Reply To: Game Intelligence / Decision Training

Kai,

Thanks for posting! I was wondering if everybody else was 'frozen out' by the site? Or just busy before Christmas, so not replying to these posts?

1) "What did you (teacher) do when you quit worrying about controlling the drill with your whistle?"

I think I would stop focusing on when to whistle and on what the kids were doing?

YES! My teacher friend Rob said he quit worrying about 'managing' the 'drill' and instead, he focused on the specifics as to what / how the kids were doing. He interacted more with the kids; talking to them in line while they waited. He provided feedback and opened up the lines of communication. (Knowing Rob, it was explicit feedback / direction… I still have more work to do with him!… but nonetheless, this shows the kids he cares and helps build more rapport.)

As mentioned, before I told Rob to put away his whistle, I told the kids they would be starting the drill on their own; they needed to watch when the person ahead of them hit a certain point – then they themselves left. So they were responsible for managing their own drill.

2) "What did the kids do when you quit blowing your whistle? How did it affect the kids?"

Kids also would stop to focusing on the whistle, they would observe more what's going on when there is some visual mark to start?

YES! As mentioned, the kids now took responsibility as to when to start… by NOT having to listen to the Pavlovian whistle, this increased focus / intensity and forced the kids to keep their heads up… watching and waiting. They had to make the decision when to go! We remove the auditory cue so the kids had to rely on the visual! This is the foundation of creating heads-up play.

Kai, I am encouraged to hear you do less drills and more games. I agree – sometimes one does rely on the whistle, but if one can change their coaching so that this is minimized, the 'drills' / activities become inherently more valuable for the players (more focus, intensity, heads-up play, decision-making, etc) thus improving Game Intelligence!