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Effective Communication for Canoe and Kayak Coaching

When coaching canoeing or kayaking we need to deliver our coaching in the most effective way possible. We all understand that we need to deliver our coaching in the most effective way possible to make the best of the potential of our athletes. We want to avoid wasting time, and at the same time achieve our goals quickly and effectively for the sake of ourselves and our althetes. We already have many tools to achieve this and avoid failure, and meta-programme provide an additional way to get the results to really make a difference. We can do this if we ‘de-code’ the structure of our students language and use it to help us understand the drivers and motivators that really make them ‘tick’. Meta-programmes are very strong filters we use when we process information, which affect the way we notice and sort the sensory data around us. They are how some people see the world through ‘rose coloured spectacles’, or who’s glass is always half full. Some people are very flexible across these continuums. Others are quite set at some point. If you need to influence someone, use their patterns. Organisations, cultures, and individuals all exhibit these patterns.

This video, from the ‘NLP for Sporting Excellence’ programme explains six of the most useful metaprogrammes-

In a future article I’ll post a demonstration of how you can actually use meta-programmes to help your communication, both with individuals and groups. And you can contact me for more information about NLP trainings and BCU courses.

For more information on NLP coaching and courses please contact me at Kim@kimbull.co.uk

Open canoe, sea kayak and white water courses and coaching, 1:1 and group workshops, BCU Training and Assessments in Northumberland and the North East.

NLP and Canoe and Kayak Coaching – Understanding VAK Language

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NLP and Canoe and Kayak Coaching – Understanding VAK Language

Introduction

Coaches are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of developing good communication and of many methods that can be utilised to achieve this. Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) is increasingly being used to help us recognise and understand the communication signals of other people, especially when there is a difference between our preferred methods of making sense of communication and theirs.

Rapport

‘Rapport’ is that unspoken understanding we sometimes have, usually with those people we find it easy to ‘get along’ with. It is the feeling of having ‘something in common’ with them. Being able to get into rapport with our students is a critical tool for effective coaching, and that includes begin able to get into rapport with people who are quite different to us.

The definition of rapport, ‘to be in a relationship of harmony, conformity, accord or affinity’ highlights the importance of rapport to communication. Without it, it’s very difficult to engage the other person. Without rapport our students may lose interest and find it hard to accept what we have to say.

One of the signs that people are in rapport is that they become like each other in some way. They develop a feeling or insight into the other person’s world and seem in tune with them. They start to match each other in a variety of ways. People in rapport may display similar posture and gestures, their balance, voice, and language start to mirror each other and they may even begin to voice similar beliefs.

It is unlikely that we will naturally share many of these basic communication signals with all the people we coach from the outset. Since rapport is so important it would be useful if we could begin to notice and match some of our students traits as a way to build the feeling of rapport. As we grow to like other people we naturally begin to develop rapport. However, we can lay the foundations to kick-start the rapport building process ourselves. By making a deliberate effort to match our students we show we are willing to see their point of view and we begin to sing from the same song sheet.

The VAK System

It is particularly useful for us to be in rapport with the students preferred method of processing information. We represent the world to ourselves in a Visual, Auditory or Kinaesthetic way (V, A or K). These are representational systems. When we think about something we may make a picture of it in our minds (V), hear something in our heads (A), or associate a feeling, emotion, taste or smell with it (K). It may be that we use a combination of representational systems depending on the situation. This Neuro Linguistic Programming notion of the VAK system does not define it as a learning style, but purely the way we process information through our senses.

Acknowledging that there are different ways of processing information is important because if we know how a student is representing their world at a particular time we can develop better rapport with them.

For example, imagine you want to buy a new canoe. The old one looks tatty and you’d like something that makes you look the part. You have a certain image of the boat you can see yourself paddling so you go into the canoe shop and ask, “I’m looking for a new canoe. Can I see some? There are some nice looking ones in the window”. The assistant knows which have the best write-ups and which perform better than others. He tells you the name of the model and he says it sounds amazing. He talks about the type of tough plastic used, the boats volume and displacement characteristics. You ask to look at it. He takes you over and he tells you more about it’s primary and secondary stability, but somehow you’re just not getting excited. You spot a great looking boat across the room and ask to see it. He tells you the specification isn’t so good. You’re confused. He hasn’t pinpointed your dream boat and you’re unclear about what to buy. You leave and say you’ll think about it.

In this case the sales assistant is operating in auditory and kinaesthetic mode. He’s been in the business too long to be influenced primarily by what looks good. He can easily interpret the performance data that indicates the difference between a good and a bad boat. You however, are operating in Visual mode and are using lots of visual words. You say you are ‘looking’ for a new canoe and ask to ‘see’ some. You are interested in something that will help you ‘look the part’. If the assistant had taken you to a great looking boat, which he thought had a good enough specification for you, you’d have left happy. The rapport between you and the sales assistant was poor.

Clues To Detect Which Representational System Students Are Using

From the above example you will notice that people typically use certain words that point towards the representational system they are using. People processing visually typically use visually descriptive words. Similarly, auditory processing people use words associated with sounds or voices and kinaesthetically processing people use words associated with feelings, tastes and smells. If you listen to the words people are using you can match these word types to develop better rapport.

