“Blaise Pascal said that the more intelligent a man is, the more originality he finds in others. That is my excuse for the number of people I have leaned on in different ways to bring this book to completion. Many of them don’t even know it.”
From Living Life Backward: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in Light of the End by David Gibson
I’m willing to bet that David Gibson never imagined that the first two sentences of his book would ever be quoted. But they resonated with me. I’ve presented on many, many topics in sports over the past two decades. Most recently, three have become the most requested and attended presentations: specialization in sports, coach stress and burnout, and developing culture in a team/organization. While there may be many concepts that crossover topics, one is a consistent theme in all of them: learning and leaning on others.
Here's the challenge that I see in coaching; most coaches are undertrained, under supported, and rely too much on what they already know. What do they know? Where did that knowledge come from? More often than not, it came from previous playing experience and previous observational experiences (e.g., what their coach did). That has to change. As coaches, we need to be sponges, continually looking to the work, knowledge, experiences, and training of others to continually mastering our craft, recognizing that we will never, ever be in a position where we know it all.
So, take time to read, watch, explore, and ask. You’re reading this post, which says something about your thirst for learning. But keep going! FSU COACH has many opportunities to help, from our online graduate certificate or online master’s degree in coaching, to our newsletter, YouTube Channel and podcast, and outreach speaking/training opportunities. Wherever you gain your learning, keep seeking the originality of others and apply it to your own profession and craft.