If you don’t share a common language with your players or coachee, you are not on the same page, and that’s a problem. It might be that you share the same language, but its meaning has been lost in translation. Or, one or both parties are not listening. Whatever the reason, a communication breakdown is in play.
I want to learn to coach in Welsh (Dw i’n eisiau dysgu hyfforddi yn Gymraeg), and this has got me thinking about the shift from being an “expert” English language speaker to a “learner” Welsh speaker.
I now sit with my players as a learner. My coaching vocabulary is reexamined. How much I say and when I say it is going to change. And more than anything, I’m looking forward to working with my players to look at words, cues, and phrases that they want to hear or think will be useful.
To be continued (I’w barhau).