The list below gives some examples of common coaching words people in different VAK modes might use.

Visual		Auditory		Kinaesthetic
Angle	Inspect	Accent	Relate	Active	Hold
Appear	Level	Alarm bells	Ring	Carry	Impact
Aspect	Look	Ask	Say	Charge	Motion
Clarify	Notice	Click	Shout	Cold	Pressure
Clear	Observe	Chord	Sing	Crash	Sensitive
Demonstrate	Perceive	Compose	Sound	Feel	Shift
Depict	Picture	Divulge	Speak	Firm	Smash
Dream	Pinpoint	Grate	Speechless	Fish for	Smooth
Examine	Present	Harmony	Talk	Flow	Solid
Feature	See	Hear	Tone	Foundation	Sticky
Focus	Show	Listen	Tune	Grab	Stroke
Glimpse	Sketch out	Loud	Utter	Grasp	Tap
Idea	View	Mention	Voice	Handle	Throw
Illustrate	Visualise	Noise	Wavelength	Hard	Tickle

If one group of words seem particularly obvious, in tune or comfortable to you now, you may be able to work out the representational system you are currently using.

Although you can learn to keep constant track of the types of words students are using, often their preferred system becomes more apparent when they are experiencing extremes. If they are unable to achieve a particular task and come to you for more information they might say-

“I can’t see how to do this, can you show me again?” (V).

“That didn’t ring any bells, can you explain again?” (A).

“I can’t get to grips with this, can we start from scratch?” (K).

If you pick up these clues correctly, you can respond in the appropriate way. This might be a demonstration for V, a further explanation for A and physically moving K’s arms/paddle. As you go through the technique again the visual learner may be watching intently, the auditory learner may be concentrating on what you are saying and the kinaesthetic learner may be ‘going through the motions’ and moving their body as they rehearse what they will be doing.

Matching and Leading

Matching these behaviours will further develop your rapport. If you match your students’ posture, speaking patterns and breathing you will both be using the same representational system and it will seem as if you have both entered into the same, shared outlook on the world.

Matching is one method of building rapport. By ‘matching’ your students VAK words, speech patterns and physiology you can accelerate the rapport building process. When you have rapport you have developed a bond. Your student will unconsciously want to maintain this bond because rapport is a two way process and they are now also in rapport with you. This means that if you introduce changes to the VAK words you use and, changes to your physiology your student will want to maintain rapport and will change with you. This gradual change from one VAK system to another is called ‘leading’.

‘Leading’ can be used by a coach in a variety of ways. Where our student is putting their attention at a particular time may have a major effect of how they perform in a given situation. As a coach, if you would like them to work on their performance by feeling the effect of the water flow on the balance of the boat through their knees as they edge the boat (K), but they are focussing on looking at the direction of the moving water and the angle of the boat in relation to it (V) you are not in rapport. By listening to their language patterns and observing their eye accessing cues and physiology you may establish they are processing visually. By initially using visual language and matching their physiology you can develop rapport with them. Once you have rapport you will then find it easier to lead them to a different, perhaps more useful system. Learning to be aware of where the students attention is focussed and channelling it in the direction we would like it to go, improves the communication between the coach and student and moves the relationship closer to the agreed objectives.

Another reason to lead our students to a different system is that some systems are more effective in some circumstances than others.

For example, the visual system is good for holding information and generating choices but is not so good for making decisions. The Auditory system is good for making decisions and putting things into order or sequence, and for quantifying things. The kinaesthetic system is good for learning physical movements and sport, and for getting in touch with our emotions.

You will notice that people use different systems at different times and in different circumstances. People may also switch systems quickly while thinking. For example, when asked a question some people might follow the following thought sequence-

Say to themselves, “Ok, what do I need to find our here?” (A)

Then make up a picture of their answer (V)

Then check their feelings to make sure they’re happy with their answer (K)

Then put the answer into words for their reply (A).

This illustrates how people use all the systems and why it is important not to label someone as using only one (i.e. “he’s a visual person”). This is one of the flaws of using just a questionnaire to discover ‘someone’s system’ – people use all three systems, so the VAK system is useful not for categorising your students, but for communicating with them effectively using the system they are using right now.

Putting it all into Practice

1. Rapport

The first thing to remember is that we are all already good at getting into rapport with people. If we weren’t, we wouldn’t have many friends. So learning to use this information in practice is simply a matter of paying conscious attention to something our unconscious mind already does. We are already good at this because one of our many skills as a coach is to bring to our conscious mind aspects of canoeing we do unconsciously. This skill already enables us to pass the refined (automatic for us) points of a skill or technique onto our students.

2. Plan

The second thing is to do what all the best communicators do – they plan their communication. This means you can structure your communication to make it appealing to the processing system preferred by your student.

When coaching several students you can plan your delivery to suit all three system types. You may have noticed that good coaches say the same thing in several ways. This helps them make their communication loud, clear and easy to grasp. In other words, students see, hear and feel what the coach means.

