Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #100: Gill1918 Presents David Mitchell “The Joy of Being Simple-Minded” Powered by Coach O

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#100: Gill1918 Presents David Mitchell “The Joy of Being Simple-Minded” Powered by Coach O · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

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Welcome to the Gill 1918 Project, a podcast series by
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coaches for coaches, powered by Gill Athletics.
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Think of it as the Ted Talks of track and field coaching.
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Short, insightful, and packed with valuable strategies to help
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you grow as a coach. This episode is part of the
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Youth and Beginner Series, brought to you by Coach O.
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In this series, we focus on topics relating to coaching
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youth athletes, coaching beginner athletes of any age,
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and supporting brand new coaches as they find their way.
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With that in mind, let's grow. As track and field coaches, we
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study, attend clinics, ask questions of other coaches we
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respect, watch tons of video, and do even more to develop a
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deep understanding of our sport, which can be pretty complex at
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times, right? But how many of our athletes
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benefit from our learning if we can't explain it clearly and
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succinctly so that it can be applied in training and
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competition? None.
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Nobody benefits at all if the only way for them to understand
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is to go through the same painstaking learning process
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that we did. How many of our athletes benefit
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if we are the only one who can explain that understanding of
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the sport clearly and simply? Only a few at a time, and only
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those who are in our presence at that moment?
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How many athletes benefit from it if we're able to explain that
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hard earned understanding in a way that the other coaches
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working with us can also explain it, use it, and apply it many
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more? What if we're able to distill it
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down to a level where the athletes on our team can grasp
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it to the degree that they can begin to apply it amongst
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themselves even when a coach isn't there?
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That's exponential growth and it contributes to an overall
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culture of success within the program year after year.
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Hey everybody, I'm David Mitchell, current track and
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field announcer and Coach OS Director of Client Relations
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with over 4 years experience as a coach, teacher and counselor.
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Early early in my track coaching career, I was a track coaching
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clinic junkie. I sought out and attended the
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best clinics around in order to gain an edge on my competition
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and I was a voracious note taker.
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I bought lots of books and videos so that I could learn and
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continue to pass on the knowledge in a way that helped
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my athletes, coaches, team and program.
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In doing so, it became clear to me that it was only useful if I
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could make what I learned accessible to others, and that
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it was more and more useful when I was able to make it
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understandable, applicable and repeatable to my assistant
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coaches and the leaders among the athletes on my team.
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There is great joy in being simple minded when it comes to
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coaching, especially when you're a new coach or when you're
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coaching beginning athletes. As a high school head coach who
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worked hard to recruit new team members from within my school
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district, I regularly had a fresh stream of brand new first
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time learning athletes. I had to come up with a way for
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others to bring them up to speed because if the only way they
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could learn was by spending time with me, I would run out of time
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and as a result, I'd either fail them or the other more
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experienced team members would be failed by that lack of time
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with me. This talk today will focus on
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the ways I found to introduce concepts to beginning athletes
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and an efficient way to all athletes at the start of a new
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season. These are not the only ways to
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do this, nor do they apply to all of the more advanced
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athletes. So as my pastor likes to say,
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please don't hear what I'm not saying.
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I'll be giving you examples of what worked for me in my program
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at Pinckney High School in Michigan in hopes that you'll
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find what works for you and the athletes entrusted to your care
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and leadership. That's where being simple minded
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comes in. It means developing a focus on
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what's really important than teaching, preaching, practicing
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and reinforcing those principles in ways that truly make a
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positive difference. Being simple minded in this
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context isn't about being stupid or unable to grasp complicated
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ideas. It's just the opposite.
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A quote attributed to Albert Einstein says if you can't
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explain it simply, then you don't understand it well enough.
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That's at the core of becoming a simple minded coach.
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The following are a few examples of how I tried to use simplicity
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to get beginning athletes started.
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Developing clearly defined common language is a starting
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point. To avoid having athletes carry
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tape measures everywhere, we introduced the term shoes as a
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unit of measure. 2 shoes is the length when an athlete takes 2
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consecutive steps heel to toe to measure something.
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We didn't use the word feet or the word foot because that is
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understood to equal 12 inches. Shoes will also be different for
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each athlete and that's a good thing because the rest of their
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bodies are unique and different too.
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So again, if each of the athletes shoes counts as one
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when introducing starting blocks, we'd use the 123 method.
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Set the body of the starting block 1 shoe back from the
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starting line, the front block 2 shoes back from the starting
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line, and the back block 3 shoes back from the starting line.
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This gets a solid starting point for the vast majority of
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athletes. I was able to confirm this
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method with Coach Tony Wells of Colorado, who was among the best
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ever at coaching athletes to fast starts.
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Coach Tony and I discussed this over a long shared layover at
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the Salt Lake City Airport while enjoying some Cinnabon rolls.
