Don’t coach everything…. (and tips for the ‘how not to’) - Lloyd Owers

In any session or game setting, there will be many opportunities to coach, and as we know, you can’t coach them all, so when and how do you address it?

Firstly, it comes down to your planning. Plan effectively and allow for progressions, regressions and adaptations during the session and stick to your focus aim – what are you aiming to get out of the session? Why? (focus on those elements for you to coach AND only anything else that you need to address that is affecting your aim).

Why is this important? Well…. Coaching too much is going to create boredom (players don’t want to stop, start and listen all the time; they want to play!). It is also going to lose value of the session topic.

So how can you manage those other ‘moments’? List them, remember them, reflect on them and focus on them another time BUT do bring them up at the end of the session. How? Quiz the players. Q+A. Feedback and challenge them. It’ll test the players and encourage their own reflection… It may prevent or limit those other ‘moments’ occurring regularly but if not, at least you know other key areas to focus on in future sessions.

So, try not to coach everything – think longer term and use it as part of your aims for yourself and the group but do address what you need to, to bring out the main focus and enforce learning and understanding.

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