Teaching principles, not practices

It has been five years since I earned my secondary education certificate in Broad Field Social Studies. I anticipated becoming a high school history teacher, but circumstances led me a different direction. I do use my degree and education to become a better coach because I look at myself as a life long learner. We never outgrow learning and I'm trying to instill this attitude in my athletes leading by example.

I read many resources that help me develop my leadership abilities, managerial skills and overall communicating techniques. I believe I can learn from anyone, at anytime. This attitude led me to find a famous leadership expert named James C. Maxwell. He wrote The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. It is the leading leadership building tool for leaders across the world. Teaching principles, not practices, is a very important idea that I have pulled from it.

A principle is an adopted rule or method for application in action. I choose this definition because it describes best how we need to approach learning (in athletics, school, life, etc.). It requires "action," or doing something about what we already know. The reason principles are so important is because they are general and applicable in many situations. Practices are not.

A practice is a habitual or customary performance. Clearly, it is important to develop sound habits or, in athletics, muscle memory. However, practices are unique to a certain set of circumstances. Often times, each practice can only be applied if the situation calls for it. Principles include more than one practice.

The application of teaching principles over practices in the sport of wrestling is crucial. My responsibility as a coach is teach each athlete how to compete well as a wrestler. They need to know how to wrestle during competition, not drill or execute a certain amount of wrestling moves. Obviously, I teach basic skills to develop muscle memory, but not to teach each wrestler new "moves." If I teach them 1,000 wrestling moves, they may become a good wrestling coach, so I teach them general principles so they can be great wrestlers.

If you're a coach, teacher, parent, businessman, etc., focus on teaching principles, not practices. If you teach principles well, you will inevitably teach practices along the way. However, if you teach only practices, you may miss on the big picture, which is principles.