a teaching technique for coaches from Mr. Rogers

"Here you go. Read it."

It's the first day of practice. The head coach drops a manual filled with team values, leadership principles, mental toughness ideas, and character development lessons on the table in front of each athlete.

"I expect you all to read this and implement it into your performance," he says.

I take the book home, sit down, and read the first few pages.

Then, I go back to being a teenager and never pick up the manual again.

The end

Let's be honest, Coach. That story is what happens when you give a manual of all your ideas to your athletes. Sure, some of them will read it, but those are usually the athletes that already know and live the values of the team.

A few years ago I put on an episode of Mr. Rogers (yes, that Mr. Rogers, and yes, I was a grown man). On his show he had an eye doctor as a guest who was presently shining a flashlight into the left eye of Mr. Rogers.

Mr: Rogers: "Can you see my thoughts?" Eye Doctor: "No, your thoughts are private." Mr. Rogers: "Okay, good."

What an amazing question. Mr. Rogers knows how flashlights work and that they don't allow someone to read thoughts simply by shining a light into an eyeball.

But Mr. Rogers was not asking for himself. He was asking for the viewer--the child viewer who was learning about life through his television mentor.

The Lesson: He never forgot what it was like to see the world. through the eyes of a child.

The Application: You coach children, not mini-adults. Remember that they have a lot going on in their world and. think. about sport way less. than you think they do, even the really. talented ones!

Give an adult a manual to read and if their job depends on it, maybe they will read it.

Give a child a manual to read and you are setting them up for failure. If you disagree, it's okay, but just know there is a better way.

Teaching for Understanding

First day of practice, give them an empty three ring binder. Let them know that they will be creating a book of knowledge for the rest of the season.

Then, every time you have a classroom session with learning outside of doing physical drills demanded by the sport, give them one page and go over it, encouraging them to write notes and ask questions.

The next meeting you have, review the last sheet and give them a new one, repeating the process as often as needed. This method of learning in chunks will help them to retain the knowledge better than if you were to throw it all at them in one sitting.

Leadership Development

Put your older kids in charge of teaching the younger kids the information. This activity not only helps them to learn the material better while teaching it, but it also puts them in a position where they are practicing being a leader.

When I created the 20 Lessons for teaching Mental Resiliency, I had in mind that these lessons would need to be short and also impactful. Attention spans are not as long as we hope they are, so going for quality of a teaching moment over a quantity of time will help the athlete absorb the information and implement it right away...and also later on down the season.