The biggest lie we’ve been told is that playing from a place of anger improves performance.
Today’s episode is a conversation with Andrés Alvarez. Dre first came on the show way back in Episode 11 where we discussed meta-cognition, group think, poker, chess, and basketball.
Today’s conversation with Dre started when I posted an article about Ted Lasso. Dre suggested we do an episode where we discuss what makes a good coach and/or teacher, to which I readily agreed.
Like all of my conversations with Dre, on and off-air, this one took us to some fascinating places. We discuss:
-Why do coaches punish players by having them run laps, sprints, etc.?
-If the coach calls a play, and the players don’t execute the play, is it the fault of the coach or the players?
-The teaching philosophy of Dave Berri: Your job is to explain things.
-Chris Yeh’s thoughts on Ted as a knowledgeable soccer coach: Ted Lasso is unprepared to coach football.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from Dre:
-Being stoic when things are going wrong is really good at pissing people off.
-If you’re going to be doing something highly emotional, highly volatile, lots of moving parts, you have to keep yourself calm.
-It’s really hard to grade someone on a task without knowing how difficult that thing is to do.
Dre has a Substack to which I encourage you to subscribe:
If you liked this episode Dre and I are going to record a Ted Lasso Season 2 recap that will drop Monday, October 11, 2021.
Please forward this to the Ted Lasso fans in your life and/or share on social media as that helps bring in subscribers to this newsletter.
Speaking of coaching, my book Zen and the Art of Coaching Basketball: Memoir of a Namibian Odyssey launches on November 1st.
A team of teenagers competes for the championship in Namibia’s professional basketball league... And a basketball coach discovers the power of meditation.
It will be up on Amazon on November 1st. If you’ve enjoyed the content here I hope you will support my work by buying a copy :-)
45. Is Ted Lasso a Good Coach?