Measurable Immeasurables

One of the keys to growing and enhancing coaching ability is learning to measure the immeasurable. Honestly I have not lost my mind; hear me out on this one. The measurables are given, distance, time, tonnage, intensities, heart rate, lactate measurement etc. From the first day of coaching you can get those, but there is more. It took me a few years to understand this. Observing some great experienced coaches enabled me to see and understand it is the Immeasurables that often make the most difference. They were feeling, seeing and hearing things I was not even aware of because I was stuck on the measurables. You learn to measure the immeasurables by developing your coaching senses. It is finely tuning your intuition, hearing rhythms of foot strikes and patterns of breathing, or to see that a throw or a jump that just does not look “right.” You learn to see movement with new eyes, you look for patterns, you hone in on rhythm and tempo. You get better at recognizing the immeasurables the more you practice, just like the athlete gets better with practice so will you. Today when you go to workout put away the stopwatch or the iPad and just look and listen, you will be amazed at what you see, feel and hear.