Functional Path Training

The Seeds of Culture

Clay Erro is the former football coach at Enterprise High School in Redding, California and one of the winningest football coaches in Northern Californian history. More important than his success was his ability to teach young men to be responsible adults and citizens. His approach was unconventional with a premium on relationships and teaching. Relationships are not built upon rules. Just look at the institution of marriage. A successful marriage is built on trust and expectations and communication, not rules. Instead of rules, the team had simple self-explanatory guidelines:

• We not me
• No excuses
• No messengers
• No sympathy groups

Starting with a few simple guidelines as the seed, the team culture grew from there.

Core values define team culture. Developing core values is a process. It is a process that ideally is driven by the athletes and guided by the coach. This process will ensure ownership. If the culture is established, then it becomes a process of initiation into the core values. Core values are not rules, they are principles that guide, not regulate behavior. They are more than words written on the locker room wall. They are words that are translated into action every day in training. The coach’s role is to insure that the core values are real and lived by everyone associated with the team. It has been my experience that they transcend sport, better people are better athletes.

GAIN January Master Class

Don’t miss out on an opportunity to develop professionally. Join us for the January GAIN Master Class. This month topic is Perspectives on Leadership. The presenters will Vern Gambetta, Martin Bingisser, Paul Davis of the Atlanta Braves and Brian Fitzgerald of Ventura college. Each will present a unique perspective on leadership with an emphasis on lessons they have learned and concepts you can apply to improve your leadership. Sign up for the whole series or individual episodes. A season pass is $499.99, individual episode are $55.00. https://thegainnetwork.com/events/gain2020/ Signup and you will have access to all this seasons Master Class episodes.

Good Enough?

Good enough is never good enough! That seems harsh and leaves no room for nuance but watching people in my 52 years of coaching has convinced me that accepting good enough is a clear path to mediocrity. Too often good enough means going through the motions with no focus and minimal effort. It is being physically present without being there. I set a standard of expectations for myself and the athletes and coaches that I work with. It is an expectation that we expect perfect effort every session. Nothing less. It takes no talent, just focus and directed work to achieve or exceed your potential. As a coach I will not accept good enough. To be the best you can be is uncomfortable. It demands being comfortable with being uncomfortable all the time. There will be failure, but those perceived failures by others are learning opportunities for you. Take advantage, take risks never be satisfied with good enough. A quote from educator John Gardner is particularly appropriate: “Much education (coaching – my emphasis) is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving people cut flowers when we should be teaching them how to grow plants.” Let’s challenge ourselves and the athletes we work with to raise the level of expectation.

Dealing With Change

We are living in a time of unprecedented change. This gives us a great opportunity to grow and adapt. There are two choices; 1) React to change 2) manage change and own it. I don’t know about you, but I am working to manage change – to own it. I know I cannot do what I have always done. We cannot control the future – but we can control what we do now, in the present. Is this process comfortable? Is it easy? No way, but I am convinced if we manage it, we will be better.

Life 101 - Changing Your World

As 21-year-old just out of college I was convinced that my mission was to change the world. My youthful enthusiasm was soon tempered by realism. I quickly learned that the best way to change the world was to change my world. The following is some thoughts and ideas that I have learned over the years to change my world. Perhaps these thoughts will help you change your world and we can all make the world a better place together.

“Everyone’s journey, timeline, gifts, constraints, obstacles, & triumphs are different. Don’t look left or right. Just keep looking within, look up & look forward.” Unknown Source

It comes down to choices we make. “Choices are our beliefs turned into action, and those actions set us down a path.” Rose Marcario, Former CEO of Patagonia

Failure is not fatal, nor is it final. As Tom Peters said, “Fail forward.” 

What is your world? You define it. It can be a geographical place, a concept or a state of mind. The key is that you define your world. Here are some simple rules that will help you change and better define your world:

Stay Basic

Stay Hungry

Stay Focused

Stay Excited

Stay Uncomfortable

Stay You

Stay Passionate

Stay a Child

Smiles will get you Miles

Remember the Little Engine Who Could – I think I can! I think I can!

“A different future is possible when we refuse to be prisoners of the past”  President Barack Obama

Days of Iron Men & Wooden Ships?

