Adam Haniver [00:00:00]:

Hi, guys. Going to have a little chat today about commitment. So what actually is commitment in boxing? So commitment is one of our club values. So we have something called ARC, which is adaptability, respect and commitment, something we, we drew up many years ago and keep touching base with. Probably not as often as we should do. But we have certain values that help live that out. And one thing I like to do in my coaching is to make sure that we have commitment. So commitment can be a really vague, ambiguous word, can't it? So you've got to be committed. So I think when you talk commitment in boxing, we often think about, I've got to do my runs, I've got to make sure I'm eating well and I'm managing my weight effectively, I go to bed at obvious hours, I don't go out on the booze and do all that kind of silly stuff in my body. So these are all correct. Okay, so they're long term commitments. I have to commit to this. Being at the club regularly, for example, they're all long term commitments. 

But to achieve those commitments you have to have more of a micro commitment as well. So I think something that I lost track of earlier in my coaching and quite recently as well is tracking micro commitments of the boxers as well and the coaches as well. But I think if we talk about commitment as coaches, that's another podcast episode completely. So just want to sort of talk quickly about commitments or micro commitments. So when we are coaching, they're watching a boxer and perhaps they're sparring or they're hitting the bags or they're shadow boxing, whatever the methodology might be that they're currently doing to develop that skill. A few things that I think we need to look at is one, what's their intention? What are they actually trying to achieve in that moment or in that round or in that given time frame. So in other words, what are they trying to commit to? So with intentions, intentions can change. And your attention to certain bits of information, especially in a spar, especially when you're in a coupled environment, you're coupling up, like in a spar, skill is about actually attending to the right information. That's fine, and we need to be able to do that. But often we might have a certain guide in terms of what our intention is for that part of the session. It might be, I need to develop my range a little bit or control the range at longer range, for example. And I think actually that's a good example. So what I mean by that is if we say to a boxer, right, we need to commit to range control, or what is range control? What does it look like? What is the clarity of what we're trying to achieve? So range, range could be anything, right? It can be short range, medium range, long range, edge of range, what or where are we trying to do to control that range? So without the clarity of what we're trying to do, it's very, very difficult then to commit in that micro commitment in that short term to try to be successful in that round, try to be successful in that session, therefore, try to be successful in that week, training cycle, microcycle, macrocycle, mesocycle cycle, etc. Very difficult if we haven't got clarity of what's actually happening. 

Okay, so one simple way is you kind of check, learn. So we have questions, right, or little challenges that we have for the boxer. So it might be that we say to the boxer, where do you think your feet were? Or where do you think your front foot was when you were trying to throw that jab or throw that backhand, for example? And you're asking little questions about that. Where do you think your position was? Where was your balance? How far away do you think your front foot was in comparison to their front foot, whatever that metric might be? But we're trying to give something almost tangible and measurable that the boxer can then think, right, okay, maybe I needed to get my feet closer. Because saying get my feet closer again doesn't really allow us massively to commit because it's not as tangible, it's not measurable. So there's not clarity around what we need to do. So it could be right, I need to just start thinking about just getting that foot pretty much almost touching theirs, or I want it pushed inside their front foot. So just given a little bit more of a tool to measure without that kind of tangible measurement, it's difficult then to actually commit in the short term. So a few things can then happen. So as the coach draws that attention to the boxer about what they need to commit to. So it's a bit of a collaboration then what tends to happen is we go, right, we need to do this, okay, go away and do it. But there's two things I find quite powerful here now as I'm then observing them, after we've kind of set that task or agreed the task, we could just sort of stand there. And often I think we do, don't we? We stand there and the boxer's attention is fully on what they need to be attending to and they're really, really trying. And you're kind of there influencing that decision, but you're also influencing that motivation. They're always going to commit to it when you're there. So by actually walking away, sometimes I'll walk away and pretend that I've gone off to look at something else or someone else and I'll sit in the corner of the room and I'll watch them from afar. And then I'm really interested in are they then committing to what we said, uncoerced, unsupported, unmotivated by me, or has that gone completely out the window? So a couple of things to think about there, I think are if they don't have clarity by what you've agreed and they said that they're going to do, then it's likely to deteriorate quickly. Or if they don't have buy in because they haven't been part of that process themselves, we haven't asked good questions, we haven't prompted in the right way, then they might think, well, I don't see much value in that. So they just say, yeah, of course I will do it, coach. But then as you walk away, they go back to their attractors, they go back to what they're comfortable with, they go back to what's easy. But standing in the corner and doing a bit of a covert observation of what's going on can then really give you a little higher value, higher fidelity information as to are they really buying into that little process? So are they buying into that micro commitment that you've just agreed will happen? And if it's not, then that gives you much better information than if you're standing in front of them seeing if they could perform it. Because they're probably likely to perform it or likely to commit to perform it when you're standing there, supporting. But eventually we need to detect, we need to detach ourselves away. So ultimate test is, are they practicing, are they performing without your influence? Because you can't be there to influence that all the time. You know, we need to create independent learners who they're clear in their objectives, they're clear in their intentions. They know where they should be looking or know how to change where they should be looking to, to commit to that goal. So that again, that's what skill is, isn't it? It's knowing where to look. And we did a post about that in the box gathering last week. Skill is knowing where to look. I think that's a big part of skill. So that kind of observational part. Now you can be sort of over right there and that's good and you're offering support. But then can you peel yourself away and see if they're actually got those behaviours going on when you are not there, when you are not influencing all the time. And that becomes, I think, much more of a measuring stick, much more of a check learn to see if the behaviours are in place there now.

