Adam Omiecinski and Kerri Kuzbyt continue their insightful conversation, diving deeper into contemporary skill acquisition and how it applies to basketball.
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In this episode, Adam Omiecinski and Kerri Kuzbyt continue their insightful conversation, diving deeper into contemporary skill acquisition and how it applies to basketball. Focused on the ecological dynamics framework, Adam and Kerri explore various facets of athlete development including overcoming traditional coaching paradigms, enhancing athlete confidence, and the nuanced differences between coaching male and female athletes.
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Esta transcripción corresponde al audio original en inglés.
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You said like I didn't coach her, but that's exactly what coaching is. I mean, we have to guide them in a fashion that they can essentially attune to the information themselves during competition because we can't be there. It's not a video game. We are not controlling them.
But then I'm going to play devil's advocate. Then why Do we still see it? Why do we still then see and hear athletes lack that confidence, or those athletes that say, oh, I could do it in practice but I can't do it in a game, and there is no confidence?
And especially a lot I hear, like, because I niche so much more with females, the number one thing that always comes up is confidence. I have no confidence. I have nothing. Why? Because your voice was always taken away from you. And why was your voice always taken away from you is because all those And like I said, it's— you still see it now, but it's growing a bit better.
But females are still being coached by males. Now, I'm not one to say like females have to coach females, males have to coach males. I just want the person who's going to be the best fit for the athlete, whether you are male or female.
It's can that coach resonate with you? Can they relate? Can they communicate in a way that you understand? That's going to be the best fit whether you're male or female. But does come a point, especially in the female side, where it— there's that relatableness.
There's something that I could provide that you never can, Adam, to a female athlete, and vice versa. And when it comes kind of down to that, that confidence, it stemmed from all those male coaches that just underestimated, took the voice away from the female, and just always told them to do X, Y, and Z.
And it goes back to like the more traditional.
Yeah.
ways of coaching that have damaged these athletes and the way in which they kind of depend or play the game. And they were never given that voice. So the confidence aspect is a direct kind of byproduct of the traditional way of coaching. And you said it like, yeah, that's coaching in a nutshell, Carrie.
Yeah. But why do we still, even to this day, in more contemporary and evidence-based approaches to coaching, we still have these coaches that are within this quote unquote path dependency, right?
Well, it's how our entire world is set up. And I mean, that's just an entire deeper conversation from road signs to mental systems. It's all set up in, in this traditional approach of information processing. And that's just how we view the world. And that's, again, we talked previously about like the richness of a hike in that environment and how, how that was walking and how it, it, it actually enriches your movement variability and makes you more adaptable.
And then you come back down.
Yeah.
And you're walking on flat ground, you're like, what is this? This is so strange. But we numb that stuff out, just like we numb out the autonomy and the confidence in our players by taking away that rich variability and that information that comes from misses, that comes from problem solving and the messiness that occurs.
And I also think that it stems from us as practitioners, coaches, trainers, designers, uh, to also be willing to continue to explore ourselves and to have that ability of, hey, let me try something, because we're problem solvers too. Like, I need to find a way that have these behaviors, have this skill emerge from within you.
So I need to think, okay, like what worked for one athlete is going to work for another. And so now this same task, and you've, you've even mentioned this, uh, to me before, and it's a great reminder where it could be the same task, it could be the same activity.
That isn't the point. The point is once you are in the activity, it's then the smaller, more specific individualized manipulation of it that is really what is occurring beyond the naked eye. So we could all be in the same drill and same task, but the magic really is, okay, how can we manipulate it in a way where it hits this person's individual capabilities, their needs?
Does it complement them in that sort of sense? Versus like an athlete within the same task is, is going to need something a little bit different. And they're getting something a little bit different from the exact same task. So it's as practitioners that we gotta hold ourselves accountable as well of, hey, I, I gotta continue to explore.
I gotta continue to adapt and, oh man, like that did not work. Okay, I'm gonna give it 30 more seconds and then we're gonna switch it up. Because I've, I've done that so many times before. But if you're not willing to do that as well, you're doing a disservice to yourself, but more so you're doing a disservice to the athlete's development just because you want to appear successful.
And the more traditional way of teacher or higher authority is never wrong, right? So I think the greatest thing was, you know, to appear vulnerable and to also give yourself grace to problem solve and continue to, you know, explore with them. And once I was told that, everything really helped from my standpoint, which then allowed me to really help the athlete that much more efficiently because of that.
So I think it's a willingness for us as well to fail and, you know, continue to explore and develop ourselves.
Absolutely. I mean, and it's scary, just like it's scary for your athletes too, to try that stuff. That's— there's a reason why they're hesitant, because again, our culture is set up where That's not viewed as skilled. That's just not how things are, where there's a fear of failure, again, status, and all those things.
