Coaching as part of the SJAC team I often see good and poor technique. SJAC run sessions for children between seven and eleven years old. Creating motivating, fun and engaging learning environments is a key priority.
When coaches talk about improving technique you hear various mantras. A popular one often heard is, “Practice makes perfect” shortly follow-up with, “Perfect practice makes perfect”. Let’s look at, ‘Perfect’.
Our son Jack is learning all the time. He is now 9 ½ months old. As I watched over him the other day it became clear to me that learning the wrong, (imperfect) way to do things was just as important as learning the right, (perfect) way. Imperfect practice was progress. Often we place him on a few soft blankets on the floor, on his back, with a few toys around him to reach out for and play with. When he first started to reach out he started to work on the, ‘Roll Over’ technique. This involved swinging his legs up in the air and over to the side, which created some momentum for him to then roll onto his front and reach. The, ‘Roll Over’ at this early stage was performed with poor technique. He would roll over, get as far as his side and each time trap an arm underneath his body. He continued to practice imperfectly, and as time went by it seemed to me that he learned more about where his arm was and how it got there. In effect, he learned very well how to get his arm in the wrong position. By knowing what was so wrong, it was an easy step to know what to do to make it right.
Picture this scene, you are going on holiday, travelling by car and it’s the good old days before, ‘sat nav’. You get to within a mile or two of your holiday destination and then there is the slow draining realisation that you can’t find it. So being as prepared as you are, you take a look at your map. There is however a big problem. You have all this information to hand but not the slightest clue where you are on the map. You need to know this wrong place so that you can get to the right place.
Jack learned through what coaches term feedback. Feedback can be broadly categorised as, Intrinsic Feedback and Extrinsic Feedback. Extrinsic Feedback, is feedback which is given from an external source. It could be amongst other things, advice from a coach, a video of a performance or encouragement and support from the spectators at a competition. Intrinsic Feedback, is feedback that we can use and is available to us all the time. We have Auditory Feedback, (what we hear). We have Visual Feedback, (what we see) and we have Kinaesthetic Feedback, (what we feel). Jack learned through using his intrinsic feedback, his kinaesthetic feedback.
So, we have already established that for our SJAC sessions the children must be involved in activities that are fun and engaging. So why do I talk about Intrinsic Feedback? Well to learn using your intrinsic feedback, you have to be engaged in what you are doing. You have to be aware of what you are feeling, seeing and hearing. Coaches can help athletes engage and use their intrinsic feedback by being skilled at asking questions.
Questions like:
How much noise did you make each time you landed?
What did you do to increase your speed?
When did you feel your body lean change?
Where did the power come from?
Tell me how that felt different?
Describe what you changed to achieve that result?
How far away did your foot land?
Notice that these are all questions that demand that the athlete is engaged and they are questions that also encourage descriptive responses. The detail within the response will give an insight to both athlete and coach as to how much awareness the athlete has. How well do they know where they are on the map? If these questions can be sprinkled within the context of a game like activity, then we have an athlete that is having fun and is engaged in learning at the same time.
Fun and engagement is essential for learning but the desire to want to learn has to be there as well. When Jack was lying down with his toys around him, some were not motivating for him to try and reach as they were too far away. Some were too near, so there was no need to reach at all. Some were just far enough but also near enough to provide the right amount of challenge. Jack continued to reach because he was achieving success all the time reaching one toy and then going for the next. Continued success encouraged continued motivation.
So, if you want motivated athletes that are enjoying what they are doing and engaged in their learning, create successful situations, fun situations, and engaging situations. Challenge appropriately, play games and ask more questions.