I played college football in the mid 1960’s at Fresno State College. My goal from the time I was 12 years old was to play college football. It was a long shot as I did not even start on my high school team until I was a senior. I was ​a​late developer having started high school at 13.5 years old, so in essence I was always a year behind my class. I made it; I was Captain of the freshman team. We were terrible with only 23 players, so I played 58 minutes a game at offensive center and defensive tackle. I was about 190 pounds. Spring practice 1965 I made the varsity and earned a $50 dollar a semester scholarship. I bulked up to 220 pounds. I was the third string center starting in the fall. My goal was to make the traveling squad to play University of Hawaii the last game of the year over thanksgiving break. I made it, got to go to Hawaii and fly in a plane for the first time. I was the youngest on the team. Many of the other players were in their mid-twenties and had been in the service and played two years of JC ball. They rented cars and went out drinking while I went for walks on the beach.  

After the season our coach resigned to take a job as an assistant at USC, so we had a new Coach Daryl Rogers, a Fresno State grad who was a complete asshole. He was a Bear Bryant wannabe. He wanted everybody to lose weight and be fast, here I had spent two years trying to bulk up now I had to lose weight. We had no organized off season program. I lifted with the track guys and started on a journey that continues today of learning about conditioning, speed development and strength training. At one point the head coach tried to discourage me from lifting weight because I would get tight and slow. I was an overwhelming 193 getting my ass kicked every day. I was second string center that year and did not play a minute in a game. I forgot to mention that in my sophomore year I got to play in one game for four minutes in a 56 – 0 route of Washburn University.

After the 1966 season I figured out, given the offense ​we ​were running, that if I ever wanted to play, I would have to change positions. So, I went to the head coach and asked to switch to guard. At guard there was a lot of trapping and pulling so my size would not be a disadvantage and my speed had also begun to develop so I could use that as an asset. In spring practice, much to the surprise of all the coaches except for the new offensive line who actually coached me to be better by teaching me my position. There was no screaming at me and calling me a pussy, I graded out as the top offensive lineman. I earned a $350 semester scholarship and a starting position at guard. Unfortunately, on the last pay of the spring game I threw a block downfield and hit my head on the knee of a defensive back and got a severe stinger. It had happened before, but never like this. I lost feeling in my hand for three-days and could not sleep for a week. The rest of the spring and summer I worked on it. I religiously did neck exercises. When we started fall practice, two practices a day in 100 plus heat I held my starting position, but I knew I was not 100%. The day before our first game against Santa Clara, someone swung a blocking bag and hit me in the side of the head and my arm went numb. I didn’t say anything, I started the game and played awful. I was taken out at halftime. We lost the game. I went to practice on Monday, had a terrible practice after being ripped in the film session and being demoted to second string. The next day I went into a coach’s meeting and quit. That was the end of my football career. I would be lying if I said I did not look back. I made up my mind I would have nothing to do with football in any way shape or form, although I did reluctantly coach on​e​ season of junior high school football, not an especially enjoyable experience.

Looking back here are some things that I learned. Football is ​a​brutal violent sport that is not fun in any way shape or form. I learned about racism firsthand. The black players were treated very differently. They lived in a different part of town. Our line coach Bob Burgess was an alcoholic redneck racist and he did nothing to hide it. The N word was an integral part of his vocabulary. If you were injured, you got shots and played. Our team doctors nickname was needles Knutsen, he would shoot you up anywhere anytime including in the locker room at halftime. You were encouraged to take mickey classes to stay eligible. I was yelled at one day when after almost three hours of practice I asked to leave practice because I had a midterm in a night class. The coach asked me if there to get an education or play football. I answered to get an education. I was labeled an intellectual after that (also because I read my assignments before practice while waiting an hour every day to be taped). I was labeled soft and a pussy because I would not do the stupid illegal stuff the redneck line coach taught us. Then and there is where I formulated my philosophy of metal toughness. To me it was being mentally strong and being able to perform under pressure, not screaming and yelling and frothing at the mouth. Football is, at least the way we were taught, was not a game that formed friendships and camaraderie. It was brutal competition every day. We wore full pads every day and hit live every day. In preseason practice my junior year we actually had three practices a day in pads. The morning practice was 93 degrees and the other two practices were 100 degrees plus. We had one water break ​each practice. Looking back, it was a miracle that no one died of heat stroke. Concussions – that is another story. Looking back, there were at least three practices I cannot remember. Everyone just laughed, ah you got you​r​ bell rung. No such a thing as helmet fit. I learned that good coaching can make a difference. The new line coach who came in was a teacher, he related to me as a human being. What a breath of fresh air. He called me by name instead of you pussy. He was also the tennis coach. Next year he won the only NCAA championship Fresno State has ever won.

