Coaching by committee is a bad idea ! When athletes begin bouncing from coach to coach, they inevitably end in a confused state. Each person has a different way of looking at racquetball performance.
A good professional coaching staff is so good teaching technique, the athletes may at first lose, but eventually win. That is what it takes to win at racquetball; technique and attention to details. The downside of technique is it is difficult. Not everyone has the mental tenacity or vision to stay with it. Their ego takes a pounding during the learning phases.
What makes committee coaching fail? Usually the athlete and a local coach who believes they know more. The athlete gets stuck between two philosophies. The best way I heard it put, was from a friend of mine, another top coach. He called it as there is a difference between racquetball coaches and racquetball trainers. The former teach racquetball and the latter focus on conditioning.
1. Unconscious incompetence-you are bad at technique but happy.
2. Conscious incompetence-now you are aware of your bad technique and frustrated as you try to improve.
3. Conscious competence-in this phase you are aware of your technique but at times it slips away.
4. Unconscious competence-now you are a “natural” as your practice locked your technique in. You do not have to think about it for the most part in this phase.
Alas, many players quit at phase 2 and most stay in phase 1!
Look at it like this. If I had a magic pill and if you took that pill your game would go down. You would start losing at first and keep losing but your game would go up and you would be better than you ever dreamed. Would you take that pill? Changing technique may mean losing first, but eventually winning beyond your dreams !
Go Get’em Tigers!