The Learnable Moment is a great opportunity in the life of a “teacher” of any kind. In schools we call it “The Teachable Moment”. In sport we call it “The Coachable Moment”.
The ‘Planned’ Learnable Moments:
This opportunity is present in every practice session immediately following a game.
“What did we do well?”
“What could we have done better?”
It’s present during every practice session.
“Hold it, everyone. We just completed a great teamwork drill. Let’s talk about what
happened and how it happened.”
“Hold it, everyone. We have been running this out-of-bounds play wrong. Let’s take it
from the throw-in. You have to set those screens with your opponent between
you and the out-of-bounds line.
For these activities, we are in a creative, thinking mode. As the coach this means we plan. We assess the needs of our players and our team and we develop appropriate objectives and goals. We design exciting, innovative, creative practice activities for our players. We involve our players in the planning and thinking behind our actions.
The ‘Opportunity’ Learnable Moment:
A mistake made by a player
An error made by the team.
A weakness of a player noticed by the coach.
An improvement over what is now going on.
For these opportunities we have to be more spontaneous. Intervention timing and type of action may be different … in some sports you can call a timeout… in some sports you need to speak after the race … and in some sports you may be able to talk during the action or between plays. Seizing an opportunity to learn is about timing, messaging, and trusting yourself and your players - it’s about what you do, when you do it, and how you do it.
Let's talk more about this in the next few sessions.
Life is spontaneous and it is unpredictable; it is magical.
– Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider
Northern Exposure
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