Da Vinci said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
But sometimes coaches forget, and they complicate things. Let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time there was a little schoolboy. He seemed well-adjusted enough, but something about him concerned the teacher. Whenever it was time to draw, the boy would use a black crayon. The drawings themselves weren’t morbid, but they were always done in black.

Bringing the matter to her superiors’ attention, the teacher found them just as concerned as she was. Why was there no color in the boy’s drawings? Did he have a problem? Was there a sad streak in him?

Soon they had him tested. Again, nothing seemed to be wrong. So they finally did the only other thing they could think of. They asked him whey he always colored in black.

“That’s easy,” he said. “The teacher hands out the box of crayons at one end of the room. I sit at the other end. By the time the box gets to me, there is only one color in it. Black.”

Problem solved.

It’s a reminder to coaches to keep things simple.

You can bet that on “Dancing With the Stars,” with only one week to prepare for the next competition, the contestants stick to the basics.

Einstein said, “Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent.”