I read this the other day:“….as we know there are known knowns ; the things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Rumsfeld may well have known what he was talking about, however we can apply this piece of political frippery to life in the gym. There are things about coaching which we know, or think we know, but if those things which we know, we only know because someone else told us, whom we assumed knew what they knew, but in actual fact didn’t know, but assumed as well. Then the things we think we know suddenly becomes things we don’t know. Furthermore there are also things we think we know but have never checked. So in addition to the things we thought we knew that we don’t actually know there are those things which we know we don’t know but haven’t bothered to find out and the things we don’t know that we don’t know…
So, what is the answer ?
I don’t know, go find out.
If you followed that little piece of nonsense, then you might ask “ How can you know which are the things you don’t know you don’t know ?’ You might as well ask “How can I know the right questions to ask when I don’t know which answers I need ?”
Once again, go and find out. The more you read the more questions you ask, the more chance you have of getting the answers you need and not the ones you want.
A large array of coaching resources are available from some Gymnastics Associations, but they aren’t there to hold your hand. There is a whole world of information out there and once you start to access it you begin to realize how much you still have to learn, but you also start to find the questions to ask.
The internet is has hundreds of sites dedicated to sport sciences, gymnastics and other related activities. Here are some –
www.pponline.co.uk
www.sportsci.org
www.brianmac.demon.co.uk