When using coaching acronym ‘IDEAS’, the Introduction is auditory, the Demonstration is visual, and the Explanation is auditory. We then ask our students to go and try out the new skill in the Activity. We then give an auditory Summary. Notice that no new information is given to those using the kinaesthetic system. By using IDEAS in the purest sense we are expecting those in kinaesthetic mode to change system. This may be alright if you are in rapport and can lead them to a different system, but if not it means they have to translate the visual and auditory information you give them into the kinaesthetic system they are paying attention to. This is an extra step they have to do before they can use the information you have shared with them.

Planning your communication may therefore mean adding an extra step into IDEAS for the kinaesthetic processor. You can either physically move their body and paddle so they go ‘through the motions’ or you can use a metaphor. A metaphor is a way of linking new information to something already known. The metaphor should be planned carefully to focus on the kinaesthetic aspects of the skill. To do this you can come up with a sentence that uses the words “feels like” in it. For example, “Trunk rotation feels like winding up a spring”, or “a sculling draw feels like spreading butter along the side of your boat with your blade”. The important point is that you are associating the new task with a kinaesthetic experience they are already familiar with. This metaphor could be planned as part of your explanation. By physically moving your student or using a metaphor you are adding a ‘K’ for ‘kinaesthetic’ and now using the coaching model ‘IDEKAS’.

3. Language Patterns

Thirdly, notice the language patterns people use. Are they visual, auditory or kinaesthetic? Notice when people shift from one system to another. A good way to develop this skill is when listening to the radio or watching television. You can set yourself targets during one day to notice when people are using the language of one system. Set a target for another system the next day and the final system on the third day. Although you may have to do this consciously initially you will realise now that you can keep track of the types of words people use and the meaning of the words too.

4. Become Familiar With Your Own Preferences

Fifth, become more aware of the representational systems you use. Practice shifting from one to another by first noticing the number of colours around you (V). Concentrate on the different shades you see, and the number of shapes in view. Then count the number of sounds you can hear (A). Tune in to internal voices in your head, the sounds of your breathing, sounds close to you and further away or outside. Next, think in terms of feelings (K). Notice any sensations of touch or temperature. Feel any movement and also any tastes, smells and emotions you might have. Use your own eye access cues while you do these exercises. Moving your eyes in the directions shown in Figure 1 when you are noticing each system will make this easier (remember Figure 1 is a mirror image). Notice the language you use most freely. Then change your language patterns and use a different system for each day. This can seem strange at first – almost like learning a new language as you start to use auditory words when you might usually have used visual or kinaesthetic ones. This practice is important so you can learn to communicate effectively by switching to and from the visual, auditory or kinaesthetic system at will.

In Summary

Developing good rapport is essential for good communication and trust between student and coach. Matching our students VAK information processing system will develop rapport. Once matched and rapport is at a suitable level, we can start to lead our students into other processing systems. Leading can be used to ensure our students are concentrating on the most appropriate part of the environmental information that is available to them.

Practical use of the VAK system is a valuable skill for coaches to possess. Like other skills it can be learned and this process may be made easier by using some of the exercises given above. As this skill develops the coach will find it becomes autonomous and part of his or her coaching repertoire.

By learning to use the VAK system to consciously build rapport, a coach can speed up and enhance the bonding process with students. By literally ‘speaking the same language’ the coach and student develop a deeper understanding of each other. They are better able to share their aims, objectives, thoughts and experiences. This can lead to better communication and a closer bond between coach and student. Above all, it gives you an insight into your students preferred method of processing information and allows you to structure your coaching to tap directly into it.

As an NLP Trainer, I run and ‘NLP for Sporting Excellence Programme’. Contact me for details of these trainings.

For details of canoe and kayak training, BCU courses and canoe coaching or kayak coaching contact Kim Bull. Training courses run throughout the North East, Cumbria and the borders of Scotland.

Email – kim@kimbull.co.uk

All Articles, Canoe and Kayak Articles, Coaching Articles, Communication, Uncategorised, Understanding VAK Language canoe nlp, kayak nlp, NLP, VAK

Information Processing for Canoe and Kayak Coaching

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Information Processing for Canoe and Kayak Coaching

When were learn, we are processing information. It has been estimated that at any time we may have up to two billion pieces of information bombarding our senses. Evidence suggests we can only process 7+/-2 pieces of information, so a key skill for coaches is being able to direct the attention of our students to process appropriate information.

This clip, from the ‘NLP for Sports Excellence’ training, explains how the processes on Generalisation, Deletion and Distortion affect the way we process information.

For more information on how these skills can help you, contact Kim.

For details of canoe and kayak training, BCU courses and canoe coaching or kayak coaching contact Kim Bull. Training courses run throughout the North East, Cumbria and the borders of Scotland.

Email – kim@kimbull.co.uk

All Articles, Coaching Articles, Information Processing, Information Processing for Canoe and Kayak Coaching, Uncategorised Information Processing, psychology

Learning and Your Conscious and Unconscious Mind: A Canoe and Kayak Perspective

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Learning and Your Conscious and Unconscious Mind: A Canoe and Kayak Perspective

We are all aware that we have a conscious mind, and we could all benefit by building trust between it and our unconscious mind. So what is our unconscious mind? Our unconscious mind runs everything that we don’t do consciously.

