There is a time to instruct, educate and sustain a good teaching-learning situation. Based upon my experience, the most practical, beneficial teachable moment can occur at any point in time; practice or game. The trick to be mastered is how to properly transfer the learning experience from a negative to a positive. The quality of the explanation, the manner or mode of communication is pivotal in making a proper explanation when remedying or correcting a fault.
The first step is to make sure your players understand what is expected of them and that they have seen and understand what good fundamentals look like.
Next, tell the players beforehand that they learn by mistakes and that you are going to let them know how they are doing.
You should usually point out the mistakes as soon as a player does something wrong. Unless correction occurs as close to the mistake as possible, it tends not to be as helpful in influencing future play.
Look the player straight in the eye and tell him precisely what he did wrong. Make sure you don't attack the player as a person, only his behavior.
So often, when correcting players, coaches persecute the player. The objective is to eliminate the faulty play and keep the person.
Remember, it's easy to lift a kid up with a smile, a word of encouragement or a couple of minutes of extra instruction. But it's even easier to bring that youngster down, picking apart flaws, criticizing, or frowning in his direction. Common sense and the right information is all it takes to be uplifting instead of depressing. Be positive, not negative. Treat players the way you wanted to be treated when you were a child. Something too often forgotten -- FUN -- is the number one reason kids participate in youth sports.
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Cost is $25
