We recently had occasion to restudy one of our most successful prototype coaches, a former coach on an Olympian and whose current program is developing at an astounding rate.  We were looking to identify the reasons for the well above average (even for them) progress they are currently achieving. 

Reconsider Your Coaching Style
While we all consider ourselves to be positive coaches, we were surprised to see the standard of positive reinforcement being used and its obvious effect on the success of the individual gymnasts and the program.

90 - 95% Positive Coaching
What we saw was that approximately 50 percent of the time, the coach did not respond at all to gymnasts’ efforts (where errors were made or no progress made), just maintaining an attentive posture.  Out of the remaining 50 percent, 90 - 95 % of gymnasts efforts were met with cogent positive commentary with the word of the day being “Awesome!”

5 - 10% Redirection of Gymnasts
The remaining 5 – 10%, the coach emphatically, even intensely but never negatively, redirected the gymnasts’ efforts (individually or as a group) in the direction he wished them to go.  Simply put, they told what the goal of the exercise was and what the coach wanted and expected them to do – on the spot reminders of goals or setting new goals and expectations.

ZERO Negative Feedback
There was NO, repeat NO negative feedback given during the entire four hour practice.  That is the standard for true coaches to aspire to.  We have to admit that we heard later that the coach was in a good mood that day, but with the corresponding success in practice we saw, there was ample reason for being in a good mood.

Continued Next Page 
 
 

GymnasticsZone.com 321 West 13th Street Suite 4 Idaho Falls, ID 83402 (480) 264-1885 webmaster@GymnasticsZone.com

Copyright © GymnasticsZone, Inc. 2003