There’s a model of learning that illustrates the conscious/unconscious mind link very well.

STAGE 1

Unconscious Incompetence

STAGE 2

Conscious Incompetence

STAGE 3

Conscious Competence

STAGE 4

Unconsious Competence

It suggests that when someone learns a new skill they start by not even knowing that they can’t do it, because they don’t know it exists to be done. Then they realise that they can’t do it. As we learn it we get to know that we can do it but only if we concentrate. Finally, the skill becomes automatic and you can do it without thinking. At this stage it is your unconscious mind that looks after the skill for you.

How many times have you been doing something unconsciously without having to think about it? You do not consciously ‘manage’ your body, your unconscious mind does. You don’t have to consciously breathe, but you can if you want to. So if we can trust our unconscious mind to breathe for us then we can trust it with other tasks too.

Would you trust your unconscious mind with other skills you’ve learned such as driving your car? If you’ve ever been driving and arrived at your destination but don’t remember details of the journey then that’s exactly what you do. If you remember first learning to drive (when you were consciously incompetent) it may have seemed complicated. But now your unconscious mind drives you and navigates you safely even though you are not consciously aware and you are ‘miles away’ in some kind of trance. If a dangerous situation had arisen, your unconscious mind would have said ‘Hey, I need some help here!’ and you would take over driving consciously. In fact, at any particular time most of the cars on the road are being driven by unconscious minds, all quite safely!

So if you trust your unconscious mind to keep your heart beating and you trust it to drive you then you can certainly trust it in your sport too. And one of the main reasons for trusting it is because it contains all the resources you need. It ‘knows’ all of the things you don’t consciously know now. How many times have you resolved a problem not by conscious thought but by sleeping on it, and the next day the answer just pops into your head? You know that when you’ve forgotten something the answer can be on the tip of your tongue, but the harder you try to consciously remember, the more elusive it is. It’s only when you let your unconscious mind take over (by not thinking about it) that you are able to remember. So you not only know more than you might think, you actually know a great deal more about everything to do with your sport because you don’t have conscious access to the majority of what you do actually ‘know’.

So just like solving a problem by ‘sleeping on it’, you can overcome many of your sporting problems by tapping into your unconscious mind for the answers you need and know now that you don’t yet consciously know. And that’s good!

I suspect you already know that one of the best ways of doing this is to access your unconscious mind through sports hypnosis and NLP. And imagine how good you will be when you have progressed through the learning model to ‘unconscious competence’ and then go beyond it -

So for now be aware that your conscious mind just represents the tip of the iceberg and as you start to trust your unconscious mind you are making friends with a dormant giant within. Future articles will examine ways of harnessing the unconscious mind and dealing with distractions – a key skill in keeping ‘in the zone’.

“In judo, he who thinks is immediately thrown. Victory is assured to those who are mentally non-resistant.”

Robert Linssen.

Contact Kim for training in how to develop your skills in this area

Key Benefits

-Learn to tap into your vast unconscious resources.

-Bring your whole mind into action.

-Lead yourself to enhanced performance.

For details of canoe and kayak training, BCU courses and canoe coaching or kayak coaching contact Kim Bull. Training courses run throughout the North East, Cumbria and the borders of Scotland.

Email – kim@kimbull.co.uk

All Articles, Coaching Articles, Information Processing, Learning and Your Conscious and Unconscious Mind, Uncategorised canoe, kayak, NLP

Positive Language for Canoe and Kayak Coaches: Thinking Like a Jedi

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Positive Language for Canoe and Kayak Coaches: Thinking like a Jedi

When we set goals and objectives, either for ourselves or for others, how often did we use the word ‘try’?

There is a famous quote from Yoda, Luke Skywalkers’ mentor in Star Wars.

‘There is no such thing as try – just do or don’t do.’

If you think about it he’s right. ‘Trying’ is just a concept that exists in language. It doesn’t exist in the real world because after the event you have either done what you intended or you haven’t.

Take a moment now to think about doing something well that stretches you towards your limit in your sport – paddling a rapid, making a climbing move, accelerating the pace, something demanding but something you can do…… Notice any feelings and sensations you have. It feels good doesn’t it?

Clear your mind for a minute. What did you have for breakfast today? Toast? Cereal? It doesn’t matter, but now think of trying to do the same thing that stretches you in your sport – go on, really try hard. What’s the difference in how this feels? Most people process ‘trying’ more negatively. Maybe there’s some extra muscle tension there, or you associate it with effort and gritted teeth.

Above all, the word ‘trying’ introduces the possibility of failure, even if this is at an unconscious level. And remember, when your unconscious mind has the concept of failure linked to something, you can easily get drawn towards it even if you consciously don’t want to (See the Power of Positive Language).

Since ‘trying’ is only in the mind, and is associated with difficulties, effort and permission to fail, then it would be really useful to eliminate it from our vocabulary. So from now on, develop a Jedi mindset and ‘just do’.

Contact Kim for training in how to develop your skills in this area

Key Benefits

-Effective goal setting.

-Positive attitude.

-Leads to enhanced performance.

