The language we use as coaches can have a large impact on developing an efficient movement and developing an inefficient movement. There has a been a lot of research on the impact of language in teaching movement to athletes. A good book to check out in The Language of Coaching by Nick Winkelman.
I put this video together on a session I did with a triathlete and how the language helped her to achieve what we were going after with her body position in the water.
Thanks for this post. As a teacher (of other stuff) and forum-student of many Slowtwitch swimming coaches, I really liked this crossover (pardon the pun) between learning/teaching and sport.
Although I adored my HS coach, who would whistle and point when you were doing something wrong (usually not going fast enough), I learned 100x more in 1/100 of the time from clinic coaches who clearly had thought about and practiced and refined techniques for communicating with athletes.
Welcome. Glad you liked it. The language I use with athletes is something that I’ve given a lot of thought to over the years when making stroke corrections because it can be so impactful.
But there is also something to be said about an athlete who adores their coach and has 110% buy-in. That can be one of the more difficult skills to master as a coach - to get buy-in from athletes, especially triathletes 😀.
Again, thanks for checking out the post and if you have any questions, please let me know.