Playground or Proving Ground?

Post date: Jun 14, 2015 11:26:32 PM

I recently attended a great coaching clinic in May, and one of the speakers, John Dunning from Stanford, made an observation about how little time girls spend just "playing" the game of volleyball. Everything they do, he said, is structured and organized by their clubs, schools, private trainers, etc. They almost never play the sport in a "pick-up" fashion, but tend to engage in it only as a practice or an event. He further noted that boys, on the other hand, play almost exclusively this way...structured by themselves and for themselves. They love to play, and they don't particularly like to train, or practice. But if we learn the game by playing the game (the game teaches the game), then which gender is learning the game faster or more efficiently? What if girls just played more, on their own, in every sport? Take a look at this Vimeo upload by Ryan Hagen. It brings back memories for me, and reminds me how important it is to cross train, de-specialize and just enjoy what I'm doing.