Stop Calling It “Hard Coaching”

We’ve all heard it (maybe even said it ourselves): “I needed hard coaching. That’s what pushed me.”

But what if we’ve been giving credit to the wrong thing all along?

I’ve been wrestling with this idea after a conversation with a fellow coach this summer. He was sure that what shaped him was being yelled at, cursed at, and “coached hard.”

My question: Was it really the tirades? Or was it something else entirely that made the difference?

I don’t think the answer is what most of us assume.

I break it down in my latest Medium article. You can read it here:

Coach’s Prompt

What parts of your own coaching style are you crediting to “hard coaching”…and are they really about toughness, or about precision?

Player’s Prompt

Think about the coaches who made the biggest impact on you. Was it their intensity—or their exactness—that actually helped you improve?