And as far as you said, like, with the activity setup, that's just the initial setup. It doesn't mean that's the way you're going to get to the intention you have for the activity. You're going to wander. You're going to venture off the path, just like if you were going on a hike.
Yes, you can follow the trail, but that's not the only way to the summit.
Yeah.
That may be the best path at this point in time, but as things evolve, If there's a tree blocking the way, what do you do? You go off the path and then you rejoin the path because you're always geared towards finding your solution, finding the intention you set out for the initial activity.
And that plan can change.
Yeah. And that's happened so many times to me now before where I've just thrown the audible. Like, I remember at the beginning where I had like the set practice and like I designed it and on paper it's like, this is going to like, this is going to work.
It checks all the boxes. It gives them everything. We couldn't even move off the first point. And earlier in my kind of coaching and switching philosophies and all that, and it's only really going to be like my 4th full like year, like going really deep into this.
So like not too long ago, I'm still kind of, I guess, a rookie in that sort of sense, but I didn't want to derail or audible from it. Like I would move through, I'm like, okay, no, we gotta hit the next one. Why?
Because it was, it was just so perfectly applied from like everything. And then it was completely missing the point and doing nothing for the athlete in front of me because like we couldn't move on until they could do that. And the amount of times now where I've done something and they've done it naturally, it sparked an idea how they moved or what they did elicited that kind of movement pattern or response or something so much more efficiently as if like they in one second looked like Bambi on ice.
And in the complete other half fraction of a second, they look like graceful Michael Jordan flying through the air because they did one thing just instinctually or organically through their body, through organizing. And the way they moved, I then automatically in my head got the idea of, oh my God, let's try this.
And they would give me the next kind of like how to set up the design or the environment that still could like bring out the skill, but we just went about it a different way. And they gave me that answer. So that's why I also Like when the athletes in front of me, like I work alongside of them, as much as you're learning from me that they always say like to me, to you, to any trainer or coach, they say, thank you.
I always say, no, thank you. Like I'm, I'm learning from you as well. But the amount of times that they've just done something and somebody like a coach beside me has said like, did you tell him to do that? I'm like, nope. But in 20 seconds, I want to try that because that looks fun.
And then we, and then we give it a go. So I think it's also us attuning to our athletes and their movements while understanding the deeper meanings of skill acquisition, of all this sort of stuff that underpin it. But if we could now attune to different ways and movements and just kind of really observe our athletes and how they each individually very uniquely move, because they all come with past experiences, they all come with their different types of attractors and tendencies and movement styles.
They are giving us the best information possible. And they're the most creative. They're more creative than us. And so I love those moments where I see them just do something different. And I almost am like a little jealous and thinking of like, man, I wish I thought of that before they showed me that, but credit to them.
And then we just rolled with it. So those moments, those are like the coolest moments I really enjoy about development. Then after I give them credit, I said, hey, you remember when you moved like that? Huh, never tried before. Thanks for giving me that.
That's fun, hey? So it's good. And it gives them that confidence and that autonomy. And it aids into that environment, like I said, I want to instill and just allowing them to have a say in their learning. And because it goes back to culture, society, everything, like they're always stripped of the voice, right?
Like in my past time as a teacher, phys ed, high school phys ed teacher, I always gave them a say versus other teachers are saying like, nope, this, this, and this, we don't Give you, I say like, no, hey, what do you want today?
Like, what's going to be practical for you? Okay. How can we take this concept and this like outcome I need to hit as a teacher in this unit, but in a way that's going to engage you and that you're going to like actually doing it because it's going to look different.
All you need to do is just hit this outcome. Same thing.
Well, yeah, I think that goes— now I want to ask like how long you said you've been, you discovered the essentially the CLA like 4 years ago, you said now?
Yeah. So when I finished playing overseas professionally, my last year was, and it was determined beforehand, but it was the COVID year. So it was 2021. And my player development coach used the CLA, was like learning under Drew and Alex, like it was starting to really explore that deeper at the time.
And that was in 2017, 2018. And prior to that, I was just Yeah, more so in the traditional higher sense. And so I experienced the shift. I've experienced both worlds. Did I get, yes, results in both, but there was one that was more efficient and there was one that allowed me to become actually skillful.
And why I'm very passionate about it and explaining it to the females, especially when it comes to movements, is how I move now. Oh, like we could pull out film. We could even go into the archives of the first training sessions of doing CLA.
