subject: Vertical Training Improvements From Self-Coaching [print this page] Great coaching is an essential part of an effective vertical training plan. Sure, you have to put the flight time in yourself, but having a great coach to keep you on track can make the difference between good, great and excellent. Coaching differs slightly from training and the International Institute of Coaching define it in these terms:"Sports Coaching is a collaborative, solution-focused, results-oriented, systematic and enlightening process in which the coach is working is one particular aspect of the Client's life and that is to help the Client develop their sports skills. Sports Coaching covers every type of sport."Coaching assumes a fair degree of established knowledge and skill in the player and instead of the coach taking the role of expert, the coach assumes that the player has all the answers within themselves and will instead concentrate on creating the right environment for them to surface. You may be aware that Tiger Woods works with a coach instead of a trainer. Anyone think they can tell Tiger how to do it better?The solutions focused approach works particularly well in sports and basketball is no exception. A traditional problem-orientated approach concentrates on what's wrong with a player's technique, what the root cause of that error is and eventually how to fix the problem.A solutions focus flips that on it's head by identifying what the player already does well, and encouraging them to do more of it.Here are seven solutions-focused coaching questions that you can use right now to gain some personal insight and changes to your vertical training plan.1. On a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 representing the perfect vertical jump, and 0 the worst it has ever been, where are you on that scale today? (X)2. What has assisted you in getting to this point already?3. What other things aid your performance at (X) along the scale, instead of zero?4. When has an outstanding vertical leap already happened for you - even just once?5. How did you make that happen?6. What did you do differently?7. What is the next small step you can take?You should be working with a coach, whether they have a solutions focused approach or something else. The key is whether they help you to get results or not. Despite that, you'll derive tremendous value from writing out the answers to these seven questions on a piece of paper for yourself. You may prefer to work in pairs with a teammate, or even have a friend or family member ask them to you so that you can concentrate fully on the answers and not the questions.A terrific sport psychologist I know gave me the following analogy to the solutions focused approach. He told me that people always get either green stuff (what they want) or they get red stuff (what they don't want). You have the choice as to whether to spend your time trying to get rid of the red stuff, or else go all-out to have so much green stuff, nothing else matters.It's a great way to flip your current thinking on it's head, so go fill your vertical training plan with plenty of green stuff!
