As I’ve written many times, much of my coaching background came from golf coaches and a golf school called “The School for Extraordinary Golf” (plus a book by that name). One of the truths that evolved is that “Awareness is how we learn,” “Awareness is curative!” As put another way, “Experience is the Teacher.” Words can lead you there, but it’s the experience that does the teaching. Feeling (and seeing) the difference between one shot and another teaches you how to shoot more effectively the next time. It could even be missed shots (of course). Awareness of a mistake is more valuable than a perfect shot with no awareness as to how you did it. Awareness gives the body/brain/nervous system the feedback it needs to make changes, subtle or gross.
A phrase that describes the effect of this goes something like this: “The experience with high awareness of one shot can teach you more than taking 1,000 shots with no awareness.” Some people believe you have to make thousands of “perfect” shots before you learn how to do it at will. That’s pretty discouraging, because how can you make perfect shots when your stroke is imperfect. As I like to shape that line (and what may be the intention of many people who use it) is to say that perfect AWARENESS of thousands of shots is what you need to learn to shoot, not perfect SHOTS.” And when awareness is high, it won’t even require thousands. Perhaps hundreds. Perhaps 10’s. Of course, you need lots of experience, but when your awareness antenna is raised high and tuned into your stroke, learning can be very quick.
The more the feedback, both by yourself to yourself and to you from others, the greater your learning. If you’re not giving feedback, then no one knows where you are relative to your experience. You might be totally asleep; you might be totally aware. (Without great practice, it’s probably more the former.)
When coaching someone, set up a system of feedback and learning will be enhanced. If working in pairs, teach them to give feedback to each other. It’s effective for the shooter to speak first and then for the observer to give feedback. If the observer speaks first, the experience of the shooter is diminished.
From my experience, most players are reluctant to give feedback to a peer, probably not wanting to appear critical or contrary. Speak to this and maybe mention how the Awareness Monster needs feedback for learning. For kids who resist speaking feedback to a shooter friend, a less threatening way is to have the observer simply give a hand signal, thumbs up for “Yes, I agree,” thumbs down for “No, I didn’t see it that way,” or the thumb at the halfway point for “I’m not sure” or “I missed that one.” The point is that the observation of an outside party can help the shooter see and feel the shot motion.