I’ve been blessed to be schooled as a teacher and to have worked as a coach.
Do I teach?
Yes, of course I do, but as much as I love teaching….. I REALLY love coaching.
Why?
Well, in teaching I am charged with the responsibility of making sure information is presented in a clear fashion. I have to follow the current rules or academic pedagogical trends. I have to create a plan and follow it to make sure there are some accountability
measures in place and that is good. Hell, its ALL GOOD!!!
But as a coach….. a WORLD class coach…. i have one job and one job only.
And that is TO WIN!!!!
My job is to win.
If it rains…….. we MUST win.
If it snows….. we MUST win.
If there’s a hurricane coming…. we MUST win.
If we are sick…. we MUST win.
If we are tired….. we MUST win.
If you don’t feel like, feeling like, we want to feel like it… We NEED to feel like it anyway and…… we MUST win.
Now with that being said, I do what I have to do to win at all costs (within the moral and ethical standards that I have set for myself.).
And that means that I will take extreme measures to win that most “teachers” just cannot take.
Case in point.
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16 hours of training
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I had the pleasure of being the first and still the ONLY judo player and coach from the United States to hold an International Head Coaching Position for another country. In 2009, after a success run with 2-Time Olympian Taraje Williams-Murray, I found myself at the Bahamas Judo Federation as the Head Coach. It was a new job with a new set of responsibilities and quite honestly, a job that required a set of skills for which I really “NEEDED IMPROVEMENT.”
So while the job was an excellent opportunity for me to coach, it was also an excellent one for me to learn. To say that I made some mistakes and errors along the way is a HUGE understatement. I was like a new surgeon out of med school. I knew my stuff, but I was sure to hack up a few people and while not causing death, disfigurement was guaranteed. LOL!!
But as I learned, I got better. But the one thing that I KNEW THEN and that I know now, is that MATH DOES NOT LIE.
IF YOU WANT TO BE GOOD AT SOMETHING, YOU MUST DO THE REPETITIONS.
PERIOD.
POINT BLANK.
AND END OF STORY!!!!
If you want to be good, you must put in the reps. DAMN, putting in the time. Time is Bullsmith without the reps. And the reps must be high-quality reps with SUPERVISION!!!
I knew, as well as the President of the Bahamian Judo Federation, Mr. D’Arcy Rahming, that the Bahamas had ZERO chance of winning any international bouts, let alone some bouts at the World level without doing the reps.
So what did we do?
We decided to do the only thing that you can do if you are in a long distance race with someone and you are behind.
You run a little bit faster and you take shorter breaks. Meaning, when they are resting and sleeping, you are working. This is the only way to catch up. So that is what we did. We started doing sessions where practices where, 4, 6, 10 and sometimes 16 hours STRAIGHT!!
Why?
Because if you are teaching, all you are required to do is to TEACH IT!!
If they get it? Cool. If not? Well, then they get an F. Well, in coaching, if they don’t get it…..YOUR ASS IS FIRED!! And you if you got paid, you WILL NOT get paid again.
It is your job and charge to find the thing that motivates the athlete/player/student. Even if it is as the price of them “liking” you. Because YOU HAVE A JOB TO DO!!!
So sometimes what we do as coaches…. seems abusive. HERE are a few things that I learned that sometimes has to be done as a coach in order to attain excellence in an area or domain.
*** LONG hours of practice
*** Drilling situations, problems, moves or techniques until athletes cry
*** Refusing to pay attention when people are hurt because, you being hurt has NOTHING to do with the task getting done
*** Creating no whining and no complaining zones
*** Pushing people to the brink of mental or physical exhaustion because THAT is where the chief learning occurs for the high achiever. (IT DOES NOT HAPPEN IN THE COMFORT ZONE!!)
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Believe What You
Want
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Believe and think what you want about high achievement, excellence or expert acquisition.
Whores and prostitutes are VERY GOOD because they have hours of practicing in the bed. Unless you plan on winning the SLEEPING World Championships or joining the workforce for the oldest profession in the world, I would SUGGEST THAT YOU GET YOUR A$$ UP IN THE MORNING AND GET TO WORKING ON SOMETHING THAT YOU WANT TO BE GOOD IN!!!!! (and that might just mean that you have to wake up early to freaking practice waking up early.)
OR……..
You can allow some people, like the kids in the Bahamas, to sneak up on you and pass you because you thought you were sooooo good that you could spend your time…… “sleeping.”
Don’t get me wrong, I BELIEVE in resting. I just believe in it AFTER working.
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Closing
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Have a great day good people and please check out my facebook page
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Also I would really love for you to support, get, and READ my book
“Coffee With Rhadi” –>http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=FpV.g&m=3iIPJpfiJoHduTa&b=l08rM2HLHP9XQtyiT0MG3A
Take care and have super fantastic day!!
Dedicated to your improvement,
Rhadi Ferguson, PhD
2004 Olympian
Coach & Author
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=FpV.g&m=3iIPJpfiJoHduTa&b=54dHqZMSn6zuWKyD_A6q0A
P.S. Is it possible for us to sit down and share a cup of coffee
some time in the near future? http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=FpV.g&m=3iIPJpfiJoHduTa&b=54dHqZMSn6zuWKyD_A6q0A
P.P.S If you or your organization is looking for a dynamic speaker
or seminarist, look no further. Have no fear….Dr. Ferguson is
here 🙂 –>http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=FpV.g&m=3iIPJpfiJoHduTa&b=vSOAK_gLZPw8bSZ9qt2w6g