MORE CUES ≠ BETTER COACHING

“Chest up.” 

“Brace.” 

“Knees out.” 

“Push through the floor.”

“Control it.”

“Breathe.” 

“Stay tight.”

“Drive through the ground.”

At some point, we have to ask ourselves…

Are we actually helping the athlete, or are we just talking?

One of the biggest mistakes I see coaches make is giving an athlete too many cues at once.

And the thing is, the cues might all be correct.

But if you give an athlete five different things to think about while they’re trying to perform a movement, it can quickly become overwhelming.

Observe → Identify → Cue → Reassess

Instead of trying to correct everything you see, let the athlete move first.

Observe what they actually do.

Identify what is limiting them or what matters most.

Cue one thing that can help.

Then reassess and see if it actually made a difference.

Sometimes the best thing you can do as a coach is…

Stop coaching.

Let the athlete move. Let them figure some things out. Let them feel the movement.

Then step in.

HOW YOU CUE MATTERS

There’s also research around internal vs. external attentional focus that can help inform how we coach.

An internal cue directs the athlete’s attention toward their body or a specific part of the movement.

For example:

“Keep your knees out.”

An external cue directs their attention toward the effect of the movement.

For example:

“Push the floor apart.”

Research has generally found that an external focus of attention can be beneficial for motor performance and learning compared with an internal focus, although the best cue depends on the athlete, movement, and context.

That doesn’t mean internal cues are bad.

It means we should be intentional about the cues we use instead of automatically giving an athlete a list of body parts to think about.

ONE GREAT CUE > FIVE GOOD CUES

And that one cue might be completely different from athlete to athlete.

Maybe one athlete needs:

“Push the floor away.”

Another might need:

“Stay tall.”

Another might need:

“Slow it down.”

The goal isn’t to find the perfect cue that works for everyone.

The goal is to identify what that athlete needs right now.

Good coaching isn’t about showing someone how much you know or how many things you can correct.

It’s about knowing what needs to be said, and when it needs to be said.

References

Wulf, G., & Prinz, W. (2001). Directing attention to movement effects enhances learning: A review. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 8(4), 648–660. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196201

Chua, L.-K., Jimenez-Diaz, J., Lewthwaite, R., & Wulf, G. (2021). Superiority of external attentional focus for motor performance and learning: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Psychological Bulletin, 147(10), 1038–1058. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000335