Coach Ed Science
  • Home
  • Intro
  • PS (1-4)
  • PS (5-9)
  • PS (10-14)
  • PS (15-18)
  • PS (19-21)
  • Space Exploration
  • Warriors Hoops
  • Summer Basketball Camps
  • Flying Pumpkins, 2020
  • Literacy
  • #getBETTER Hoops at Home
  • Coach's Corner
  • NOVA Nation
  • Villa Drills
  • Improving Your Shooting
  • Footwork Drills
  • Bball Skills & Drills
  • USA Basketball Tips
  • Things to Ponder
  • Motivation
  • Sportsmanship
  • Thoughts from Paul Harvey
  • Cool Links & Games

Coach's Corner

“It never ceases to surprise me at the infinite capacity of the human mind to resist the introduction of useful knowledge.”
- Thomas Raynesford Lounsbury

OVERLEARNING = AUTOPILOT = PEAK PERFORMANCE (DON SHULA - PART II)

11/20/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
​Don Shula led the Miami Dolphins to two Super Bowl victories and to the only perfect season in the history of the National Football League He led his teams to six Super Bowls. He had only two losing seasons in his 33-year career as a head coach in the NFL (1963-1995) Shula holds the NFL record for most career wins as a head coach with 347.
 
In his book with Ken Blanchard: The Little Book of Coaching, Shula discusses the importance of Overlearning:
 
"Overlerning means that the players are so prepared for a game that they have the skill and confidence needed to make the big play. More than anything else, overlerning—constant practice, constant attention to getting the details right every time—produces hunger to be in the middle of the action. When players have absolutely no doubt about what they're supposed to do or how to do it, they thrive on pressure. Overlearning causes people to play at a higher level of expectations, raising the standards for everyone.
 
People in organizations should develop a fascination with what doesn't work. If you spend some valuable time concentrating on eliminating practice errors, you'll also eliminate a good amount of the second-guessing that goes on come performance time. Every mistake should be noticed and redirected on the spot. There's no such thing as a small error or flaw that can be easily overlooked. As a coach, if you let errors go unnoticed, you'll ensure that more of them will occur."
 
A coach should recognize the limit of how much information each student can learn and then execute without thinking. Shula refers to this as autopilot. Bill Russell and John Wooden both said: "If you have to think about it it's too late". Shula described how autopilot results in initiative and creativity which improves performance:
 
"If your people are worrying about what they should be doing, they have a tendency to hold back. You want them out there turning it loose. I wanted my players so familiar with their assignments that when the game started, they were operating on autopilot, the way you do when you drive a car. You're not thinking about what your hands and feet are supposed to be doing, you're just doing it.When an orator is really prepared for a speech, he or she is able to improvise and be creative in ways that significantly enhance the presentation. The goal of autopilot in the business world is to release people to do on their own what they've learned reflects the values, goals, and standards of the company—and to be creative the rest of the time."
 
Are you giving a team member too much to learn? What mistakes do you never ignore? Are your team members operating on autopilot or are they thinking first and holding back?
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Dave Edinger has been coaching basketball for 37 years at the high school, middle school. and international levels. As a head coach, his teams have won 572 games.

    Archives

    January 2022
    December 2021
    September 2021
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed