Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs saved Hansel and Gretel. In the moment they were scattered, they made no sense. But in hindsight, looking back, they became small trails, meaningful clues, to reach a certain destination, find answers, or rebuild a path. In sports, as in life, breadcrumbs are often just that: small marks along the way, seemingly insignificant attempts that only reveal their value over time. As the new year begins, I will leave a few breadcrumbs behind just in case I need to find some meaning or rediscover something lost in the future.
I
I asked Óscar Cano: “A talent you have as a coach?” Hesitant, he replied that he did not know, saying: “Talent is always effective and always ensures things go where they are meant to.”
He, who believed himself a leader, had been in teams where convincing others felt impossible, even when he thought he was capable of doing so. He questioned whether what he saw as his talent was, in fact, a quality inherent in his players.
Faced with these reflections, I wonder if talent is an emergent state… dynamic, fluid, contextual? A state that arises from the relationship with the environment. If I have been in teams where I have succeeded in persuading and in others where I have failed, do I possess the talent of persuasion, or do I not? In one context, I adapted; in the other, I did not. Is talent, then, adaptability?
Because some “monkeys” had talked to me about talent as a fixed attribute, as if it were something static, absolute, universal, decontextualized. “He has a lot of talent, but his mind lets him down”, “she has a great technique but is very lazy”, they would say.
Well then, if it is not effective, it is not talent, you idiots.
II
Sometimes I wonder if all this scientific, rationalist, empirical paraphernalia we have orbited around training has been nothing more than a circus that we have built because we could not master something as basic as earning the trust of the team we lead.
III
A coach must wield power wisely; they must not renounce it. One should use it to guide the team toward good, to influence it positively.
Coach, do not disempower yourself. Do not give all the power to the players. They are not ignorant —quite the opposite— but sometimes they are inexperienced and still have much land to explore. Use the power your position grants you. And, if contextually appropriate, share it.
IV
Physical training, the warm up, are organic processes of the body, of the team, of the system, which we have separated, fragmented, extrapolated… and sold as a primordial need to be satisfied in isolation.
Those who have repeated this lie a thousand times are getting rich.
V
This is what we want. This flow. This is what we must pursue and nurture.
We, the coaches, impact the attention, perception, and actions of the entire team and each of its members. If we were not there, they could keep rolling perfect cigars just fine. Let’s ensure our influence is positive: that the cigars are not rolled in spite of our chatter, but thanks to our behavior.
Coach, let go of outdated formulas, irrelevant smoke; forget the little things… focus on what truly matters: inspire them by reading the great classics of literature. Do not we understand that if we blast mindless reggaeton music, shout empty speeches, or make proclamations without purpose… they will work much worse? Sometimes, silence would be better.
If what you are about to say is not more beautiful than silence: do not say it, do not intervene.
VI
The final outcome is who decides whether the problematic events of the path were obstacles to success or causes of failure.
VII
“We generally lack a clear idea of the meaning of the word ‘progress’. According to the dictionary, it refers to an advance or improvement. Which does not help us resolve a semantic tangle that worsens daily and leaves its derivatives, like ‘progressivism’, in a precarious state.”
—Enric González
VIII
JD DuBois told me that all the great coaches he has had shared one common characteristic: they make the player feel an utmost self-efficacy.
I wish you all a very happy 2025 and that Palestine be free from genocidal oppressors.
Una abraçada agraïda,
Martí Cañellas | Fosbury Flop