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He had detailed measurements and mathematical formulas that he
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used as he refined the starts of his athletes.
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But he acknowledged that the 123 method was a very reasonable way
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to get a beginner started, and hearing that from him was good
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enough for me. So how did we incorporate this?
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At an early season practice? We'd get out as many starting
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blocks as we could muster, ideally 16 sets.
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If we had them and set them up back-to-back about 10 yards
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apart in all 8 lanes of the track, we'd have all the
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athletes, distance runners, throwers, jumpers, pole
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vaulters, come join the sprinters and hurdlers and learn
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to set and use the starting blocks.
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This humbled some of the athletes from the other groups
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when they realized how much skill is involved, but it also
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revealed some natural abilities in others that may have gone
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unnoticed. Best of all, in my mind, it
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allowed some of the Super smart potential future coaches on the
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team the knowledge to help newbies and others in the
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future, even if they didn't typically use starting blocks in
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their events, on meet day and at practice.
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The athletes always had their form of measurement right there
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with them, their shoes. And yes, we would tweak settings
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as time went by, but we never sent athletes to the line
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without a clue of how to get their blocks set in a basic,
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usable way. A common question is how do the
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athletes know which is the front foot and which is the back and
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the blocks? If the athlete may be a hurdler,
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we want the lead leg back in the blocks so that it can take so
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that can take a bit more time to determine for others.
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I used to, back in the days before lawsuits, direct the
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athletes to stand with their feet together.
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Then I'd walk behind them and give them a push in the middle
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of their back. Whichever foot took the first
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step would be the back foot in the blocks.
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As I became wiser, kinder and gentler, I would interrupt
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whatever we were doing and loudly challenge an athlete to a
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10m race without thinking. They would instinctively put 1
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foot forward and 1 foot back. We'd use that to get started in
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the blocks. And no, I didn't actually race
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them either. When first teaching blind relay
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exchanges, we'd eventually use the measurements of shoes there,
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too. First, we'd established the use
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of the push pass, with a nice high target that showed the
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outgoing runner's open palm toward the face of the incoming
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runner, with the thumb pointed down toward the track.
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I grew up as an athlete using the underhand pass, in which the
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outgoing runner would receive the baton and then immediately
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switch hands. The push pass was a more natural
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motion, was easier to recover from in case of a missed
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connection, and eliminated the need to switch hands.
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Basically, it was simpler and more efficient.
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I learned the terminology that we used to teach the push pass
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from Olympic and World Championships Gold medalist in
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the 4 by 100 relay, Harvey Glantz at a clinic.
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Harvey was coaching at Auburn University, his alma mater at
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the time. He taught that the baton always
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ran in the middle of the lane and that the athletes ran on the
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borders of the lane. Beautifully simple.
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The 1st and 3rd runners would carry and in the case of the
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third runner also receive the baton in the right hand. 2nd and
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4th would receive carry and in the case of the second runner
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also hand off the baton with the left hand.
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So why the right hand for the 1st and 3rd runner?
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This was not just personal preference since runners one and
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three will be running the curve and will be most efficient by
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running along the inside border. It also keeps in the the baton
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in the center of the lane if it's in their right hand.
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Since runners 2 and four are almost entirely on the
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straightaway, they can run the outside border of the lane and
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receive and carry the baton in their left hand, keeping it in
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the middle of the lane. Again, nobody switches hands,
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just grab and go. The concept of shoes comes into
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plays when establishing an athlete's go mark, the spot on
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which the outgoing runner takes off as the incoming runner
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arrives. To avoid the need for chalk or
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tape, we would simply use the painted mark at the beginning of
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the acceleration zone, now the full exchange zone, as the go
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mark. The outgoing athlete would
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carefully measure off the predetermined number of shoes
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into the zone from the go mark and would stand there and get
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themselves ready. We'd start practice.
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We'd start in practice with 18 shoes for a 4 by 100 or 12 shoes
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for a 4 by 200, and then adjust from there depending on the
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nature of the athletes. By the time an athlete was on
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the A-Team in a relay, our very best team, the process was much
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more refined and adjusted, trying to get the most of each
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athlete. But the goal was to get the
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masses at a comfort level and a high assurance of basic success
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in passing the baton. Oh, and we would make sure that
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everyone got practice starting with the baton in their right
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hand, plus carrying, giving and receiving the baton with each
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hand so that when the unexpected occurred and someone was sick or
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injured and couldn't run a particular leg of the relay,
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anyone could fill in without it being their first time ever
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experiencing that role. One way we would give this
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experience was to have a practice with the team running
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two sets of a continuous 4 by 100m relay.
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Each athlete would be assigned to a team of five total people.
