Five Reads for Friday September 16th

We made it to Friday. Here are 5 reads for Friday that I found most profound this week.

This Doug Lemov post is the most important read of the week. And I put it up with some trepidation partly because there is so much blaming of teaching today. You hear it all the time -- and I am talking about the greater world of American Ed not North Shore. But teachers and coaches are always being blamed for lack of achievement of their students / athletes and most of the time that's not fair. At the same time, I know there are lots of times when teachers and coaches blame their kids. One of the most profound lessons of my first year of teaching was complaining in the faculty room and having a veteran teacher ask me to reflect on whether the best Chef's blame their ingredients when a meal doesn't go well or blame themselves? The great John Wooden used to say there is a difference between I have taught it and they have learned it. Teachers and Coaches need to always keep that in mind. Bottom line for me - blaming the kids actually leads to a culture of poor achievement.
Blaming the Kids: A Reflection on Coaching and Learning by Doug Lemov

I post this for all my coaching friends who do ice baths with their athletes for recovery. I like ice baths. We do some with our runners. They like it too. But no one knows if they are really working. Is this one where coaching practice is ahead of the scientists -- interesting read.
Cold Water Immersion -- Science of Sport

I guess it started with the boot camp mentality. Now you hear about college and high school teams hiring former Navy Seals and doing Seal training. Does military training lead to better sports performance? Hard to say. I am sure it can be a fun break from routine and could be a team builder of some sort. But the law of specifity in sports would argue Military Training does not equate to better performance another interesting read.
The Myth of Mental Toughness Training -- Resilient Blog

Elmer Swanson was a legendary track and cross country coach at Wesleyan University. He coached Amby Burfoot, Bill Rodgers, and Jack Galloway who all went on to US teams from a tiny college in Conneticut. I met Swanson when I was looking at colleges. He was very different than I expected. He was very low key and the opposite of intense coach. In some ways he really took you aback and I could not figure out how this super low key person produced all these great runners. I did not end up going to Wesleyan but I loved this tribute to Swanson by Burfoot that is as much about the relational side of coaching than anything else.
In Praise of Great Coaches -- Runners World

I started with don't blame the kids but I will end with don't bail the kids out either. I think this why required sports is so important. Things are going to go wrong in sports. The best learn to problem solve on the fly and make the best out of a mistake they may have made -- good read.
One Sign Every School Needs To Hang Up -- Tim Elmore