1. POSITIVE COACHING SCOTLAND TEACHABLE MOMENTS
High profile sporting events often provide a wonderful opportunity to teach young people lessons that are valid for sport but also in their everyday lives – however these opportunities are often missed by coaches.
Teachable moments can be both negative and positive – for example a high-profile athlete behaving in a disrespectful manner, or more positively an athlete helping an injured opponent. Having these high-profile opportunities provides a great discussion topic during your next training session.
Seize these moments and use them to create discussions with the young people, but to also generate discussion amongst the young people themselves, ask questions such as:
Tell me what you thought about the athlete’s actions?
What example do you think that set for young people watching?
How do you think the athlete’s teammates would have reacted?
How would you have responded if that was one of your teammates?
The most important factor is for the coaches is to recognise a teachable moment and discuss this with the young person – teaching them right from wrong and instilling positive behaviours both in and beyond sport.
Take some time to think about teachable moments you may have missed – what would you do differently next time?
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