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Four of them would line up as if they were about to race A4 by
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100m relay, and the 5th would remain at the start, usually
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standing on the blocks for the first runner.
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When the anchor runner came in, that fifth person would have
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already removed the blocks and then would receive in the right
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hand to keep the relay going until everyone was back in the
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same position they started in. To get there, they'd each have
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to run 100 meters five times. To be able to keep the focus on
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the baton exchange experience and not get overly exhausted,
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we'd direct the athletes to run hard through the zone, but then
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jog easy between the handoffs. Everyone would slowly walk a
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full lap before starting the second set.
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Once done, each athlete would have multiple experiences
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exchanging the baton with each hand.
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It could be a bit wild at times, but it accomplished the
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objective. For our distance runners who
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would get a fair amount of training off campus on local
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roads, we established the rules of the road, sent a copy home,
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and kept it posted in our locker room as well.
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Most rules were specific to our local situation, but one that
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could apply anywhere and proved to be most helpful at keeping
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the athletes safe was always make your own crossing
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decisions. We've probably all watched a
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group of young runners come up to a crossroad and stop to wait
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for traffic to clear. Then we'd see the first few make
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a good choice to cross when it was safe, but others catch on a
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bit late and try to cross moments later, often when it was
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no longer safe. We did our best to instill the
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always make your own crossing decisions mindset into all of
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our runners who may train on the roads with our team or even on
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their own during the offseason. We were blessed to have 0 motor
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vehicle versus runner accidents over the decades.
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Simple, repeatable, and effective, and we'd often hear
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the athletes reminding each other of this rule In
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establishing long jump steps for the first time when runway time
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and space is limited, we would move to the backstretch
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straightaway. On the track, athletes would be
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put into groups of three. Each athlete would have his, his
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or her own color of sidewalk chalk.
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Assigned tape measures would be spread out along the lane lines
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in a few lanes. Each of the three athletes had a
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role to fulfill on each Rep, and those roles would be rotated.
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If Mikey was the one whose turn it was to run down the track,
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he'd start at the 0 mark on the tape.
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Charlie would go to a point somewhere between the 60 foot
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mark for younger, weaker athletes to around the 80 or 90
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foot mark for stronger, faster athletes based on the advice of
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the coach. With Mikey's color of chalk, it
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would be important that the running athlete would start at
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the 0 mark every single time. Charlie would mark with an X
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wherever Mikey's take off foot landed closest to where Charlie
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was standing on that Rep. Johnny would count would be
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assigned to count the number of times the take off foot took a
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stride and landed on the track. Just counting that foot only,
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not both strides because that makes it really hard when
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they're running fast. How do we know which would be
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the take off foot? We didn't know for sure, but
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most athletes had been exposed to basketball in PE or in other
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ways, so they generally took off on their left foot if
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right-handed, as if shooting a layup, or they took off on their
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right foot if they were left-handed.
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This might change, but again, it was a starting point.
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Eventually, each athlete would learn to count out each time his
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own take off foot landed. Then the roles would change.
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Charlie would run, Mikey would count steps, and Johnny would
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mark an X in the lane. Wherever Charlie's take off foot
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landed, we'd rotate roles one last time, then repeat the whole
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process 3 or 4 times. Anyway, after a few reps, a
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pattern would begin to emerge. There may be an outlier or two
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that we'd ignore, but for the most part, a clump of the same
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color of XS would appear that would become the board.
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If the middle of that clump of XS was 80 feet away from the
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starting mark, then that would become the athlete's starting
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point 80 feet from the board. I can't recall who I learned
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this concept from, but I'm pretty sure it was in a clinic.
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This eliminated the wasted time of having too many people
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waiting for the runway, or the inaccuracy of having a group
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come try to determine their steps after a workout.
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It also eliminated the tendency of a young athlete to stare down
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at the board and change his or her stride trying to hit the
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board. We could determine the steps of
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many potential long jumpers in a single practice session, crucial
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when early season outdoor weather can make life difficult,
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as it often did in Michigan. And again, it allowed the
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potential future coaches to get their brains working in that
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direction on how to help their team mates.
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We'd use a variation of this on meet day.
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If the runway was crowded during warmups, our jumpers could take
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a tape measure and a partner and do run throughs on the
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backstretch to check their step. We'd make sure that they ran in
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the same direction as the runway so that any wind would impact
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them the same way as it would in the competition.
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Hopefully these examples have challenged your thinking and
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habits. Maybe you've already, maybe
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you're already great at being a simple minded coach.
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Maybe there are some areas you want to change.
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Either way, I'd love to hear from you.
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If you have questions or thoughts, or maybe even would be
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interested in recording your own episode for this series, feel
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free to e-mail me clientrelations@coacho.com.
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Thank you very much and have a blessed day.
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Hey gang, Mike Cunningham here. Thanks for joining us for this
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