For details of canoe and kayak training, BCU courses and canoe coaching or kayak coaching contact Kim Bull. Training courses run throughout the North East, Cumbria and the borders of Scotland.

Email – kim@kimbull.co.uk

All Articles, Coaching Articles, Positive Language for Canoe and Kayak Coaches, Uncategorised NLP, nlp canoeing, nlp kayaking, Positive language, sports psychology

The Power of Positive Language for the Canoe and Kayak Coach

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The Power of Positive Language for the Canoe and Kayak Coach

I know a climber who keeps falling off a crag doing the same move, and yet it’s a move well within her capability. Everything’s ok as she climbs up to that point. Then, as she prepares for that move she say’s to herself, ‘I mustn’t fall!’, over and over again. So what happens? She falls. The reason is that when she says ‘I mustn’t fall’, her mind must first think of her falling before she can think of herself not falling.

Try this for yourself – don’t think of a blue tree! DON’T!!!

What did you think of?

‘Where the attention goes the energy flows’. That split second of thinking about falling creates a mental picture or message which her muscles act upon – so she falls off – a self fulfilling prophecy.

I was kayaking with some students recently who were concerned that they might hit a particular rock and capsize. Sure enough, they concentrated on the rock and were drawn towards it like a magnet. What happened is that their mind created a powerful image which their body acted upon.

Words are very powerful, so use this to your advantage and use positive language instead. Notice the times you are thinking about what you don’t want instead of what you do want, and work out how you can change the thought so it expresses what you do want.

When you’re next taking part in your activity, notice the times you and those around you express things negatively by saying what they don’t want to happen. How can this be changed into a positive statement to say what they do want? As you continue to practice this it will start to happen automatically, and if you catch yourself setting a negative goal simply ask yourself, ‘want do I want to happen instead?’

Here are some examples of negative phrases and what you might say instead.

Negative Phrase Positive Phrase

I won’t do this wrong I’ll do this right

Don’t miss it Hit it

Don’t be tense Relax

This won’t stop me I will keep going

Don’t worry Be confident

Don’t look down Look up

Don’t think in negatives Think in positives

So now you just need to go out and practice, but don’t do it all the time, and don’t think about how much more positive your attitude will become as a result!

Contact Kim for training in how to develop your skills in this area

Key Benefits

-Effective goal setting.

-Positive attitude.

-Leads to enhanced performance.

For details of canoe and kayak training, BCU courses and canoe coaching or kayak coaching contact Kim Bull. Training courses run throughout the North East, Cumbria and the borders of Scotland.

Email – kim@kimbull.co.uk

All Articles, Coaching Articles, Communication, The Power of Positive Language, Uncategorised nlp canoeing, nlp kayaking, Positive language, psychology

Aiding Effective Learning for the Canoe and Kayak Coach

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Aiding Effective Learning for the Canoe and Kayak Coach

I’m always really curious about how students perceive the information shared with them. I was speaking with several people recently who had all been taught the same things but by different coaches. I found it really interesting that they formed completely different opinions about the content of a lesson depending on who their coach was. Take a few moments to read through the simple steps outlined in this article that will let you shape the opinion and point of view of those you communicate with in a positive way.

A great deal of scientific work has been done on how we learn the physical and psychological things that allow us to become skilled in our sports. However, the link between the learning of the skill and our opinion of the learning process and perception of the skill is often neglected. Our perceptions and opinions can be one of the most important influences on how well we progress in our sport, and have an important effect on the rate and quality of our learning.

The Motor Skill Learning Bit

We are already aware that many new skills contain too much information for beginners to handle. It is widely recognised that learners organise large amounts of information into more manageable units. This strategy is known as subjective organisation and involves the organisation of information that must be remembered in a way that is meaningful for the individual. Other terms for this are chunking, clustering and grouping.

The important thing is that the chunks become meaningful to the individual. This implies that we have some mental strategy that associates new information with things we already know. In coaching terms this is sometimes called finding ‘hooks and hangers’ within the learners brain. For example, we might break a complicated new skill down into a series of relatively simple parts with each part being in some way already familiar to our students.

‘Hooks and hangers’ imply our memory is like storing things in cupboards. What we don’t consider so often is that our brains don’t work in a linear fashion with a wardrobe for each cluster of information, but more like a huge walk in dressing room with an infinite number of doors. This means that the same skill can be stored behind many different doors and retrieved from our memories when any of a range of similar doors are opened.

For example, imagine you’re a good skier but are now going for surfing lessons. These skills might seem totally unrelated (different cupboard doors), but when your coach starts to explain about using the edges of the board to carve on the wave, the label ‘edge’ you’ve learned from skiing gives you the information you need to help learn the new surfing skill. Although you may be forming a surfing cupboard door to store information in, the ‘edging’ label is common to both and regardless of whether you go to this label through the skiing or the surfing cupboard door, ‘edging’ now has more meaningful information associated with it in both contexts.

Now your brain is really clever. What if edging was called something else too? Well, our brains can store the same information under different labels. ‘Edging’ and ‘carving’ are very similar examples, and when learning something new our brains seek to generalise in many ways, so it may be given many labels.

