May I have your attention, please?
Focus. Stay with me.
I am going to ask you one question.
When you have a player’s attention, what are you doing with it?
The athlete before you is paying you attention. She is spending energy on you and what you have in store for her. Attention is a very valuable commodity as it can be converted into even greater assets like knowledge, skill, and character.
Well, that is assuming that you engage that attention productively and efficiently.
Attention: The capacity to maintain selective concentration.
Are you asking a player to maintain selective concentration on worthy challenges or mindless tasks of obedience? Dynamic contextual activities or numbing circuits? It is a fair but brutal question. Certain training exercises require both profound attention and worthy intentions and some do not.
Intention: The act of determining mentally upon some action or result.
Consider asking for an honest and fruitful exchange.
Ask your player for her attention and then immediately direct it to solving the challenges posed by the game itself. That is, ask her to solve equations that lead directly to her own growth. Pay her dividends for paying attention.
If you are asking a player to go through the motions, little benefits are set in motion. Challenge her. Let her compete. Let her struggle. Let her succeed. Let your athlete realize that attention coupled with intention accelerates achievement.
Let her understand that…
"Attention is what steers your perceptions; it’s what controls your reality". (Apollo Robbins)
Focus. Stay with me.
I am going to ask you the same question once more.
When you have a player’s attention, what are you doing with it?
Reprinted with kind permission from Todd Beane, Founder of TOVO Training and TOVO Academy Barcelona.
In TOVO Training, Beane has combined proven pedagogical practices of experts in the field of education with the visionary components of a total football legend into a dynamic and practical training methodology.
Christchurch United FC is rethinking Talent Development with TOVO Academy Barcelona which is regarded the best holistic program in Europe for players aiming to excel in football and beyond.
"Training extraordinary educators and crazy good coaches." - Todd Beane