Jan 10, 20193 min
COACHING FOR YOUNG PLAYERS
The feedback a junior receives from parents and others heavily
influences them. I’ve seen first hand how this can help or hinder, their
development. Here are some of my insights from working with juniors and their
parents and some suggestions for creating a healthy environment for the
development of their game.
BEGIN WITH POSITIVES
After the completion of any match,when you start teaching it’s
important to start with the positives and then move onto the areas of
improvement. If you’d like your junior to think more positively when they’re on
the table, then you need to provide an example by doing this yourself. All my
students fill out a “Rate Yourself” chart after each match. Students reflect on many positive things but
also address things they could have done better. For the things that could have
gone better, it’s important for the parent to remind the child that these are
things they can work on during practice.
FOCUS ON THE PROCESS, NOT THE RESULTS
The results a junior gets will never be as important as what
they are learning.
When a parent reviews a junior’s performance, it’s important
to reward the things they did that led to end result. By this, I mean the
process (decision making, pre-shot routine, attitude). You wouldn’t want a
junior to be thinking about the consequences of every shot during the match, so
when reviewing their performance, the focus needs to be on the process and how
they dealt with the challenges they faced.
When juniors are praised for process and effort (which
includes how hard they’ve been practicing), they will be inclined to work
harder than those who are told they are naturally talented. If juniors are
taught that any skill can be learned with hard work, it will encourage more
persistence, more effort and lead to more tournament victories.
DO NOT COMPARE THEM TO OTHER PLAYERS
One of the traps that juniors fall into is thinking about
how good they are compared to other players. This can cause them to start
playing “Ego pool”, instead of focusing on the process. All too often there’s more value placed on
“looking good”, instead of focusing on
what they can truly learn.
THE STRUGGLE
Struggling should not be looked at as a negative. When juniors
work to overcome challenges they become stronger. Parents shouldn’t allow
juniors to fear mistakes; rather, they should be taught that it is an important
part of the learning process.
KEEP EMOTIONS OUT OF IT
Finally, juniors are always seeking approval from their
parents. They care deeply about what their parents think of them and the
emotional response they receive. For
this reason, juniors are generally very good at being able to determine how
their parents are feeling. Parents usually show it on their faces or with their
body language.
I’ve worked with plenty of juniors who, through this
experience, ask their parents to not watch them compete. The relief of not
worrying about how their play makes their dad or mom feel is very real. The
lesson here is to be careful about how emotional you become and try to remain
neutral.
I hope this article provides you some helpful pointers on
how to help a child play a better game of pool. If you’d like further guidance,
feel free to visit www.poolteacher.comor
give me a call to set up a free consultation.
Author: Anthony Beeler
Anthony Beeler is an instructional columnist for Pool and Billiard Magazine and On the Break News. He is the owner and founder of Virtual Billiard Academy and the Angles as a Second Language Course. He is a player representative for McDermott Custom Cues and is a four time Kentucky State 9-Ball Champion. In addition, he also won the 2013 BCAPL National 9-Ball Championship and has a total of six top 25 national finishes to his credit.
Editor: Chris Freeman
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Sponsored by Jacoby Custom Cues