Lessons (BBC): When to talk about an action, when to move on?

[AdamH]

Found this video article on the BBC website about overthinking actions in the game of golf.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...st/7859385.stm

Interesting in potential application to a coaching lessons in that it seems to suggest the correct approach is to have the fencer perform the action repeatedly and without interruption.

For example, if a student fails to deceive the coach's blade or misses the target, the correct training approach is to immediately set up the action and try again, rather than offer advice immediately or get distracted and start discussing it.

As the article suggests, this is common wisdom in many sports (including our own), but again it's helpful to be reminded that it's the blade which should be doing the talking.

[catwood1]

Interesting article. I did notice the difference between advanced competitors and novices though. When advanced people talked about it, they got worse. When novices talked about it, they got better.

I think this makes alot of sense, and is very applicable to lessons with beginners. You can't just have someone who has never made a feint disengage doing it over and over till they get it right. There has to be some discussion of exactly what they are doing. However, if an advanced fencer F***s up their feint disenage, they already know it, and probably little needs to be said about it.

[darius]

Useless info in the BBC page, try this: http://www.physorg.com/news152545361.html

"However, what we found surprising is that simply describing one's putting skill after it has been executed can be incredibly disruptive to future putting performance."

I haven't read the actual study, but note that its long-term effects weren't really tested. There's a difference between improving short-term practice repetitions and actual motor learning, so as a coach I'd take degradation of performance in the short-term to develop a more cognizant athlete in the long-term.

darius