Teaching and coaching: thoughts from Lombardi

Show, Do, Teach

I mentioned this yesterday on the SW Fencing hub when asked by a coach how I structure my sessions.

When coaching groups I try to structure the session like this:

• Show: me demonstrate, (or the best technical person in the room) with only essential cues.
• Do: The athletes have a go and feel what it is like. I may add 1 or 2 more cues depending on my observation.
• Teach: They work in pairs and observe each other and offer cues/ feedback.

(I got this simple premise from  Ed Thomas, as well as “precision, variety and progression”).

This then lead to a discussion about coaching styles and the dreaded p word: pedagogy!

Vince Lombardi again

As the Green Bay Packers won yesterday, I thought I would quote the legendary Vince Lombardi

“They call it coaching, but it is teaching. You do not tell them it is so, but you show them the reasons why it is so, and you repeat and you repeat until they are convinced, until they know.”
and:
“We concentrate on the ‘whys’. I never tell a player ‘This is my way, now do it’. Instead I say, ‘This is the way we do it, and this is why we do it.”

This is essential stuff. But first the Coach must be very clear in their own mind why they are doing things.

That is why having a sound underpinning of knowledge is essential before you start delivering.

Best to deliver what you know, and make it fun, than try and copy someone else without having a real understanding of what you are trying to do.

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