Posted by A coach that I worked with once told me that it was the responsibility of the coach to know everything there was to know about each technique to the smallest and finest detail. I completely agree coaches must be extremely knowledgeable about technique.
Another colleague maintains that all techniques can be boiled down to a maximum of three key points. A ‘Rule of Three’, if you will. I completely agree that the coach must be able to choose the most important of the multitude of elements that he already knows about.
Learning exists only in the presence of feedback. But a coach who gives feedback on all of the details that he knows will get nowhere with the player. Even a coach who focuses on only three elements dilutes the attention of the learner and so the effectiveness of the feedback.
The art of providing effective feedback is to find the particular point in the chain of the technique that will have the greatest effect on the whole. Is there one single element that will improve the whole movement? That is the point on which we should concentrate our feedback.
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