10/11/2025
Coachesā¦
Grab their attentionā¦hold their attentionā¦use their attention.
Why?
Because their attention is their prime mediator for learning and for behaviour change.
Make their attention your priority in your coaching sessions. Make their attention the relay station that helps the information you want to get across to them marinate in their short-term memory and eventually seep into their long-term memory.
Attentionā¦short-term memoryā¦long-term memory.
A message of āEyes on meā¦ā and then tone, volume, and pace helps your players note importance (their brain will work towards reward āthis is important to get rightā and away from punishment āthis would be a problem if I get this wrongā).
With āeyes on youā and with importance setā¦keep your instructions lean and lucidā¦short, simple, snappyā¦
Short, simple, and snappy because you want their working memory to hold the information you have for them and make sense of this information (with relation to their current knowledge).
Short, simple, and snappy because working memory is small and weak and can a mere three chunks of information (approximately).
Eyes onā¦
Tone, volume, pace
Short, simple, snappy
And then use their attentionā¦
Direct their attention through your session design, your instructions and through your questions.
Make them look, help them hear, tap their thinking.
To lookā¦attention on external clues that are important to them.
To hearā¦attention on your instruction that mediate their knowledge.
To thinkā¦attention on their current knowledge of the game, the problems that have been set for them, the solutions they might use.
Great coaches are constantly looking to help players direct their attention in appropriate ways in order to learn and to change behaviour.
Coachesā¦
Grab their attentionā¦hold their attentionā¦use their attention.