The NLP Bit

We have labels for things like ‘edging’ and ‘carving’ and also for things like ‘difficult’, ‘hard’ and ‘scary’. So when coaching, if we say ‘We’re now going to learn to carve, which some people may find difficult’, you can guarantee that most of the students will generalise the ‘some people’ to mean them and also file ‘carving’ firmly in the cupboard labeled ‘Things I Find Difficult’ – and this is before they’ve even tried it!

If a coach introduces a new task with the words ‘Today we’re going to try some of the harder advanced skills’, where do you think we will file these? Even from our first few attempts our unconscious mind will be thinking ‘These are going to be hard to learn, and to make sure I’m right I might throw the odd spanner in the works to back this belief up.’ And it will do this all unconsciously so your conscious mind never knows what’s sabotaging it’s learning!

I’ve always wondered why canoeists and kayakers give white water rapids names like ‘jaws of death’, and ‘the graveyard’. I know many paddlers who have read these names in the guidebook on the way to the river and become a gibbering wreck before they even get on the water! I wonder which mental cupboard doors they’ve opened, and what else they found inside.

Lead Your students to the Most Useful Cupboard Doors

Remember, we have lots of cupboard doors with great labels on them – ‘fun’, ‘exciting’, ‘easy’, ‘simply’; so why not use these instead? ‘Today we’re going to learn some of the fun advanced skills’, it sounds better already doesn’t it?

As a coach don’t you want your students to associate what you’re teaching them with all the other things they’ve found fun and enjoyable? When they do, their unconscious mind will be generalising across what you’re teaching them and what they already have behind their ‘fun’ cupbaord door. All of a sudden they think your session is so much more fun than the one they had the previous week -you know, the one where they tried some of the harder advanced skills.

And now’s the time to consider the easiest way for you to use this knowledge. Take a moment to think about what was most useful for you in this article, and when will be your first opportunity to slide some of these simple language skills into your coaching. And have fun with it while you do!

Contact Kim for training in how to develop your skills in this area

Key Benefits

-Effective coaching and learning.

-Positive communication.

-Positive attitude.

-Increased motivation leading to enhanced performance

For details of canoe and kayak training, BCU courses and canoe coaching or kayak coaching contact Kim Bull. Training courses run throughout the North East, Cumbria and the borders of Scotland.

Email – kim@kimbull.co.uk

Aiding Effective Learning, All Articles, Coaching Articles, Communication, Information Processing, Skill Aquisition, Uncategorised canoe psychology, coaching, kayak psychology, learning, learning' psychology, psychology

Rapid Anxiety Elimination Process – A Video Demonstration for Canoeists and Kayakers

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Rapid Anxiety Elimination Process – A Video Demonstration for Canoeists and Kayakers

As part of my canoe and kayak coaching, I use sports psychology, hypnosis and neuro linguistic programming (NLP) to improve sporting performance. I’ve noticed that as people develop their paddling skills, the thing that seems have the biggest impact on their performance is their ‘psychological fitness’. Where two people have the same skill level, fitness and tactics, the one with the better ‘mental game’ will be more successful.

Many people say to me that their performance breaks down because of anxiety. An appropriate amount of anxiety is useful and is necessary for ‘optimum arousal’. However, when anxiety builds beyond this threshold it can significantly inhibit our performance.

Anxiety itself is not an emotion. It is a state of over arousal of the autonomous nervous system caused by emotion. When this arousal reaches a certain threshold the ‘fight or flight’ response is triggered. Again, this is an unconscious process over which we have little conscious control.

In a brain scan, this shows up as over activity with the left side of the brain. One way to tackle this ‘in the field’ is to give the brain so much to do that it cannot concentrate on ‘being anxious’. However, we all know that when we’re anxious it’s hard to concentrate on anything else, so the distraction is best if it is simple, yet changes and increases our brain activity unconsciously.

Because our hands and fingers are so complex, a great deal of brain power is engaged in using them. So, any activity using both of our hands (to engage both left and right sides of the brain) will change our brain processing and make anxiety incompatible.

In simple terms, this means if we throw a ball from one hand to the other, we can reduce our level of anxiety. If we also move our eyes in a certain way we can de-activate the part of the brain processing ‘anxiety’.

The following exercise will achieve this, and you can either do it yourself or talk someone else through it. When learning this yourself it’s often easier to have someone talk you through the steps. Watch a demonstration on this video and then read through the instructions below.

If you want to practice this and don’t feel anxious, just remember a time when you were really anxious and imagine it now….

Give the anxiety a score out of 10, where ten if most anxious.
Turn the anxiety up – go on, turn it up to at least 9/10. How can you get it up to 10/10 or 11/10?
Use an object that’s easy to catch (something like a juggling ball, bean bag, climbers chalk ball etc).
Start throwing the object from one hand to the other. Keep throwing left to right to left to right at a comfortable speed of about the speed of soldiers marching ‘left, right, left, right’ etc. Keep going.
Notice what happens to your anxiety. Now for the advanced….
Stop. Turn the anxiety back up again. Then start throwing from left to right to left to right and now carry on with your eyes shut. Keep going and notice what happens to the state? And for the really advanced….
Stop. Turn the anxiety back up again. Then start throwing from left to right again and now look up as high as you can. Keep going and notice what happens to your state.

