No Pain - No Gain - A Variation

Published: 30 Apr 2007 - 18:16 by raystrach

Updated: 08 Apr 2011 - 17:48

Subscribers: Log in to subscribe to this post.

Most people would be familiar with the training slogan "No Pain - No Gain". And while there is certainly more than an element of truth in it, it also applies to another area of sporting development, and that is skill.

Whilst it might not be all that painful to learn new skills, there is a natural reluctance to oneself out of one's "comfort zone:. And very little, if anything will be gained if we do not go through the pain of being out of that zone.

When coaching, it is very easy to spot someone who is attempting a new skill. Even if they are successful in completing the skill, there is usually a certain clunkiness to its performance and a certain discomfort on the part of the student.

The subconscious is say "this is all wrong!", the muscles are saying "this is going to be a stuff up" whilst the conscious brain is trying to overcome all these distractions by trying to control all these new actions.

It is not easy!

So when an enthusiastic student comes along and puts everything into their coaching session, the coach has to remind themselves that this student needs to continually be prodded to move out of their comfort zone to try to increase the scope of their skills.

The student is trying to everything to the best of their ability
They often do not like making a fool of themselves in front of the one person they are trying desperately to please.
The thing is, I am always looking to extend the boundaries of the player's skills. They must look at trying new things within the bounds of the task that the coach has set. They are going to fail sometimes, but in doing so, they will add another piece of experience into their past which will, in turn, help them with their future.

From that one mistake and the feedback they receive from the coach, they can adjust their next approach. Through this trial, error, evaluation process they will eventually master the skill.

The problem when we do this by ourselves, unless we really know our technique and/or our game well, we really do not know where we are going wrong. At the very least, a good coach or knowledgeable observer can provide some guidance on what we need to do to make improvements.

We should try to resist the temptation to always try to win, especially in practice situations. This is the time we should be trying to perfect skill we are having problem with or to try new strategies.

Because I am always trying to improve my game, as a player, i find that comfort zone very uncomfortable.