With my player development coach. I'm not saying like I was not rhythmical or coordinated, like I was an athlete, but I was not as adaptable. I couldn't move the way I could. And so when I tell the females, I'm like, no, I couldn't move like this, is why I'm so much more passionate and kind of allowing them to have that sense of relatableness and really allow them to dive deep into the CLA a bit more willingly because I, like, I've experienced it.
So yeah, I've only really dove deep since 2021. Yeah. All right.
So when you say like, take me, gimme compare and contrast then of like the movement, what was going on in your movement prior to now?
It was rigid. It was rigid. It was like, I wasn't like robotic, but it was so predictable and it had to be like, I had no adaptability. It was, there was no variability whatsoever. It was a lot of blocked. Um, like I could shoot my arm off.
Like I made 10,000 3s. Like I would love to redo that because it like one thing coach always said, like, to become like a shooter within university. So I was like more natural point guard, but like, you, you, you still have to have like your 3.
And so like, I had a great shot, but I wanted my shot to be better, obviously. And she said, all the great ones make 10,000 3s in an offseason. I'm like, so, but like, I still have the footage and everything. And I even actually did a breakdown of it just last year, but I pretty much like would go every morning and, 'cause I set up I did the math because I wanted to finish it by a certain time where I'd have to go in and make 500 every morning.
And there were 3 weeks, I still have the book and everything, writing down numbers and all that. But there were 3 times within that span, it took me from November to April to do, I had to take 2 weeks off because I shot my arm off so bad because my— okay, I had to make, so maybe one day wasn't like I wasn't getting the ball in as much, so I had to have more volume.
But I completely shot my arm off. And the one thing that was never changed throughout the whole thing, the gun would shoot it out at me. Not one variable movement. Like it was just standing rhythm, standing rhythm. I didn't change a footwork once.
I didn't move once. I didn't have it go high, go low. I just, I was so, there was just no variability. And so like my movements were very predictable and they couldn't adapt as quickly, even though as much of an athlete I was, like, if I did have to adapt, it would be like I didn't have a functional solution out of it.
I had a solution, I regained control, but I couldn't operate and function efficiently and effectively once I got kind of destabilized in a movement where the defense threw something different at me. I just, I couldn't adapt as quickly. that I could now. So like, if the ball goes away from me, I could grab the ball from a different face.
I could manipulate my hand a bit differently. I could take my body in a different position. I could stomp on either foot. I could get comfortable with being in an awkward position, taking my body in a different shape. Whereas before it was, hey, I just have to get into like this hinge position, get nice and low, do a circle dribble, or through the legs, just in this specific body shape.
So I didn't have a lot of variability with my movements or kind of the, the dexterity, just a bit more combinations and coordination patterns for as athletic as I was. And growing up, I had all of them, but no one just ever kind of put me in the environment where I could fully unlock and harness all the self-organization I actually had in myself until my player development coach put me in those environments and those problem-solving solutions.
So until then, it was almost as if like I had like all this star power and all this gold just sitting in my body that was, was just being saved. It wasn't being used in a way. So it's as if like, it's like when people just like oversave and they just save and they have their money sitting in the bank and it's like, oh, like what are you going to use with it?
And you're like, no, I'm just going to keep it in there. Like, Okay, cool. But then what's the point of it? What's the point of having all that gold and all that money if you're not going to put it towards something that's going to get you a good return or give you something of value?
So like from my athletic background, like I said, like I could get caught in different positions and everything, like never experienced a catastrophic injury, season-ending injury, like in my whole entire career, which I firmly believe is a stem from me being just put and, you know, Always being athletic in all these different sports because then my body was just so much more robust and adaptable in a situation.
I, you know, my body could move or could be in that situation versus like somebody who couldn't and could only do that one sport. Maybe they tear their ACL on that twist and I don't. Why? Because like in soccer, I was always like twisting here or in there.
So like, that's the other beauty of playing sports is that you minimize injury, not gain more injury. That's another topic. But besides the point, I had all these movement coordinations and capabilities within me. I just was never put in this situation, like I said, to unlock them until I was with my player development coach who was like, no, like you could only go in this thing and started to constrain me and really bring that out in me.
So yeah, like my movements and coordination and everything, it was, it was so much more rigid. There was no Variability, and I didn't know how to use kind of that, the power, I guess, within me.
I guess what sticks out there is like you're starting from just how much intention underlies everything we do in life and whether we're aware of it or not. Because you talked about initially just like, oh, well, top shooters do make this many shots.
So boom, that just wipes out, that becomes the goal, making the shot. It's not, hey, how many different shots can I make? How good a shooter can I become? It's, I need to make this many shots.
That's exactly it.
How we set it up completely evolves what kind of results we're going to get.
