A Switch in Time

This is Dr. Peter S. Pierro preparing this week’s blog that Dr. Peter J. McGahey and I create together. Our relationship dates back to the early 2000s when we were both working with the Oklahoma Soccer Association. Peter called me up in 2020 and suggested that we write a book together. I thought it would be a great idea so we went to work and produced Grassroots Coaching  in 2022.

The subtitle to the book, Using Sports Psychology and Coaching Principles Effectively is meant to tell you coaches that you are going to take some long steps into the diverse fields of psychology and even deeper steps; into philosophical thinking about who you are, what you do, and why you do it. We have imported our beliefs and commentaries all the way from Trial and Error Thinking to the thoughts and wisdom of Philosopher Carl Gustav Jung. 

For the next eleven or twelve weeks we are changing the pattern of the coach/psychology relationship. We will be presenting the basic concepts and beliefs of each of these psychological fields, including Behaviorism, Gestalt/Insight, and Collective Consciousness, and inviting you to think about how may be used by you, the coach, to improve your status in your profession. 

Next week we’re going to present Growing Apperceptive Mass founded by Johann Friedrich Herbart. Herbart is credited to have made the first psychological changes to what we still call The Traditional School  --  The school I attended, the classes I taught, and the teams I coached for my first five years as an educator. We will examine the changes that have been made in the classroom and on the gymnasium floor.

A teacher is one who breathes life into knowledge so that it takes new form in progress and civilization."          

—- Helen Keller