There is a quote by Michael J Fox that I love:
“If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.”
This is definitely true of coaching children as well and we need to be mindful of it so we don’t fall into the trap of believing that we are great teachers or coaches just because ‘we know our stuff’. An expert doesn’t always make a great teacher or coach and the reason for this is simple – once we learn a skill or understand a subject, it is easy to forget what it was like to learn that particular skill or subject ourselves. A great teacher or coach remembers what it was like to learn and so effectively guides the children through the learning process.
In my last post I discussed how the skills and techniques we learn get wired into our subconscious mind so we stop thinking about them when we execute them. The downside of this is, the better we get at a particular technique or skill, the more difficult it becomes to recall easily from our conscious memory all the little steps or components involved in executing the technique or skill. This can make it more difficult to teach a beginner. If you asked Lionel Messi how he beat three players before blasting the ball into the back of the net, the chances are his response would be along the lines of “I just do it”. Messi would likely struggle to guide us through what he did step by step.
Research undertaken by Dr Sian Beilock from the University of Chicago shows that experts typically underestimate the time required and the issues faced by beginners when learning something the expert takes for granted. Further, Dr Beilock’s research shows that experts struggle to remember each individual step when asked to teach a novice a skill or technique.
The scientific reasoning behind this is to do with where information is stored in our brains. Learned skills, when competency is gained, are stored in our procedural memory. This allows our brains to send the appropriate signals through our bodies to execute the skill without using our conscious mind. The downside is that the further a skill is entrenched in the procedural memory, the more difficult it is to explain the skill step by step.
Conversely, when learning a new skill, the information is stored in the explicit memory. Our explicit memory is easily accessible by our conscious mind, making learning more efficient.
As coaches we need to be aware of the expertise curse and to ensure we are explaining and demonstrating skills, techniques and strategies step by step in a method that is understandable for all players. It is our responsibility to ensure we are teaching the way each child learns.
Great post.