So, it was a time of iron men and wooden ships. It was macho to be cruel, racist and misogynistic – that was and is the culture of the game. I am hoping that a benefit of Covid 19 pandemic is that there will be a pause button on football at all levels and there will be a total reexamination of the sport and its surrounding culture. I realize I am writing through the lens of my personal experience but hopefully it will stimulate some thought and discussion. The days of iron men and wooden ships should be a thing of the past.

Coaching Advice

Here are some bits of advice that I have received in my coaching career that I found especially helpful:

Be yourself – Define yourself and be the best you, you can be. No one can fault you for this.

Coach the person, not the shot putter, basketball player of swimmer.

Know the basics. Master the basics. Never deviate from the basics.

Make the champions choice. Invest in the process, no shortcuts. Being comfortable with being uncomfortable is the champions way.

These recommendations are very straight forward, nothing complicated and very basic. They have served me well for 51 years.

Emphasize What Matters

In life and in coaching it is important to focus on what matters. What matters most is relationships – people – the human element. In today’s world of fast information and big data it is easy to forget that the numbers, data, scientific measurements are one-dimensional – we coach people who are multidimensional. They are not machines, they respond to care and concern. Good coaching is about developing trust and working together with the athletes to guide them to grow athletically and personally. Every truly effective coach I have known knows what matters and focuses on what matters. They are astute observers and sharp listeners. A simple guideline to help focus on what matters is to remember the 3 C’s connect, convey, and convince.

50 Years and Counting – The Journey Continues

Next Monday marks the anniversary of my first day of coaching fifty years ago. I thought this would be an appropriate post to start the new year.

Even though it is now fifty years since the first Monday in January 1969 it seems like just yesterday. So much has happened in those fifty years. How do you measure what you have done – good, bad and indifferent? I do know one thing for sure that when I started coaching and teaching was sure I was going to change the world and fifty years later I am still trying. Back then I thought it would be easy, it seemed logical that people would want to change and innovate. Little did I know how much people resist change and new ideas. Fifty years ago, I had all the answers, now at age 72 I have more questions than answers. I have learned that challenging people with intelligent pointed questions is how real change occurs. Change is never easy, seldom comfortable, but it is a constant.

Let’s take a step back and look at the socio-cultural milieu in January 1969 when I stared coaching. In September 1967 I played my last football game at Fresno State. Up to that time I had defined myself as a jock football player, something I was never 100% comfortable with, I knew there was more there. Certainly, the world around me was changing at a head spinning rate. Quitting football, focusing on school and working in the agricultural unit at Fresno Sate doing heavy manual labor from 1:00 to 5:00 each afternoon sharpened my perspective and clarified my future goals. It was liberating, there was a whole wide world out there to conquer.

As 1968 ended and the Apollo 8 astronauts left earth’s gravity and circled the moon – a peaceful culmination to the chaos of war and social change that characterized the rest of the year. I just knew the world would never be the same again. I quickly learned that there was clear choice -you could be a leader or a follower. I chose to lead, to work to be a change agent. Certainly, my generation – the baby boomers - was leading these changes, although not always with clear goals or visions of where change would lead.

Sport does not exist independent of society and it was 1968 - 69 that the athletes began to wake up. Tommy Smith/John Carlos raised fist protest at the 1968 Olympic games in Mexico was just the tip of the iceberg. Athletes had rights and now they were willing to exercise those rights, frankly it is a battle for those rights that continues unabated today. The way I was coached in college football at Fresno State was typical of coaching across the spectrum of sports in those days. It was characterized verbal, physical and psychological abuse. I knew it did not work and I vowed that when I began to coach, I would find a better way.

That was the main reason I gravitated toward track and field. There was clear objective measure of performance – the stopwatch and tape measure. I could measure my improvement, if I worked smart, I got better, pretty straightforward. No coach could tell me I was not tough enough or not good enough, the stopwatch and tape measure did not lie. In addition, the coaches I was exposed in track and field had a whole different mindset and demeanor. There were teachers and I could see the athletes responding to this.

