Seth Godin talked about a different sort of reps (repetitions) last week in his post, “Frequency, repetition and the power of saying it more than once”

“Repetition increases the chance that you get heard.”

“Repetition also increases (for a while) the authority and believability of what you have to say. Listeners go from awareness of the message to understanding to trust…..”

“Delivering your message in different ways, over time, not only increases retention and impact, but it gives you the chance to describe what you’re doing from several angles.”

Yesterday as I was working on the web site, I noticed that nearly 40 (out of 110) posts dealt with some aspect of motivation.   I am OK with that number… for a couple of reasons.

Motivation is a key component of our job as coaches and teacher.  We are constantly trying to get young men and women to “do more” than they think they can, to perform beyond what they believe they can.  That is not an easy task.  For that reason it has been a point of emphasis … and my repetitions have reflected that importance.

Also, I have tried, using Godin’s words, “delivering the message in different ways”, trying to “describe ideas from several different angles.”  Isn’t that what motivating young student-athletes is all about?

I don’t believe there is a single way to motivate young men and women… they all are different and respond to coaching differently.  I think you have to “deliver the message in different ways” and see what “sticks”… what works for each individual student athlete.  You have to figure out what his or her individual “hot button” is; you have to figure out the thing that motivates each athlete.   I don’t believe there is a cookie cutter… a one size fits all approach to this.

It is hard, but interesting and satisfying work when done correctly.  It is about developing meaningful relationships with your student athletes.

It is coaching…It is teaching.

You can get your daily dose of Seth Godin at his blog – sethgodin.typepad.com

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