"While your players are competing, try to limit your instruction. It can be distracting. Instead, use trigger words, one or two-word phrases, to remind them of previous instruction."
I've gone back and forth thinking about this in my time as a coach and always wonder if there is in fact a better way to coach in the moment. I say in the moment, because you are in fact coaching the competitors for what is taking place in the moment. While the window of opportunity to execute a technique may be large at the beginning stages of the game, the more advanced the competition becomes the less helpful in the moment coaching seems to be. Speaking from personal experience, I have had moments where I can hear a coach yelling instructions while I'm setting up exactly what they are saying and think, "oh nooooo!!!! Now they know what I'm setting up..... Why did you have to say that!" Leaving myself more distracted from the competition instead of focused and alert.
What would be the best form of in the moment coaching? I feel being a reinforcer or giving contextual support can be extremely helpful. Stating the facts of a situation can be very helpful as well. Some examples would be: stating the time, pointing out what the opponent is doing, and giving feedback during breaks. Coaching like this will help elevate your competitors level of awareness and help them perform at a higher level.
One of the most important times to give coaching is immediately after the end of a match. I've found that this is a time when athletes are most vulnerable to negative and positive feedback. The feedback can come from within, from someone around them, or from their coach. Therefore it only makes sense to pull the competitor aside after every match, win or lose, to give them the feedback that they should receive.
Eliot Kelly
Wrestling, Jiu Jitsu, Judo
(916) 595 4064