Like it was, it's incredible. Like just even looking back at it, that there was not, I kid you not, not one shot that was different. It would always go, I'll even tell you, it was going around in the 5 spots. It was corner, 45.
I did the slot, the top, the slot, the 45. And the corner, and it would be, yeah, 100 in each. And then I would come down because, like, I knew my role and, like, more so, you know, the opportunities that I would have.
So I'd be coming out of transition, so I practiced those. So I was specific because I knew my role, so I could visualize and have that representation to a point. So I specifically knew where I would get my looks or how I want to create them, especially coming off a ball screen.
So I would simulate that myself and that. Only comes from also being in those situations and playing with the amount of experience I did through at, at that time. So I was able to capitalize on that versus like a younger player who isn't exposed to that many situations yet.
They can't visualize, they can't utilize the value visualization as much just because they simply just don't have as much experience and exposure in it yet. So after those set spots, I knew, okay, I'm, I'm gonna have the gun come out. I'm going to come outta transition.
So now I'm a bit more dynamic.
Golly.
And now where I'm taking, but still taking the same one rhythm dribble into it, the same footwork, the same everything. Like there was not one rep that was different. And I always say to the athletes, you can't repeat the same rep 2 times in a row.
But like the way how I was trained before, carbon copy every single time. Like it was just rehearsed, repetitive, all the things that evidence and stuff that you and I, like, we know is not the case to true skill and adaptability and actually having that stuff transfer.
So yeah, did I have results? Yes. But when I started to train differently, my results became so much more efficient and I was playing so differently versus how I was in university, like I said. So That's something that like, yeah, really stands out to me.
There's just, there was not one thing that was not different. It was just repeat and it was on the outcome and it was, yeah, it's, you learn all these things so that you could, you know, go and teach those that like all those lessons you learned late is what I want to teach them early.
That's what, why I love doing what I love doing. So yeah, if I could expose them and kind of steer them away from that, yes, you could get results, girls, but It's going to be so much longer and more painful than, okay, if you go into a short-term temporary uncertainty and different type of quote unquote pain, you're going to have a lot more fun with that versus the other one and showing up.
Okay. I'm good. You led me right into my final questions here. Talking, talking about lessons. All right. So what can the female game take from the men's game as a lesson? What would you want to steal from the male aspect of the game?
That unapologetic competition aspect to having that confidence. So just like being relentless, because that is kind of— it makes it enjoyable. And when you— and it kind of leads into a quote-unquote like flow state, then you just get into, hey, I've done the time, I've practiced this certain way, I've been in these situations within training.
Like, now it's about having fun and like doing it and putting it to the test. So one thing that like I really envy about the male game, and I love seeing it in the female game, is like when they could just go after one another.
Like you let your competition know, I got you, like I own you. Or if it's, oh, you got me that possession, oh, okay, now I'm going to respond. So it's that, that healthy competition and just like, you know, the confident and respectable cockiness, I guess you could put it.
So yeah.
Bravado doesn't always hurt. It looks, it looks, it looks good on females too. Let's just do vice versa. What can the men learn from the females?
I think it could be a lot more intentionality and letting down their ego a bit easier. I've trained males before. I absolutely love training males. But you know, they always put up that front where I can't, I can't be vulnerable. I can't suck.
And It takes one game of one-on-one, or it takes like— this is where I, I understand being a female in a male-dominant kind of industry, whether it was in phys ed, uh, sports science, all that. Like, so I'm kind of used to it growing up with brother, everything.
So always having to prove yourself. And so yes, I love having demos and all that. So I'll bring the guys a demo and I'll do a movement and then all of a sudden, like, they're shaking and I'll jokingly be like, I got you, hey?
And then they're just humbled right away. So I think just, it's their willingness to just like, okay, like shed off the ego a little and just become a lot more intentional and willing to be vulnerable. I think that's something that they could do a bit quicker in.
And the, the truly, truly skillful and kind of higher level athletes. And those that reach the top levels in males, they do that right away. Whether it's a female coaching them or a male, they just want to get better. And they will automatically lean into sucking temporarily rather than, you know, the one that, hey, I'm always, I'm always good.
I'm tough guy. Like, you're just preventing yourself a bit more. Yeah. So I think that's something that they could do a lot quicker that the females do. Quite a good job and they just, they go for it. They're a bit more intentional with the detail.
Beautiful. Well, thank you, Carrie. I appreciate you taking the time to have this conversation and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
No, I appreciate you having me in the space and just always good time to, you know, chat from movements to cultural shifts to even beyond the game because that's essentially what it is. It's always around us. It's everything. It's, it's applying these same things within other areas of life.
So Always appreciate it, Adam.
Cool.
Thanks, Gary.
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