Engagement

Guest Post by Matt Schreiber

The following is a guest post by Matt Schreiber, a lacrosse coach and coach developer. He sent me an email with the following writing attached and told me to use it in any way I’d like…

I’d like to share it with you all because you should know this guy…

---

LINES SUCK!

Youth coaches commonly express difficulties in their athletes’ ability to pay attention or stay on task in practice. They don’t seem to want to reach their full potential. They don’t work hard at the little things. They just dont seem to have the level of engagement and interest coaches desire in their athletes.

Why don’t kids pay attention in practice?

The answer to this question is rooted within the very basic concepts around how we, as humans, engage in the environments in which we exist. What we find fun, and what we find tedious.

Try honestly answering some tough questions of yourself.

How are you best engaged in your environment?

What elements are necessary for you to want to pay attention? Not compelled attention, but rapt attention! What gets you engaged and fired up to learn? Why do you engage in your hobbies and non-professional pursuits? What makes you want to excel in your professional pursuits?

Consider the following: Your coworker tracks you down at work to invite you out for A Saturday engagement.

“Would love to have you there. We are going to start by jogging a quarter mile. Then we will get in lines and stretch.”

Not terrible, so far. Not fun, but maybe it’ll be worth it.

“After stretching we will get in more lines and every few minutes we will get to catch and throw a ball.”

Hmmm…

“As long as you do everything right, things will go well. But don't drop the ball too many times, or you’ll do some pushups.”

Yikes! Push-ups? On my day off?

”Then we will run around some cones in a pre-determined pattern in a way that probably won’t make sense, but there will be a big angry guy there telling you exactly how to run through the cones. He will yell a lot until you get it right.”

Wait, what?

”If we all do a super good job, we will get to play for ten minutes at the end. Right before we get a lecture about what we did wrong, how we need to do better next Saturday.”

Yeah, screw that! Hard no for me!

Most practices are filled with activities most adults spend their waking hours avoiding at all costs. Who looks at any line, anywhere and thinks, “Wow! This is going to be awesome!”? Who loves being told what to do? Who really finds joy in being threatened with physical exertion for performance not up to someone else’s standards?

If adults, who have the experience to know the rewards of hard work avoid these kinds of activities, how will a ten-year-old find them interesting?

Kids love playing video games!

Consider the video game environment:

• Freedom of criticism

• No one tells them how to play, or what to do

• The game, not a self-proclaimed expert figure tells them they have made a mistake, and is free of judgement

• The player gets to solve the problems the game poses without direction

• The player feels the reward when those problems are solved

• They control their achievements

• There is no fear of failure due to extrinsic punishment

• No lines!

Can your practices be structured to feel more like a video game? Can the game be taught through fun, engagement in creativity, co-designed around what the athletes desire, and free of judgment?

If there is a way to develop athletes in an inviting and intriguing environment, then that is the standard for which we should be striving. Your athletes will be engaged, with rapt attention, and with an eagerness to rise to the challenges they face.