Learning IS NOT Linear

Perhaps one of the most important things for Athletes AND Coaches to learn is that progress IS NOT linear. Often, an athletes progress resembles more of a slowly elevating cosine wave – some months the athlete will learn new skills, increase height, grow their difficulty and technique, and generally have good practices. Other months, athletes will  lose skills, decrease height, lose difficulty and technique, and seem to have generally bad practices. While they go through this down wave in their learning curve, it may seem like nothing they (or you) do will help them. However, this down curve is extremely important for their growth and learning. Sometimes, an athlete will lose a skill for a little while and that’s 100% okay. If that happens, simply take a break from the problem skill (or skills) for as long as needed – don’t continue to push it. In most cases, leaving it alone will allow the problem to work itself out. Doing only drills for the problem skill will also help indirectly fix it. Unfortunately, failing is part of the process, but this means that the athlete is LEARNING! An athletes learning curve is always going up…even on bad days. Athletes will learn from their mistakes.