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Shifting Paradigms
Paradigm: A worldview underlying the theories and methodologies of a particular subject.
There are many things in sports that are “Impossible” which suddenly become commonplace.
Fastballs over 90mph…then 95, and now 100mph. What was once the province of only Nolan Ryan…now we see hundreds of 100mph+ pitches in a season.
Home Runs. No one hit them before Babe Ruth…then within a decade, power hitters were commonplace. This has led to the current paradigm of ‘three true outcomes’.
Going for it on 4th down in American football.
One-handed football catches–incredibly rare until Odell Beckham did it and now so common that pre-teens post social media videos of them imitating one-handed sideline catches.
3pt shots were rare and then the Rockets took hundreds, now everyone does…and then Steph Curry started shooting from 5-8 feet beyond the arc, making the shots, and so now every team has someone to do this.
You get the idea. I wrote something a while back on ‘growth mindset‘ and one of the key concepts is ‘adapt or die’. It is better to change early rather than be one of the last to alter techniques. Paradigm shift is part of that.
The thing with paradigms is that everyone believes them…until they don’t. And then they switch fast–the changes above.
I’m a volleyball coach though–the point of this blog post. What’s an accepted ‘of course’ aspect of the sport which is ripe for radical, game-altering change? Is there a way to change blocking to make defense dominant? Is there a way to make serve-receive less critical? Is there anything that can be done to make serving more difficult to pass without increasing the chance of a service error?
How do we switch a paradigm? Do we have to wait for players who are ‘freaks of nature’ to come along? –I suppose that’s happened gradually…when I started, top women’s college hitters were 5’11 or 6′ and now you’ve got outside and opposite hitters who are 6’7-6’8 at top programs.
The one I’m thinking of is the research I’ve been part of–trying to figure out what a point is worth and when crunch-time actually is. Is the next paradigm-shift in volleyball going to be because of data research? Will it be triggered by a rules change–perhaps an unintended consequence of the change?
Will the change work from the top down, trickling through the sport after appearing at the Olympic and professional levels…or will it work like American football has–with innovation coming from high school coaches, adopted then at the college-level, and then on to the NFL?
I don’t have answers–but I try and pay attention to see where things are changing. I’ll jump on board quick. Like Bob Dylan wrote, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”
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