Archive for November, 2007





If becoming a better golfer is high on your list of priorities, you are in luck as there are a variety of different things that you can do to accomplish this feat. Whereas many individuals pay a great deal of cash investing in things like swing aids or professional golf lessons, there are undoubtedly more price efficient ways that to good your swing and improve your golf game. A golf instruction book is one such method of improvement, as a top quality book can show you all of the techniques that you wish to learn to succeed. Golf does not have to be a difficult game and if you have got access to a book written by someone who knows what she is talking concerning, you should undoubtedly exploit this knowledge.

The primary issue that a golf instruction book can tell you is that you wish to wash your mind of all major distractions. This is often a typical drawback for golfers, as many believe that they need to be thinking about every individual movement beforehand. This, however, merely causes these individuals to over suppose their stroke and once a golfer is thinking too much, he or she is much more probably to have an ugly swing. If you have ever seen someone like Charles Barkley swing a golf club, you will understand precisely what it can do when you over assume things.

The next issue that a golf instruction book will do is show you where your body should be at every stage of the swing. If simply one part of your body is out of place, your rhythm can be thrown off and you’ll run into important problems. Eventually, this rhythm will become second nature but when you’re 1st starting out, you definitely can not have the flexibility to stay everything in line all the time. As long as you are ready to correct these mistakes, but, your golf game will undoubtedly improve.

A golf instruction book may be a cost economical manner to enhance your swing during a matter of a few short days. You may not have to satisfy up with an overpriced golf pro because you will have access to all or any of the same data in the comfort of your own home. Most of those golf professionals are simply individuals who may not make the tour anyway so when it comes right all the way down to it, they are at an analogous level to you and have no business teaching you.





The role of the modern sports coach encompasses a variety of different roles and when an individual undertakes the position at a junior level, the responsibilities of those roles are significantly increased. A coach, irrespective of the sport that he chooses to teach, will be a mentor, a confidant and a conduit between an individual child and their parents. The role is a position that many would strive to avoid but once a sports coach finds a level of trust and familiarity with his charges, the significance of the roles to be played multiplies greatly.

One of the biggest pressures children face when taking part in competitive sports is the kind that is heaped upon them by eager parents who are often desperate to see their child succeed. The reasons for this pressure are numerous and many believe that some parents have a latent desire to see their child fulfill the sporting dreams that they never managed to fulfill themselves. Others will declare that a Mother or Father may occasionally feel the watching eyes of other parents making studious assessments of an offspring and will urge a child on to greater glory to relieve the pressure they feel themselves. Some parents may simply be incredibly competitive in their own right and find that they are unable to contain that particular side of their personality when the child performs.

For the greater part, the fact remains that parents simply want their child to do well in whatever task they undertake. Often, parental pride becomes a significant factor but on most occasions, a parent will want the child to enjoy that sense of fulfillment that comes with carrying out a task to the best of their abilities. As a reversal, parents will have a protective urge to shield their offspring from the daunting prospect of failure.

Sport provides a unique arena for parents to act this way because the differences between success and failure are so easy to define. Their child will be, momentarily, either a winner or a loser. For some parents, this becomes a responsibility in itself and the pressure of such a situation often boils over and finds itself directed at the child. Before long, the child finds that they are unable to perform to the best of their abilities or, even worse, they actually begin to dislike the sporting experience because the pressure becomes so monumental for them.

The sports coach has a responsibility to shield the child from this type of pressure even if dealing with the issue ultimately costs him the services of the individual concerned. Research shows that children, especially those that make up the younger age groups in the five to eight year bracket, have the ability to assess their own performances without basing them on the ultimate result of a sporting event. Younger children will judge their performance in terms of effort, contribution and, most importantly, how much fun they had. It is only when the implications of winning or losing a sporting event are introduced that the pressures begin and more often than not, this information is filtered to the child through the parent instead of the sports coach.

The coach has a series of tools at his disposal to deal with the pressures that are placed on young children in a sporting environment and the best of these tools is simple communication. When a child joins a sports club or begins to play in a school environment, the coach will have the ideal opportunity to relieve parental pressure before it has an opportunity to materialize. A written code of conduct can be issued to parents and this should include detailed information about the effects of parental pressure. This particular tool gives a sports coach the chance to tell parents what he expects from them in terms of attitude and behavior and because those sentiments are immediately out in the open, a coach has a reference point that can be used as an example if he needs to talk to the parents about any subsequent indications of parental pressure.

A coach may also use the code of conduct to state his preferred forms of action if pressure becomes excessive and parents will be left in no doubt about what is expected from them. A sense of enjoyment, freedom and fair play should always be encouraged, particularly at a younger age when the most important role a coach has to play is developing a love of the game itself.

Children grow quickly and by the time they have been playing sports for a number of years, a more natural form of pressure is introduced from their peers. This promotes a more evolved sense of pressure that is proportionate, understandable and welcomed. It is here that a competitive edge can be nurtured but the element of enjoyment should always be an absolute priority.

Parents are, by and large, receptive entities and if a coach is able to speak from a position of authority, they tend to listen and act accordingly. Usually, a friendly word is enough but a coach should not be afraid to distance parents who pressure a child. Often, that pressure will pass on to other children within the group and when a collective of parents are forcing their feelings on a larger number of youngsters, it becomes more difficult to resolve the situation.

There will be rare times that a coach is unable to resolve the situation by written and verbal methods and at this stage, a coach has to act on behalf of the group instead of an individual child. Offer parents a break from the club for a short while to consider their options but always allow an open door for the child. Rejection is a different entity altogether and can also cause great distress to a maturing youngster.

The coach will be many things in his career, even when he operates on a voluntary basis. Of all the roles he plays, the most important must be that of protector. Personal progression must always be sacrificed in the interests of the child and if the messages regarding pressure are always made clear and left in the open, the chances are that even the pushiest of parents will learn to evolve at the same rate as the child.