For years now, I've been using something that Mark Bennett does from PDS. He uses a framework called the UAE. So unacceptable, acceptable, exceptional. So when we're setting those mini commitments, he does it a lot around behaviours. But you can use it as also for kind of technical stuff too. So we go off and we say, okay, so what would be in. If I was to walk off now or you're going to practice, what would it look like to be unacceptable? Well, my range control would be my feet would be at least a foot out of range. As in 30 cm at a range. If I'm staying 30 cm out of range all the time, then I know I'm in an unacceptable position. Okay, so we know the negative, we know what bad looks like. So what does exceptional look like on the other end of the scale where exceptional means I'm constantly keeping my foot there and with just the minor adjustment I'm able to land my jab or at least make them defend with the jab. Okay, so what does acceptable look like? Well, acceptable might mean that I'm keeping it there. Let's say, for example, I could put a number on it and say I've managed to land or make them defend 30 jabs in that round with quality and without getting hit because my feet are in the right position. This is just me sort of making it up on the spot with having it without talking to the boxer about it. But now we've got an idea of what unacceptable looks like. So what does a bad look like? We've got exceptional. What does striving to be excellent or exceptional look like? And we've got kind of what acceptable is, so that kind of baseline. So we're kind of baselining what we do. I've changed the word terminology slightly just to make it a bit easier for the, the age group I work with. So I call it GAP. So that's what's great, what's average and what's poor. And also we talk about fill the gaps, especially at dice, we talk about fill the gaps. So if the boxers understand what great looks like, average looks like, and what poor looks like, then they have that structure to commit towards. I feel that boxers don't commit to something when they don't know where to hang their hat, when they don't know how to push themselves beyond those limits. But they also don't know when they're being poor as well. So it just gives that little framework to work within. And GAP or the UAEs as he talks about it, and I know if he was listening now, there's a much more in depth approach to this and there's other type of structures that come off this as well to make this even more effective. But that's just something I look at. 

Bottom line is if we want committed boxers that are always committing in that long term, which we think, then they need to know how to commit in the short term to small goals. And time becomes the most important element that we have as coaches. So we need to know, okay, well, if time is the most important thing because we want to accelerate learning as quick as possible to get better, then let's make sure we put a structure in place where they are using each second. Because seconds make minutes, minutes make hours. You know, I'm going with this to make that as effective as possible. So can we make sessions, can we have boxers in for an hour and do much better work than two hours where it's ambiguous, it's drawn out, it's slow, it's just getting reps in without real intention of what those reps might look like? And, you know, for now I always talk about repetition without repetition. So how do we solve problems over and over again in different ways, as much as possible with intention? And I just think understanding micro commitments, then checking those micro commitments, checking for understanding, checking that they are applying it, and then creating that little bit of space so you can see that, but also giving you the understanding that they are able to do it uncoerced by you, unsupported by you. And then we've got a room or a team or a stable, whatever you want to call it, of really effective boxers who understand the process and can be more independent of you. And if you, if that's the case, that frees up a little bit of our bandwidth, a little bit of our thinking or working memory, again whatever you want to call it, to then go around to observe, to prod, to push a little bit more, to really get those extra sort of 1, 5% out of people all the time. Because we're not organising the session all the time and thinking what's next? What's the next progress, aggression. It's all about they understand the framework. So how do I push sometimes pull back a little bit to support, but how do I prod them in the right direction? And that framework of micro commitments is such an important way for them to self manage, understand, be the driver of the process as opposed to everything's being reactive and we're putting out fires all the time. So good questioning, yes. But also making sure that time becomes the most important factor. So good question. Yes, to help direct their attention towards how they need to solve the problems, especially if they're struggling. But ultimately, yes, we want to question, but we also want to just see them do it. So it's all good having conversations, but if they can't do it, then that's the big problem. So yes, yes, tell me, but show me, show me, show me, show me. So we're cutting down that question just to prompt them, but not stand there having our war stories for half an hour now show me. And we can observe from far to see that they're actually performing that physical skill, that tactical skill, that technical skill, whatever it might be that they need to complete from a distance. 

So there we go. That's what I've been thinking about on my way home today from DiSE. It's just about making sure that the micro commitments feed into the macro commitments and this understanding about that whole process of understanding what it looks like, you check in with questions, but then getting them to actually do it often and then revisiting in that cycle of checking for understanding, but making sure your check for understanding firstly come from viewing what they're doing. And that can be close up or that can be some coerced from afar, which gives you a little bit more reality of their motivations. Okay, everyone, have a great weekend. It is Friday today. What is it? It's Friday the 13th. Yikes. Friday, the 13th of June have a good one. Cheers guys. Bye bye.