The ambiguity of language...

Something all new coaches are taught to consider is how they communicate to their new pupils, what tone of voice to use, what volume, intonation, clarity, speed, body language, gestures, position and so on and so forth. It's one of the first things we look at on the courses I tutor and it can be a potential minefield!

Never was this more accurately brought home to me that in a lesson I taught yesterday afternoon. We were attempting a very simple exercise with a group of mini red players (more on mini tennis structure in a future post for those uninitiated, but suffice to say for now they were all about 5 years old) that involved throwing and catching. Little Jimmy is throwing to his partner and is playing Darts (throwing from in front of his nose), "Jimmy, can you throw underarm for me?" says coach, at which point Jimmy puts his left arm across his body and literately throws the ball from under it.

Now, technically it's my fault! I knew what I wanted to see (and what Jimmy did wasn't it!), but to a 5 year old, with a very literal view (and ear apparently) of things, he did exactly what I had asked, he threw the ball "underarm"

This got me really thinking about the things we say as coaches and educators and how often we actually get across the point we mean to make. If a pupil misunderstands our words, do we really take the time to make sure they are performing the task as we want or need them to, or do we just settle for them being approximately right? I like to think, with my obsession to detail, I will always seek to clarify and confirm understanding and that I make this clear to my trainee coaches too and it is certainly something I am becoming more aware of.

The next time you take a lesson, or are on court next to a coach. have a listen to what they say and how they say it. If (when) they say something like "hit over the ball" (my pet hate :-( ), see if the pupil really understands what they mean - if they follow it literally they'll either miss the ball completely or hit it into the bottom of the net. What the coach probably means is hit up and across the back of the ball or similar, but that might not be what they say!

You've got to love the English language!

Cheers