Perceived Danger!!

On a flight to Switzerland I overheard a couple of people comment on a newspaper report about Chris Hoy, Olympic Gold Medallist, and a cycling accident at the Track Word Championships in The Netherlands. (Article from International Herald and Tribune

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/02/14/sports/CYC-Track-Cycling-World-Cup.php )

The conversation was about was it news – a dad was saying kids fall off bikes all the time, he was dismissive of it. Mum was saying she didn’t think cycling was dangerous but at the speeds they go they don’t have much protection.

This brought about a thought and a recollection of a conversation I have had whilst doing circus skills workshops and magic workshops. Jugglers train to be technically perfect, never dropping a ball, just like a tight rope walker, they don’t want to fall off or wobble. Yet in order to entertain there has to be a perception of danger for the audience, a wobble and almost stumble on the tight rope or the aborted 1st attempt at a big move, a dropped ball or club them a successful attempt.

Cycling can be dangerous but it isn’t perceived as such. Judo can be potentially dangerous but when it is televised it is becoming sanitised. Boxing, Karate have blows to the head, cage fighting with its brutality all get good TV coverage, all have strong danger elements.

When the IJF remove a throw because someone breaks a leg, saying a throw is now to dangerous ( these where world class players), this reduced potential risk, but the reverse is true people want to watch the risk. This is what TV producers might call the car crash effect. When Joe Theisman's leg broke this was a highlight on TV news now it’s on the internet...here is the link .....

http://www.extremesportclips.com/video/299/Joe-Theisman-Leg-Break.html

Did you watch it ......if so why ...... You Tube is full of these.

The IJF want to make Judo a TV sport, a sport TV companies want to cover, we have huge throws, this is great but there is NO DANGER....we minimise risk. Look on You Tube for clips of O Soto Gari knocking someone out, strangles where the player is knocked out.

These elements make TV viewing – they are the danger in Judo. Give a TV company danger and watch viewers flood in. If you have to put in one martial arts event in your schedule for your TV company , you are looking for spectacular, danger and excitement would you be choosing judo over boxing, MAA or kick boxing or Thai boxing ? NO. Why the gap between fights and lack of action ...perhaps but no danger!!!

So we are cleaning up Judo for TV .......or are we removing the elements, the characters ( don’t get me started on mat side coaches) the danger or at least perceived danger. Some of it is just marketing...in MAA they CHOKE A PLAYER OUT ( sounds bad) in Judo we get him to submit ( much weaker how – talk him to death?)

Which sound more dangerous and which one would you watch?

Just an opinion and thought for the day.

Youngest Head Coach To WIn The Super Bowl

It’s a cold Tuesday morning in England with a snow dump which seems to be causing havoc! My two school classes this afternoon have been cancelled by the schools due to severe weather warnings...so I have a bit of time to write this second blog!

Last night I watched the Pittsburgh Steelers win a 6th Super Bowl! They broke many records including Mike Tomlin of the Steelers becoming, at 36, the youngest head coach ever to win the Super Bowl.

So as an elite coach he never played in the NFL, he never experienced and had to deal with the stresses he is dealing with in his players. So why is it that in judo there is an attitude that you can’t be an Elite performance coach unless have been an Elite player. This attitude can come from players, clubs and NGB’s.

I am currently reading “The Coaching Process” by Cross and Lyle, in this they say there are two different treads to coaching, the Training Process and the Coaching Process, Training being the Physiological and Psychological aspects of training, as well as the application of scientific processes. The Coaching Process is the relationships, the management and how the training process is personalised.

So is Tomlins skill in the Training Process – that is also handled by the support staff, or is it his skill in the application of the coaching process?

Lyle and Cross also divide coaching into two different type – Elite and participation coaching, the participation coach is the Sunday League Junior Coach, the Guy who runs a small Judo class once a week where it is not about being the best it is about gaining and maintaining participation in the sport. However where do we differentiate between the two types in our coach education?

Is Tomlins just an Elite Head Coach or is he a participation coach – ensuring in his early coaching experiences players wanted to play for him, helping them manage Football and College life. How do the coaches running small judo clubs or Football teams recognise and encourage the skilled player who could become an elite performer? And how do they know when to say I can teach you know more?

Part of the job of a coach is to reflect on his own performance and that of his players and acknowledge when they are wrong and when things work, and then strive to improve. Coaching is a development process for both the player the team and the coach......the problem is coaches don’t know it ....but I am sure that Mike Tomlin will wake up today with a new ring on his finger, and a place in the history books and that over the next few weeks he will review the game, and ALL his decisions trying to work out what worked and why and what didn’t work because next season it starts all over again.

I hope we can explore the differences in Performance and Participation coaching.