So, there I was the first Monday of January 1969 in front of 93 eager and willing high school boys to start my coaching career. They were willing and I was scared! I wasn’t that much older than many of the seniors. I was friends with many of their older brothers and sisters. I had gotten to know many of them while working as a park ranger at a popular surfing beach the past two summers. Fortunately, the head coach, Bill Crow, who I had known since I was a little kid, was there to be a calming and guiding influence. Under high school rules at the time we could not train after school until second semester which began in February. We had 50 minutes for the athletic period, the last period of the day. I remember thinking that 50 minutes was too short, we needed twice that amount of time. Little did know then that it was perfect, it forced me to be very organized with my teaching, to be on point, no fluff. Less can more – first lesson learned although not always well applied over next fifty years. Until 1985 I coached Track and field at all levels with varied degree of success. I had great kids who were willing to work and focus. I think I learned as much from them as they did from me.

In 1985 I came to the crossroads and as Yogi Berra said I took it – I began another journey in what was then the infant field of strength and conditioning working as an assistant conditioning coach with the Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox. In 1987 I went to work full time with the White Sox as Director of Conditioning. The next twenty years were a blur, many starts, restarts, pioneering, dealing with naysayers, eventually proving people wrong by showing that system based on sound training methodology would transcend the traditional training methods. It was not comfortable, nor was it easy.

In the 1990’s it became very apparent that an overemphasis on strength as an isolated component of training was counterproductive. It was clear that an athletic development approach were all physical properties are trained in varying proportions and they must be trained year around. This has been my focus ever since. To get this message out that athletic development grows robust adaptable athletes who thrive in the chaos of competition.

As I look back and also look forward the deepest joy has come from commitment to process and the subsequent outcome of performance. There have been championships, gold medals, record breaking performance’s as well as deep disappointments.God willing there will be more years ahead to apply and share the lessons the lessons I have learned this past fifty years.

Finally, I want to thank my family who have been so supportive over this journey. My wife who stood by me and supported me and always kept me grounded. My wonderful children who had to share their father with many other people. They are the best and inspire me. Last but not least the athletes that I have been fortunate to coach and learn from. Lest we ever forget that this profession is all about people and relationships.

Here are few thoughts and lessons I have learned in the in the past fifty years:

Have a clearly articulated philosophy and live it

Be true to what you believe in, never compromise your core beliefs

I have learned to use the chip on my shoulder for positive change rather than self-destructive behavior

Practice does not make perfect, it makes permanent, messy practice can and is productive

There are no boundaries or limits

Be the best you, you can be

Always strive to keep making a better you

Passion is my fuel, but it is high octane and flammable so I had to learn to handle with care

You can’t do it alone – Family, true friends and professional colleagues are necessary

Build bridges not walls

Be the change you want to be

If you are wrong, then admit it

You will and should make mistakes, just learn from them

Love guides me – Love for my fellow man and love of the life we are given

Coaching Excellence - Part One

(Introduction - This is the first of a four part post that I think is particularly important at this time and place. These are my ideas and observations on coaching excellence and coaching for excellence. Hopefully it will stimulate some thought, discussion and most importantly action.)

The cornerstone of high performance is coaching. There can be no performance excellence without coaching excellence. For me as for any coach who wants to achieve excellence it is a journey, a journey of constant learning and practice. I have been fortunate to be a coach for 48 years and the journey continues. My goal is to share with you from my experiences what the characteristics of coaching excellence are.

As an athlete in high school I quickly recognized that coaching was the difference maker. I saw a small school the same size as my school with very similar demographics achieve a high standard of performance. I wondered why. It became apparent that the difference was coaching. That school had a coach who was different. He did not talk about excellence he demanded it, not in a dictatorial bombastic manner but in his actions. His teams were prepared, they were ready to compete, and they did not panic, they thrived in competition.

In my senior year in high we rose to a new level in basketball, why because of coaching. My coach raised the standard and all subsequent expectations. He got all of us totally committed and absorbed in the process. At a young age all of this underscored for me how important coaching was. I became of student of coaching. I was fascinated with the process. Regardless of the sport I could see that coaching made the difference. At the highest levels of sport talent is a given, but I could see that it was what was done with that talent that made the difference. It was the coaching.

Coaching is not something you do; it is something you are with every fiber of your being. Jerry Garcia sums it up quite well: “ You do not merely want to be the best of the best, you want to considered the only ones who do what you do.” Be unique, be special and make all of those around special. There is no halfway in the path to coaching excellence. The only way to be excellent is to be all in all the time. How can you expect that of your athletes if you not leading by example?