The thought of paying a cashier with a counterfeit 20-dollar bill that might somehow have come into my possession disturbs me for a couple reasons. One is that I’d be shorted 20 bucks and liable. The other is that someone took advantage of my ignorance in identifying counterfeit bills. Fortunately, we have options such as debit cards that can reduce the occurrences of counterfeit money. Though, how do you identify counterfeit coaching? Well, it’s very difficult or impossible unless you have enough experience or learn the best practices of gurus of a discipline, similar to how bank tellers learn how to identify counterfeit bills from FBI agents.

I’m not claiming to be an expert on coaching because I still have a lot to learn. Though, I’ll share what I believe to be signs of counterfeit coaching:

  • The coach’s drills and approaches are not based on sound biomechanics or physiology.
  • Not much time is spent on technique or connecting the practice drills to performance.
  • The coach does not give credit to an expert who taught him or her.
  • The coach will not admit to a lack of experience with a different approach. He or she fails to acknowledge that there are many aspects to coaching and it’s possible to be a good coach without knowing everything.
  • The coach diverts questions.
  • The coach attempts to make you think that because something worked or didn’t work for him/her or another athlete (without similar anatomical and physiological traits) that it will work or won’t work for you.
  • The coach uses his or her position of authority to cover limited knowledge or experience.

Ultimately, the best way to protect against counterfeit coaching is to study and better know the real thing. This way you can compare and understand the differences between methods and approaches instead of being tricked by similarities.