Using Different Teaching Styles During Your Practice - Individuals have a dominant learning style. By incorporating the four major learning styles into each practice, your youth sport athletes will learn faster and you will have more efficient practices. This article provides easy steps that incorporate each of the major learning styles to amplify the effectiveness of your practices.
Using Different Teaching Styles During Your Practice
By Bruce Smith
Sep 25, 2009 - 8:16:56 AM
Have you ever been exasperated by the young athlete's inability to grasp what you are trying to accomplish and you are at the point where you feel they are purposely defying you. Nine times out of ten, the reality is: they do not understand what is different between what you are asking and what they are doing.
Individuals have preferred learning styles. That is, most people favor a particular method of learning. A learning style is the method of learning that is unique to an individual that allows that individual to learn the quickest.
The four major learning styles are:
1) Auditory: Auditory processors learn by hearing. They interpret the underlying meanings of spoken language through listening to the tone of voice, pitch, speed, and other spoken nuances. When teaching verbal learners, use short descriptive sentences and have them repeat back the key points of the drill.
2) Visual: The majority of individuals are visual processors who learn through seeing the coach's body language and movements, and facial expressions to learn the content of the lesson. Visual learner's learn best when seeing the coach's body language and facial expression and, typically, prefer standing near the front of the group to avoid visual obstructions.
3) Kinesthetic(tactile): Kinesthetic processors learn by doing and retain information best by acting out the activity themselves through showing it to others. Although tactile learners are a minority in society, many youth coaches exclusively use this style. Coaches tell the players to do a specific drill by name, watch them, and then quickly provide a verbal adjustment without first describing the purpose and acting it out for them.
4) Sequential: The sequential learning style is not as often recognized as the auditory, visual, or kinesthetic learning styles, but many very talented athletes are sequential learners. The sequential learning style is based on the "why" question. These athletes learn by stepping through the process from start to finish and need to know the motivation behind each different step.
A key objective in youth sports is to increase the athlete's learning during the ninety-minute practice. Incorporating every learning style can increase the effectiveness of your practices. When introducing a new skill or team play:
1) Tell the players the motivation for the drill.
2) Have a coach physically act out the drill and ask the players to break it down step by step.
3) Let the players perform the activity with constructive coaching fine-tuning.
4) Recap the activity with why it is important and what are the steps in the process.
By following these steps all the learning styles are incorporated multiple times throughout the process and each young athlete is taught in their optimal fashion. Auditory learners are taught in their style during step 1, 3, and 4. Optimal learning for the visual and kinesthetic styles occurs during step 2 thru 4. Finally, sequential learners get the most from steps 1, 2, and 4.
What are the learning styles of the youth athletes on your team? Based on your teams previous performance in practice and games, what is the one area that needs to be worked on in the next practice. Break down the drills and play execution into the four steps above to maximize the players learning potential.
Youth-Athlete provides resources for parents, coaches, and young athletes including effective learning style coaching that enable a successful season and a community for open questions.
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