Coaching is Teaching - Part 06 - Who you lookin at?

Published: Fri, 11/20/15

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It's tryout season

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 6 - Who you lookin at?

Sometimes something as simple as where you position yourself when teaching kids can make all the difference on the impact of the message.

Will Drumright, Sport Psychology Coach, shared with me a funny story: 'Once I was teaching a new skill and realized the boys were distracted- then I turned around and realized the cheerleaders were behind me. So I moved to the other side of the boys and it's amazing how much better they paid attention!'

'Set up drills/stations strategically so you can be watching multiple stations at the same time. And having 5 or 6 stations for the athletes to rotate through keeps standing-around time to a minimum and the athletes’ more interested and engaged' – Sean Timmons, Director of Premier Athletics Cheerleading

Be at the kid’s level physically – take a knee so you’re not talking down to them. Stand at their side so you’re standing with them instead of in front of them. – Luke Dunnuck, Sparta Indy

'Don’t teach them with the sun at your back – they can’t see! And if you wear sunglasses take them off when talking one-on-one with the kids to let them see you are focused on them.' – James Leath, Sports Performance and Psychology Coach

No offense but cheerleaders are most interesting than you! Be cognizant of your environment and positioning of where and how you stand. Teaching kids is a skill and the devil is in the details such as these!

Next week we'll wrap up our Teaching series by diving into the best ways to rep skills.

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 45,000 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