Big Words, Bricks and Bantamweights
Working my way –albeit slowly - through Nassim Taleb’s thought-provoking Antifragile, two recurring terms are epistemology and heuristics. Two seemingly “big words” that I was initially unfamiliar with but, upon referring to my beloved dictionary, are terms that I have come to gain a greater understanding and appreciation of.
Epistemology is the study of knowing: the how, why and nature of knowledge. Heuristics, on the other hand, enable an individual to gain knowledge in a “hands-on” or “trial and error” manner. In today’s environment of cookie-cutter solutions and constant measurement via technology, learning through one’s mistakes and identifying exactly why something is what it is are fast becoming attributes of a bygone era. Intuition is being replaced by blind instruction; self-interpretation and personal growth making way for facts, facts and more facts.
Whilst away working on a cycle tour at the beginning of last month, we support staff co-incidentally shared accommodation with a group of amateur triathletes in the middle of a three day training camp. In the midst of their preparation for South Africa’s premiere ultra-distance triathlon, long group workouts were the order of the weekend, the Sunday reserved for the often misunderstood phenomenon of the brick workout.
The majority of these athletes were heading to the nearby track for speed-work session straight off of a three hour bike ride. Given that most of them were not exactly elite-level athletes, I pondered the wisdom of their performing such an arduous workout, the likes of which are usually reserved for the top exponents of the sport. Such is my inquisitive nature that I struck a conversation with a few of them pre-run, the ensuing chat leaving me with a few observations, namely:
- A dozen athletes of varying abilities all doing the same workout.
- A track session after a three-hour bike ride.
- Athletes beginning their “warm-up” run at a rather fast tempo.
- Athletes following a generic workout plan no matter their ability or inclination.
- The competitive nature of the training group.
Some of the best teachers and coaches that I've known over the years have often appeared as unlikely candidates in their chosen occupation. My technikon statistics lecturer would fit this description: a burly man looking more like a rugby lock, he exuded the image of bumbling boozer intent on enjoying life to the fullest, all the while getting by on the least amount of actual work possible. Whether intentional or not, he would seemingly consult us students exactly what we thought in our quest to understand and master the various possibilities and probabilities present in our text books. He always seemed to be learning with us, often having students write equations on the chalkboard while he led many a discussion of exactly how we came about a particular result. Lots of back and forth intermingled with varying amounts of sarcasm and not a little humour but truly educational experience in the whole sense. The fact that the class achieved a one hundred percent pass rate is testament to his ability to make his students understand the process. Rather than narrowly focusing on the end result via regurgitating the hard facts, he challenged the textbook and empowered us students to make our own decisions and trust our instincts in a wholly effective manner.
The same phenomenon exists in sports. How many athletes really know why they are doing something? I’m pretty sure that many athletes perform workouts for the sake of going through the motions instead of obeying their inner voice; compulsion instead intuition. This notion extends to the ever-increasing number of amateur athletes seeking out online coaching. One of the most important aspects of a coach-athlete partnership is the human connection between the two parties, which far outweighs any training program or secret workout. Whilst the athlete needs to have trust in their coach, they also need to have trust in themselves, thus developing and cultivating the confidence to question why they are doing things.
Coaching is a proactive vocation where a coach can actually learn from his or her athletes. A great example would be the Australian trainer, Brett Sutton. In a recent podcast, Sutton relayed a story of how he resurrected his professional boxing career whilst coaching international-level swimmers at a training camp. During a lecture he was giving on realizing one’s dreams, one his swimmers challenged him to turn back the clock and get himself down to bantamweight with the intention of returning to professional boxing arena. If they could do it, then so he could he and they made a pact to pursue their respective goals while embracing and respecting the process. This tandem journey resulted in the swimmers rising to Olympic level and Sutton making a successful comeback in the ring after a decade-long sabbatical.
Daniel Coyle’s most recent blog post makes a great analogy: how did your best-ever best teacher or coach make you feel? Simply put, it is not all about delivering information but rather the human connection, empowering the student or athlete to truly understand the process, whatever that process might be.
