Simon Moore
Just wanted to let you know that I feel unable to continue in my role
as coach to the team and that, consequently, my attendance at
practice will become sporadic, at best. It appears to me that my
style and views on the game are so divergent to those of the club
captain that, to avoid continued disputes, it is best that I back
off. As a coach of standing and experience I know it is not possible
to coach a team where there are incompatible and contradictory voices
amongst the leadership. I am also not prepared to have my coaching
undermined by another member of the team, and by 'undermine' I mean
telling people to do things, any things, in a way that is not
compatible with mine; people learning need clarity and simplicity,
not different opinions. Of course the more senior players need to
coach the beginners but they must coach the fundamentals correctly,
as the coach would. Or, they concentrate on improving their own game
and send the beginners to me (or Martin, or Reija, or Mike) for
coaching.
The problem is that I do not suffer fools gladly! And be under no
illusion, in ultimate terms, Ken is a fool. What comes out of his
mouth may sound authoritative and even learned but it is invariably
hard to follow (even if you know what he is trying to say!) and
usually just wrong! For example, I learned this evening that he had
instructed a beginner that the best way to catch a low disc (below
the knee) was with a pancake catch. THIS IS JUST WRONG!
The reason that I am not going to continue in my post is not because
I can't tolerate his behaviour but because I can't tolerate it and
bite my tongue! This would result in more 'ugly' scenes such as
those witnessed at practice last evening, for which I would like to
apologise to the rest of those present. Anyway, his self righteous
bombast would only serve to prompt further out-bursts from this
intolerant individual. Of course, I too may be accused of self
righteousness, although mine is borne of experience and study,
whereas Ken's is ... well I'm not really sure where his seat of
learning lies?
It's my own fault. I knew it would come to this and I never should
have gone back in to that meeting I left. ("I should have trusted my
instincts; 'Cos they don't tell lies", Matt Johnson.) Especially to
those of you who were at that meeting I apologise for letting you
down: it is not something I do very often and it feels a bit crap.
Fortunately not crap enough to mean that I would have to put myself
through tolerating two sessions a week with captain K.
So maybe i'll swing by and play from time to time. But only when I'm
certain that I will be capable of keeping my mouth in check. Mmmm,
won't be too often then.
So there you go Ken, you coach the team, the way you want them to
play. I'll be interested to see if your 'methods' yield good
ultimate players. Really: I am a student of the game and am always
willing to learn.
See you around, Simon. ;-)
ps. For the non-englishasafirstlanguage people (most of you) I hope
you got the gist of the message, if not all the nuances! xx
pps. Sorry, one more thing, I am no longer on the google group.