“You Don’t Always Want What You Get”

By Ryan Post

When you think about sports, what is it

that you focus on? We often hear phrases

similar to “Keep your eyes on the prize,” but

sometimes this causes us to think about big

things without concern for the small things that

will enable us to reach that goal.

As a teacher, I see on a daily basis how

the small things add up and lead to bigger

things in both positive and negative ways.

Consider the behavior characteristics of a good

student versus those of a bad student. A good

student will adhere to policies and rules, ensure

that work is done correctly, dress appropriately,

and treat both peers and adults with respect. A

student that demonstrates bad behavior

characteristics will constantly push those limits

starting with the small things. The bad student

may begin with something small like wearing

pajamas, hats, shorts that are too short, low cut

shirts, sagging pants, etc. That student may

also turn in work that is done haphazardly, if at

all, and eventually, the bad student will cease to

have any concern over how he or she speaks

and acts towards others.

Each of these situations began with

something easily overlooked. It may be

parenting, or it may be an innate behavior

exhibited by the students in the example who

representing each end of the spectrum, but

how can this relate to sports? As coaches, we

can either nitpick at all the small things that a

player does wrong, or we can pull our hair out

trying to fix big problems.

As a young football coach I was

“results” oriented, but not in a good way. I

could see the result of a play, and I would

“coach” the player by telling him that I wanted

the result to be different. I was beating my

head against a wall with this approach. I wasn’t

telling the players anything they didn’t already

know, and they didn’t learn how to change the

result. Luckily, I had some good coaches around

me to keep from making a mess of things. The

answer was simple. I learned how to teach

from the ground (feet)-up.

To understand why this was the proper

approach, imagine yourself in a deep swimming

pool away from the wall or any solid surface. If

you were to begin wrestling with another

person, every time you pushed or pulled you

would end up moving opposite that force and

get nowhere. If you were in contact with a wall

you would at least have the ability to push off

the wall to gain an advantage over the other

person. Luckily, football isn’t played in a pool.

Where the feet are and how they affect a

player’s execution of his responsibilities is

paramount to the overall success of the play.

I was taught by my fellow coaches that

playing football involves a strong base, angles,

leverage, and the ability to provide a force. I

changed as a coach from being results oriented

into a coach that has a foundation centered

approach. I began critiquing the players on the

steps of the process rather than how they

finished. This involved the following basic

categories: Alignment, Stance, Start, Steps, and

Contact. It caused me to look at the arms, hips,

head, back, eyes, hands, and (always) the feet.

The feet were the most important aspect which

would determine how the play would finish.

Players soon learned that minor

adjustments could have huge impacts on their

success/failure rate. We got better together,

and I felt like I was actually coaching rather that

stating the obvious. The best result was that

the players were able to widen their

comprehension of their role in the game and

gained the ability to self-correct; to see the

result and know the root cause.

This self-correction was huge in making

the players more consistent. When a player is

more consistent, he is able to pinpoint where

any mistake might be made. The term self-

correct is borrowed from Darin Slack, owner of

the Quarterback Academy.

Darin Slack is a former quarterback at

the University of Central Florida. He proposed

that a quarterback’s throwing motion could be

broken down into a few fundamental

movements. Each movement of the entire

motion resulted in the football being thrown in

a specific way (i.e. up, down, left, right, etc.).

When a quarterback understood how each

movement affected the ball’s path, he could

then relate the ball’s path back to a specific

failure in his mechanics. This also decreased

the verbiage involved in coaching a quarterback

from an infinite array of terms to a few words

relating to those specific movements. The

quarterbacks that go through the Quarterback

Academy have a definite outcome in mind

relating to throwing mechanics, and they know

how to achieve that outcome with a high level

of success.

Whether speaking of student behavior,

football footwork or throwing mechanics, the

underlying concept is that the small things lead

to bigger things. We’ve all heard that “You

can’t always get what you want,” but this is

about wanting what you get. When we accept

the results of our actions, and our actions -

however slight, are wrong, we settle for

something less than the goals we set for

ourselves. By focusing on small goals and

achieving small successes, players can acquire

the knowledge that is necessary to self-correct;

eventually knowing that what they get is what

they wanted in the first place. So, act as if there

is a purpose for every action to achieve your

goals.

Ryan Post is in his fifth year as a coach at East

Coweta High School. He has been a high school

coach since 1991 in both Florida and Georgia.