The great thing about this method is that it really works anywhere you are. You might find it useful to practice with different objects associated with your sport. Have you ever noticed cricketers throwing a ball from one hand to the other before they bowl?

To develop your skills in this area, or if you’d like to permanently tackle the cause of your anxiety contact Kim for further information.

For details of canoe and kayak training, NLP, BCU courses and canoe coaching or kayak coaching contact Kim Bull. Training courses run throughout the North East, Cumbria and the borders of Scotland.

Email: kim@kimbull.co.uk

All Articles, Coaching Articles, Emotional and State Control, Rapid Anxiety Elimination Process, Uncategorised anxiety control, canoeing anxiety, kayaking anxiety

Focus, Attention and Sports Psychology for Canoeing and Kayaking

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Focus, Attention and Sports Psychology for Canoeing and Kayaking

My canoe and kayak coaching brings me into contact with many paddlers aiming to improve their sporting performance. One key area that separates high performing athletes from others is their ability to focus and pay attention to the right things at the right times.

Fortunately, this is a skill which you can easily learn. Many of us are familiar with the model that we can only consciously process 7 plus or minus 2 pieces of information at a time. This might mean that at any moment on an average day we can hold about 7 ‘thoughts’ or chunks of information, perhaps 9 on a good day and perhaps 5 on a bad day. It’s estimated that on average our senses are bombarded with about 2 billion pieces of information at any one time. So how useful would it be for you to make sure you were paying attention to the most important pieces to get the best from your sporting performance right now?

I’m sure you can think of a time in your life that illustrates this principle. How many times have you been looking for something and just can’t find it? Although you know where you put it, it’s just not there. You search everywhere else, and as a final check you look again at where you first left it and there it is – but you’d already looked there and couldn’t see it!

How many times have you been talking to someone and found your attention drifting off? Something suddenly brings you back to the conversation – perhaps the other person is looking at you and waiting for an answer but you haven’t a clue what’s just been said.

These are examples of deletions. These things are there but you unconsciously filtered them out. You haven’t been paying attention and the information went un-noticed.

Some of the information you do sense is distorted. An example of this is time. We can all think of a time when the hours flew by – usually because we were having a really good time.

Because we distort and delete so much information, we often fill in the gaps by generalising. This means we make assumptions without checking. For example, 2+2=4. We know this to be true in all situations without having to check.

This natural process of deleting, distorting and generalising can lead to problems. I was out canoeing recently, on a fairly straightforward river. We were watching another group descend the rapid and someone in their group was so intent on avoiding an overhanging tree branch they didn’t see a rock and they capsized. In this case the rock was deleted from their attention.

They swam down the relatively minor rapid and got out at the bottom. I asked if they were ok. “Yes, but I didn’t enjoy that swim, the waves were enormous – and that rock was as big as a house!”. Actually, the waves were pretty small and the rock was about the size of a shoe box, and clearly the person was distorting the facts.

Several months later I met this person again. They told me the incident had had quite a bad affect on them. They had now stopped paddling similar rapids and became scared even thinking about them. Clearly they were generalising what they had experienced and assuming unconsciously that the same thing would happen on every other similar rapid. I offered to help and we worked together to sort out this simple problem. Before long they were paddling again and progressing to bigger and more exciting rapids.

The process of deleting, distorting and generalising does have it’s benefits. Distortion allows us to be creative and think of new possibilities. Generalising allows us to learn, and deletion keeps us sane by allowing us to leave out the majority of detail when we communicate and yet still be understood (eg, Most people will understand you if you say “I’m going to the shops in the car”, but this statement deletes when you are going, are you the driver or the passenger, which shops are you going to, which car, and are there really shops in the car?).

So do you want to learn to delete, distort and generalise in a way that allows you to maintain your focus and attention when it really counts? Contact me to develop your skills in this area.

For details of canoe and kayak training, NLP, Sports Psychology, BCU courses and canoe coaching or kayak coaching contact Kim Bull. Training courses run throughout the North East, Cumbria and the borders of Scotland.

Email: kim@kimbull.co.uk

All Articles, Coaching Articles, Focus, Attention and Sports Psychology, Uncategorised attention, canoeing psychology, focus, kayak psychology, psychology

Guaging Skill Aquisition from Observable Behaviour

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Observing The Skill Level of Canoeists and Kayakers

One challenge faced by canoe and kayak coaches is guaging the level to which a skill has been aquired by a student. The abililty to do this is particularly important when undertaking a personal skills assessment of students, as students are usually required to show a ‘skilled’ or ‘skillful’ performance.

But what does a ‘skillful’ performance look like? The model of skill aquisition below is being developed by Loel Collins at the University of Central Lancashire and it divides performance into five levels – from ‘awareness’ of a skill through to ‘skillful. It also suggests some observable behaviours a coach would expect to see a student demonstrate at each level. These are divided into ‘cognitive’, ‘biomechanical’ and ‘physiological’ behaviours. By observing the student and noticing the behaviours a coach might use this model to determine the skill level the student has reached.

