# In which activities/crafts do people excel without ongoing "coaching"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** baseball-mlb, golf\ **Created:** [August 29, 2025, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-activities-crafts-do-people-excel-without-ongoing-coaching/1022576 "2025-08-29T14:00:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-activities-crafts-do-people-excel-without-ongoing-coaching/1022576/21 "2025-08-30T12:52:08Z")
The people who make crossword puzzles are mostly self-taught amateurs who bought the software and figured it out on their own. (At least in the U.S. - maybe it’s different in England.) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-activities-crafts-do-people-excel-without-ongoing-coaching/1022576/22 "2025-08-30T13:57:57Z")
Pilots - licenses are earned by time in a Flight Simulator, tests and hours of flying time. Even commercial pilots have to spend time in flight simulators to keep their rating. Medical - my mom was a CRNA and had to earn continuing Ed credits. She usually went to a Medical Conference in San Antonio every two years to earn the credits. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-activities-crafts-do-people-excel-without-ongoing-coaching/1022576/23 "2025-08-30T14:02:41Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Pilots - licenses are earned by time in a Flight Simulator, tests and hours of flying time. > > Even commercial pilots have to spend time in flight simulators to keep their rating. There’s an instructor present when they’re in the simulator - you could call them coaches. I’m one of them. Training is ongoing throughout a pilot’s career and includes lots of “coaching”. There’s also what you might call a cottage industry of flight instructors who work in niches. These are CFIs who generally teach rated pilots in a specialty areas such as aerobatics, bush flying, etc. > [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > Coaching. AFAIK there are no coaching coaches. The study of teaching is called “pedagogy”. People who go through Physical Education teaching programs are usually taught to be sports coaches too. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-activities-crafts-do-people-excel-without-ongoing-coaching/1022576/24 "2025-08-30T14:16:36Z")
> [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > Coaching. AFAIK there are no coaching coaches. The whole career and life coaching industry is like a giant MLM. They all have coaches and their coaches have coaches. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-activities-crafts-do-people-excel-without-ongoing-coaching/1022576/25 "2025-08-30T14:27:21Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > One category of experts who wouldn’t have coaches would be those who are creating their own area of expertise from scratch. They might eventually coach the next generation in their field, but there’s nobody to coach them. That’s not true. They routinely collaborate with others who are also developing the field. Effectively, they coach each other. > [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > The people who make crossword puzzles are mostly self-taught amateurs who bought the software and figured it out on their own. (At least in the U.S. - maybe it’s different in England.) Again, i know some of these people, and they share with others who make crossword puzzles, and talk with each other about what works, as well as taking to users about what they like and dislike. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2025, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-activities-crafts-do-people-excel-without-ongoing-coaching/1022576/26 "2025-09-01T21:54:12Z")
> [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > Coaching. AFAIK there are no coaching coaches. I did have some help and guidance when I became a Track coach. However, as a Cross Country coach, I would agree that I was self-taught. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2025, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-activities-crafts-do-people-excel-without-ongoing-coaching/1022576/27 "2025-09-03T03:35:43Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > Well, I doubt if Eric Clapton takes guitar lessons these days… 🙂 You are probably right because he was self taught to begin with and never had a teacher. However, I saw a recent interview, [Rick Beato and Billy Strings](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlzuPGQNahc), where Strings revealed that he has a guitar teacher because he realized that if he didn’t he would just keep playing the same stuff that he always had. And he is an unbelievable player. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2025, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-activities-crafts-do-people-excel-without-ongoing-coaching/1022576/28 "2025-09-03T13:53:04Z")
I participate in obstacle sports (ninja and obstacle course racing). These are newer sports. The most prominent obstacle course races (Spartan, Tough Mudder, Savage Race) started in 2010 or 2011, and the first season of American Ninja Warrior aired at the end of 2009. As a result, a lot of the tips and techniques come from accumulated knowledge from actual athletes, as opposed to anything passed down from one generation to the next. I train with a group of other athletes, and we all watch and critique one another. Training partners often take the place of traditional coaches. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2025, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-activities-crafts-do-people-excel-without-ongoing-coaching/1022576/29 "2025-09-03T14:49:14Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > Well, I doubt if Eric Clapton takes guitar lessons these days This reminds me of something I read about Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. His daughter was taking flute lessons from a flute teacher. One day his daughter came home and told her father, “My Flute teacher said that you don’t play the flute correctly.” Many people in his position would have scoffed and said, “Oh _yea_? Well how many albums has _she_ sold?” But he didn’t do that. Because while he was known as being a great flute player, his daughter’s teacher was apparently correct, _and Ian knew it_. He was self-taught, and he knew he wasn’t positioning his fingers correctly. So after putting out many albums… Ian starting taking flute lessons, in an effort to correct some bad habits he acquired. At least that’s what I remember from an interview a number of years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2025, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-activities-crafts-do-people-excel-without-ongoing-coaching/1022576/30 "2025-09-03T15:30:48Z")
Absolutely, professionally it’s lonely which is why I think comedians stick together in a sort of tribe. Who else is wide awake at 4 AM, just got heckled, and doesn’t have to work in the morning? Nate Bargatze talks about his comedian friends often on set, Kathleen Madigan hangs out with Lewis Black so much they speak the same, Amy Shummer named her child after Dave Attell, John Mulaney cites some of the most famous comedians today were at his Intervention… ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2025, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-activities-crafts-do-people-excel-without-ongoing-coaching/1022576/31 "2025-09-03T15:35:26Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > With modern art, such as splashing paint haphazardly on canvas, that doesn’t need any teaching. While I’m not a fan of the art you’re referring to, I think you’re being unfair to those artists. It’s more than splashing paint haphazardly. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2025, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-activities-crafts-do-people-excel-without-ongoing-coaching/1022576/32 "2025-09-03T20:36:59Z")
> [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > Coaching. AFAIK there are no coaching coaches. No, but there’s a vast history of sports coaches mentoring other coaches up through the ranks. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2025, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-activities-crafts-do-people-excel-without-ongoing-coaching/1022576/33 "2025-09-04T03:01:57Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > the first season of American Ninja Warrior aired at the end of 2009. I was watching the predecessor Japanese version in the 80’s when nobody could get past the warped wall. I remember the first time someone made it and we finally got to see the next obstacle. It was floating doors and the contestant whiffed hard. It took another couple years and a few more people beating the warped wall and finally getting past the floating doors. The next challenge that stopped them was cliff hangers. I think this was about the time it turned into ANW and Ninja gyms started to be a thing and then everyone could beat the wall, the flying doors and cliff hangers. Eventually, the older athletes became the coaches. ---
**Author:** ![NotEncinoMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@NotEncinoMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotEncinoMan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2025, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-activities-crafts-do-people-excel-without-ongoing-coaching/1022576/34 "2025-09-04T06:39:02Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > That’s a good exception. Comics mostly hone their craft on direct and immediate feedback from their audience, not a mentor or coach. There are courses you can do now on stand-up. But what I’ve heard is more common is standups getting advice, feedbacks and suggestions from each other after shows. There’s examples in one of the Seinfeld documentaries [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-activities-crafts-do-people-excel-without-ongoing-coaching/1022576.md?page=1)