Coaching is Teaching - Part 05 - A picture is worth 1,000 words

Published: Fri, 11/13/15

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Lots of tryouts going on right now - it can be a stressful time for coaches, parents, and kids.

Parents
If you looking for tips on how to stand out in a tryout, or looking for long-term alternatives to travel sports teams - there are great free tools to help you at: winningyouthcoaching.com/travelmath

Coaching is Teaching - Part 5 - A picture is worth 1,000 words

One of my biggest takeaways from Tim Gallwey's classic book 'The Inner Game of Tennis' was the story he tells when trying to teach beginners tennis. After many years of trying to teach the strokes by talking about footwork, the grip on the racket, and many other mechanics, Gallwey tried an experiment: Have the new student Paul watch Gallwey hit the stroke 10 times and simply visualize in his mind. Then Paul was to repeat this visual in his mind many times and then allow the body to imitate. With no instruction from Gallwey. Then after many strokes, introduce 1 or 2 small teaching points, then repeat the process.

'I was beginning to learn what all good pros and students of tennis must learn: that images are better than words, showing better than telling, too much instruction worse than none, and that trying often produces negative results.’ – W. Timothy Gallwey in The Inner Game of Tennis

'Teach the kids to watch what great looks like. Go to a high school game and show them what to watch for in the good players' – Jason Larocque, Middle-School Director and former Harvard baseball captain

Chris Stricker, 2-time Texas 5A Women's soccer state champion coach, shared with me: 'An effective way to teach is have your most talented kids help teach the less talented kids'

'Use a kid to demonstrate proper technique. You can also demonstrate the ‘why’ – such as holding a kid’s sweatshirt to show them why their body has to be in the proper position. Demonstrating is much more important than talking – to keep the kids engaged' – Kevin Kennedy, personal trainer and director of Kids U gym

Have you ever watched a pro play a sport on TV and the next time you play in your adult league you play 'out of your mind'? I have. What better way to train the minds of those you coach - then to teach them to visualize what great looks like by letting them watch what great looks like?

Next week we'll discuss how to keep the kids from watching the cheerleaders instead of you.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, if you hit reply it goes straight to my inbox, and I reply to every email.

Make winning your habit starting today,
Craig

Craig Haworth is the founder of Winning Youth Coaching, a site dedicated to helping coaches and parents make youth sports an awesome experience for the the youth and the parents. He interviews coaches from around the world and posts them on his podcast, which currently has over 60 interviews and has been downloaded over 40,000 times. He writes a weekly note to coaches and parents. He is married to his high-school sweetheart and they share the blessing of 3 children and live in Franklin, TN. You can sign-up for his weekly note here, find him on twitter at @craighaworth1, or visit his website winningyouthcoaching.com.

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men"

- Frederick Douglass