Be SMART: don't be a slave to the letters

MOTs and ABCs were the key terms in Kris Stafford’s article Skill MOTs: enhancing attacks via ’ABC’ skills.

In the UK, an MOT is the official check that a car is roadworthy. Therefore, using it as a metaphor is powerful.

In his article, Kris told us how he tests his team’s core skills every week to check they are roadworthy. If not, they can be corrected.

It is a powerful system because he cycles through all the skills during a training block, rather than reacting to the weekend performance. Even if handling has been good for the last few weeks, it will be reviewed.

For attacking skills, the test looks at handling, contact skills and ball carry. Kris’s coaching group has called this the ABCs.

This is both an abbreviation and a metaphor. The abbreviation stands for attacking clear, ball carry and catch/pass. The metaphor is easily understood – ’knowing your ABCs’ means understanding the basics.

Every session will have at least two ABCs MOT’d. (Even though MOT is not really a verb, it is still used as one!).

Using abbreviations like ABC is a useful mental shortcut to avoid missing important information.

Other sports coaching acronyms I use are APES and STEP.

An activity should be Active, Purposeful, Enjoyable, and Safe (APES); while to progress an activity, you can change the Space, Time, Equipment, and People (STEP). You could also set SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Agreed-upon, Realistic and Time-specific.

We must, though, be wary that these letter-gathering exercises don’t kill creativity. I’ve seen many expressions shoe-horned into letters which start to stretch their meaning.

The real danger comes from becoming slaves to the letters.

The best coaches will use them to scaffold their deeper thinking. They will have a broader appreciation of when to apply the terms and when to change. Rigid adherence can close off more lucrative avenues.

By all means, use acronyms and abbreviations. But challenge them to match your thinking.

Dan