Saturday, February 18, 2023

Sport: Confirmation Bias, There's No Two Sides About It Plus a Pair of "Coach Hacks"

"If everything you see confirms your view of the world, you're doing it wrong. You're building a lawyer's case..." - Paul Krugman

Coaching is never boring. How can a job demanding excellence in organization, short-term and long-range decisions, teaching, communication, self-regulation, and more be easy? 

Three things is life are certain - death, taxes, and no coach has players and players' extended families who are completely satisfied. 

"She's turning the ball over too much. Why is she playing ahead of my kid?"

  • Are we seeing with our eyes or our heart?"
  • Are we ignoring strengths or overweighting negatives? 
  • Maybe the positives outweigh the negatives.
  • Maybe there's a "development" factor. Things are getting better. 
  • Maybe, for all her flaws, our child's are worse. 
The list goes on. Parents should advocate for our children. If not parents, then who will? I have no children or grandchildren playing competitively, so no paternity prism filters the light reaching my eyes. 

As coaches, accept that. But at the same time, the coach's job is doing what is best for the team. As Brad Stevens says, each day ask, "what does our team need now?"

Everyone needs clarity. At the varsity level, winning and sustainable competitive advantage should be goals. How? 
  • Add value."Every day is player development day." Competition paired with development strengthens the program. 
  • Get buy in. Choose a consistent program philosophy and get everyone on the same page with it. 
  • "Character is job one." - Etorre Messina. Character forges commitment, discipline, empathy, sportsmanship, and teamwork. Coaches set the tone and model excellence. An abundance of rules won't make people better. Player ownership of team behaviors fashions maturity. If smoking and drinking take priority over basketball, then feel free to leave. 
  • "Obsess the product." The best players make everyone around them better and impact winning. Within that context, remember what Heat coach Erik Spoelstra says, "there is always a pecking order." Every player deserves coaching but every player may not get minutes every game. If the principal and the AD want it to be rec ball and everyone plays, then everyone in the community can't have championship aspirations. 
  • Consider more transparency if not "radical transparency." Without transparency, people speculate. "The coach doesn't like me" or "I'm not getting opportunities at practice." Coaches can't co-coach with parents, but when parents observe parts of practices, education, and the direction in which the team is headed, there is less diversity and extremism of opinion. Ray Dalio said, "I think the greatest tragedy of mankind is that people have ideas and opinions in their heads but don’t have a process for properly examining these ideas to find out what’s true. That creates a world of distortions. That’s relevant to what we do, and I think it’s relevant to all decision making." Know that, "Transparency generates trust in both consumers and employees."
There are problems with more objective self-assessment.
  • More objective people have higher rates of depression.
  • We see ourselves through a harsher light of reality. 
  • Objectivity can be soul-crushing for some. 
Finding balance between arrogance and doubt has a name - confidence. With a better process, considering outside opinions and both sides of an issue, we may gain both perspective and respect. Saying, "I hadn't thought of it that way" isn't always easy. 

Summary:
  • Add value.
  • Get buy in.
  • "Character is job one." - Etorre Messina. 
  • "Obsess the product." - Sarah Blakely
  • Consider more transparency.
Lagniappe (something extra). This is NOT an introductory press. Without players having a strong defensive foundation, it is hard to teach. 

Lagniappe 2. Even if you play in a shot clock state (we do in Massachusetts), there's a role for having a delay game and learning to defend against it. 

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