ronny McNeice was given an award...people like him are the unsung heroes, the guys who set kids off on the right path, who unearth the talent, nurture it, create the environment so it can thrive. </span></span></p><p style=" line-height: 1.38em; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size:1.3em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 255, 255);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So here's my tribute to you Ronny.... the golfing world needs more people like you!! </span></span><br /></p></span>developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73315563156625456.post-1435093717052293432009-05-09T17:54:00.008+01:002009-06-01T10:13:43.892+01:00The 5 C's<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">I have just come away from a conference where they have been talking about the way we coach children and how we should develop them as people and athletes. They suggested that we should be looking to develop the '5 C's' in kids whenever we coach them. So what are the 5 C's....? </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div><ol><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Competence - Every session and every exercise or game should be designed with the development of the player's abilities in mind. Our responsibility is to ensure that they leave every session, a little more able than before. <br /><br /></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Confidence - We should be aiming to get youngsters to develop their skills in a non threatening learning environment where they can build self reliance and their understanding of themselves. We should make sure that they are able to perform under pressure so that they feel comfortable in such surroundings. <br /><br /></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Compassion - The players should feel connected to their peers, their coaches and parents. Developing an understanding of their teammates needs and individual characteristics helps them to develop as people and as sports people. <br /><br /></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Character - Young peoples' personalities should be nurtured and developed through sport with the principles of fair play and equality reinforced. Equally children should be encouraged to explore and understand how their personal characteristics affect their their team mates and their own performance at sport. <br /><br /></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Creativity - We should strive to encourage children to develop their own solutions to problems and challenges they face in sport. By doing this they will develop a sense of ownership of their abilities. By creating exercises and games that challenge the players and encourage them to find their own ways of dealing with them we can often be surprised by the ways in which children can solve the problems. </span></li></ol><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">The 5 C's should be used as a reference point for our coaching so that we can evaluate our effectiveness as coaches. By deveoping sessions and programmes which develop the 5 C's and then reviewing their effectiveness against this framework we can monitor our performance and improve the quality of our delivery. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Personally I will be using this as a mental checklist whenever I work with youngsters....I will probably do it with adults too for that matter!! <br /><br /></span><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>developing sporting talenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09462502090699154900noreply@blogger.com0