General discourse on Coaches and trainers.

"There are no bad players. There are only bad trainers". 

Norlito stated this to me as we were discussing my trip to The Philippines. And he asked for my opinion on this before he agreed to meet. It appeared to me that he wanted an emphatic answer from me with no fluff. I said I agreed with him.

But let me expand on this topic today since this was also much discussed during my French Defence Thematic. Allow me to first define what I mean by Coaches and trainers. To me trainers are those that teach some technical aspect of the game. For instance I would use a different trainer for different openings. I would use another trainer for middle game tactical training and yet another for positional or end game studies. All depending on where their competence lies.

Here is another illustration. During the FGM chess camp, here, while we were doing competitor analysis, Norlito would look at existing weapons/openings in the players repertoire to find the flaws and the way to win from there. On the other hand, I would look for the weaknesses in the opponents arsenal and gaps in his/her knowledge etc and suggest we play there. Even if it is new to us too. All we need to do is to do the training to attack their weaknesses.

So I would further define the Coach as the person who determines the correct strategy and mindset to win on the battlefield and the trainer does the necessary training in the classroom. It is a collaborative effort. Ref: Here.

That is how I define it anyway.

There was yet another parent with a National Junior who spoke to me during UPSI. Ref: Here. He asked me why so many of our players have weakened over time. My answer to him that day was one word attitude.

Today I would add something else. Today I would say...and bad trainers.