For further information about Coach Education training and courses contact Kim.

For details of canoe and kayak training, BCU courses and canoe coaching or kayak coaching contact Kim Bull. Training courses run throughout the North East, Cumbria and the borders of Scotland.

Email: kim@kimbull.co.uk

Level

Description

Observable behaviour

Awareness

The coach/paddler has been introduced to the components of a particular skill and they understand it.

Their performance is defined by interpretation of rules/routines supplied by the trainer. The coach/paddler uses these to quantify the performance.

Consistency of intended outcome is poor.

The coach/paddler literally only has an awareness of the skill being learned.

“ I understand what you are suggesting and can see its relevance, but not applied it yet”

Cognitive.

An understanding of the skill is demonstrated by the coach/paddlers ability to identify examples of the skill when observing another performance.

In general the student is unaware of their surroundings or other influences that may affect their performance,

Biomechanical

Actions will be exaggerated, possibly even opposite to what is desired.

Physiological.

The performance will be so faltering that fatigue will set in during activity. Muscle soreness and tiredness will be experienced.

Level	Description	Observable behaviour
2 Practice	The coach/paddler is starting to put the components of the skill or theory to use through a process of reflective practice. With support such as assistance from the trainer, crib cards, or feedback the individual can use elements of the skill. The template for the performance is still established by the trainer but the coach/paddler is literally and figuratively getting a feel for it. “I am playing with this to see how it works”	Cognitive The coach/paddler is able to describe what they are doing. In addition they are beginning to be aware of the influences around them that will affect performance. Biomechanical. Fine details of performance may be poorly timed or structured. However the macro structure is appropriate. The coach/paddler will mostly be using too much/little effort, but it will sometimes be appropriate. The skill/manoeuvre may look rushed or erratic. Physiological The performance will be tiring and stiff, this will influence the length of session possible.
Level	Description	Observable behaviour
3 Technical	The coach/paddler now uses the skill in their general coaching/paddling, but it is not varied for the given students or situation The limitations are becoming apparent and the performer starts to experiment with concepts rather than rules. The performance is generally consistent, the intended outcome is achieved more than half the time. “If I plan well ahead I can use it and if not then I know why”	Cognitive The coach paddler is now able to use the technique as part of his/her regular activity. There is no need for assistance with the macro structure. The dynamic nature and varied environments that coach/paddlers operate in and the application of the rules means that the cognitive activity is still high. Biomechanical. The effort and position (e.g. edge trim angle) will now be appropriate more often than not. The skill manoeuvre will look reasonably smooth but the speed/endurance is still being affected by inconsistency. Physiological The muscle is now more in tune with the movements creating a smoother more fluent movement pattern. Sessions can be longer and fine muscle control is possible. The coach/paddler is starting to be able to describe their activity. The muscles are sufficiently relaxed to allow proprioceptive awareness to develop.
Level	Description	Observable behaviour
4 Skilled	The coach/paddler is associating particular past situations with specific modifications to the components of the skill. This can only be achieved through a process of reflective practice. Rules have been replaced with principles and will have even been simplified or grouped to help comprehension. Rules often become confined to key safety issues rather than performance matters. The performance is consistent. The intended outcome is achieved most of the time. “ I can use the technique when given the opportunity to plan ahead and am able to anticipate common/frequent problems.”	Cognitive The paddler has a clear understanding of the component parts and their relationship with each other. There is a realization that there are too many variables to apply simple rules. In order to reduce cognitive activity the coach/paddler is starting to draw on previous experience in order to react rather than consider. Biomechanical. The individual now has a more consistent performance and a range of techniques for most situations. New environments often require a couple of attempts prior to success. The effort and position will now be correct most of the time. The paddler will be paying attention to ways of making the skill more efficient. Physiological The performance will be with minimal effort reducing long-term fatigue. Muscles are used to the actions and movements.
Level	Description	Observable behaviour
5 Skillful	The coach/paddler is able to perform the skill with autonomy and creativity. As the need arises the individual can modify their actions to suit a wide range of situations. The coach/paddler has sufficient understanding and experience to understand the relationship between movements/theories. The coach/paddler is operating without consciously referring to rules or principles. They will appear to make decisions and refine movements instinctively. The performance is very consistent. The intended outcome is almost always achieved. “ I can trust it when the going gets tough, I can use this skill off the cuff alongside other theories and models”	Cognitive The coach paddler has a very clear understanding of all the components of the skill or theory and will only be paying conscious attention to fine motor movements. The coach/paddler will be intuitively responding to the changing influences around them. The individual will be constantly strategically planning and applying tactics to address the changing influences at a micro level. Biomechanical. The skill can be performed in a range of different environmental locations with the same level of consistency. The paddler can adapt and justify the skill. The effort and position will almost always be appropriate. The paddler will be constantly refining to achieve maximum output with minimum input. Physiological The performance will be achieved with minimal effort and without long term fatigue. Through training the muscles will be used to the actions and movements.

All Articles, Coaching Articles, Guaging Skill Aquisition from Observable Behaviour, Skill Aquisition, Uncategorised aquisition, coaching, skill

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