Language of Sports
Hey coaches, let’s talk for a minute about how we use language in sports. We humans can communicate ideas, emotions, concepts, and so much more through our use of language. But there is a fundamental flaw in our use of language, particularly in sports, and we really must address it. We often fail at speaking the language of the sport we are trying to coach. Or,we may fail at standardizing the language of our sport.
What I mean is that we must speak “soccer” to soccer players and “weight lifting” to weight lifters. Speak a language that those you are working with will understand. A soccer player may not know all the muscle groups they are working on with their strength coach. If the strength coach talks to them in terms of soccer it will make more sense. The same applies to psychology. A sports psychologist does not sit down with a soccer play and discuss intricate psychological concepts with them but must speak the athlete’s language.
Imagine yourself in another country, France or Italy for example, and trying to converse in English. They may not understand you nor will they particularly care to try to understand you.
A strength coach or a sports psychologist might work with many different athletes from many different sports. While the concepts and ideas might remain the same, the reasons behind doing it will most likely differ. The skills and muscles a hockey player must build could be very similar to those of a soccer player, but no one would mistake a soccer player for a hockey player when they are competing. Thus, a coach can’t treat them the same in practice just because the skills and concepts are the similar. We can’t expect a hockey player to care to about working on his endurance if we are working them the same way we would work a soccer player, nor can we expect a soccer player to care about improving their lateral movements if we treat them the same as hockey players. We as coaches must learn to speak the language of athletes we are working with.
While we are on the topic of language it is also important for organizations with farm systems to ensure that the language and skills being trained on the first team are the same as those used on the second team. In the event of an injury or suspension where a player needs to be called up, it is ideal if they can step right in and understand exactly what is going on without needing time to learn a new system, new terms, new concepts or a whole new language.