Thursday 25 November 2010

What are some coaches doing to our young talent?

I've just seen a Technical report from a National coach of a 13 year old elite golfer. The presentation of the report and the quality of the images was very impressive. So to were the opening comments of the coach saying how the boy had scored above average for his technical performance test and how good he was at finding the ball at impact and his ability to shape the ball both ways. So far so good.
He then went on frame by frame to demolish the boys golf swing, highlighting everything he thought this boy was doing WRONG, from his grip to the position of his feet.
If that wasn't bad enough the boy was emailed the report. How did that make him feel?
At this stage you have to question what the coach was trying to achieve here. Was it about him trying to impress with his knowledge of the "perfect swing" or just a clash of egos with the boys home coach?
Whatever. The outcome I'm sure was a disillusioned young talented golfer who now needs picking up again from this savaging.
Why do some coaches feel the need to tell you what you are doing wrong and not spending time on highlighting the plentiful things you are doing right?
There was no conclusion to this report informing this ELITE young golfer what he needed to do to improve. Maybe in the coaches eyes there was just too much to cover.
How sad when I was thinking our coaching in golf was getting better.

Tuesday 16 November 2010