What is repetition?

[Paul Arden]

What is very interesting to me, and I still haven’t mastered it, is persuading the caster themselves to trust it too. Very often a caster will come for a lesson expecting to get explicit, internally focussed instruction…and things can get weird pretty quick if this isn’t what they get.

Yep. But equally these are exercises we can set as homework. We don’t need to be there to hold their hands, particularly when we want them to walk alone. In fact I would think it’s a better use of lesson time to teach and set a few exercises for the week, that encompass variation, and let them explore without us present.

One example: tonight I taught the high speed rod tip down headwind delivery forward cast to a close range target using a near horizontal rod plane. We spent 10-15 minutes working on this. The homework task I set was to make this cast repeatedly. Then step back two paces and repeat. Then back two paces and repeat. And so on. Next to repeat the entire process again at a 45 degree rod plane and then finally at vertical.

I certainly don’t need to be there for that and this is something for him to work on. Instead I set another drill that connected to this one, which was the backcast delivery. Same drill, but now it’s backhand. This took about 20-25 minutes to get to the point where I was happy that he understood the technique, can make it happen and understands what to look for when it doesn’t work.

Now he has a busy week of practise, in this case two new drills (along with building upon what we were already currently doing which is Accuracy Rings and Open Stance Distance).

Setting training plans I think is very important. This student will watch the lesson video that we made and will take notes which he will send me. This I think is extremely effective for many reasons, not least because they often pick up something they missed. Between now and the next lesson he will put in 5-10 hrs of practise. I will stay in touch with him via WhatsApp to answer any questions he may have. (It’s also a good way of following up!).

This guy is obviously not a beginner. But I think the process is the same even if the tasks are different. The Triangle Method with varying line lengths is another good one to send them home with. Roll Cast to a target, take a step back and repeat etc. So I think of this stuff as homework.

Anyway that’s one way to do it

Cheers, Paul

Edit: he put in 10 hours of practise between this and the previous lesson. What a difference! This student impressed me highly today. A total transformation. He’s really worked for that and it was fantastic to see. I’ve asked what were his “epiphany moments”. That will be very interesting! I always ask.

[Paul Arden]

So I’ve bought a book of zen sayings to trot out at the end, whilst looking into the far distance. My favourite is “a chicken does not lay its own egg”, I reckon it doubles the tip at the end.

[Stoatstail50]

“We all live in phantom huts”

Genjuan no fui
Basho
1690

[Stoatstail50]

Re edit. Well that’s good…but why have you asked about an epiphany ?

[Paul Arden]

Because when we learn we have these moments of realisation when suddenly we improve. We see that in lessons or with ourselves of course. To go from where he was at the end of last time to where he was at the beginning of this time means that he has had I suspect a significant number of epiphany moments.

I want to know what they are, partly so he can recall them later, but also because I should be able to help strengthen and build upon them. Let’s say a lightbulb moment - off the top of my head - was slowing down, or feeling rod bounce, or a longer pause… then I can come up with some drills to lock this down and even develop it.

Or perhaps it leads into something else I can teach. Maybe he learned to relax his hand. Then I can contrast that to an opposite movement such as pull-back. Finding an alternative movement is a good way of anchoring.

Those are just examples and I have no idea what were his breakthroughs. But they were very impressive, and more than one lightbulb moment for sure.

It’s also quite possible that he may have had an inspired moment that I know nothing about, which will give me another tool in my toolbox.

Finally I think it allows me to understand him a bit better as we build our relationship.

I always ask. With a typical student, for every hour we are together, they are on their own for 8-10 hours. A lot happens in that time. I’ve helped structure it and I want to know what worked and where the challenges have been. Breakthrough moments is when the magic happens.

I wish I had kept a diary of mine. Sometimes I’ve had to learn the same thing 2 or 3 times

Cheers, Paul

[Paul Arden]

I’m still playing around with how I do this. A twelve lesson course is still rather new to me. Two and a half years now. About 40 students this way. So it’s still very much in development. Everyone gets the same content for at least 8 lessons. Depending on what their interests are, and how they develop, the remaining lessons can focus differently.

I don’t keep the order the same. Currently I’m still shuffling. But the content within these 8 lessons at least is the same or very similar. It will always be work in progress but it’s tightening down now.

I was thinking just now, that a good idea for those who send me notes, is for them prior to the next lesson to write about their experiences during training that week. I shall try that.

I can see real value in locking down these lessons. Typically, depending on the lesson, we spend 10-20 minutes first on review and then we cover the new lesson topic. Some are tight in which case I keep the review short. Presentation casts for example is a big one.

One of the best things I think about this, is that they rewatch the lesson and take notes. That’s far better than me giving them notes!!

I’m learning an awful lot here.

Right I’m going fishing

Cheers, Paul

[Stoatstail50]

Very cool Paul. I’m deeply deeply envious of your lesson series. I suspect most of the instructorsphere don’t even get close to 5 repeats let alone 10. The closest most of us will come is in CI or MCI mentoring and I think that’s quite different to teaching recreational anglers.

Yesterdays exchanges took me back to the books to check I wasn’t talking rubbish…here’s what Dan Coyle says in the intro to the language of coaching.

Historically and traditionally, great coaching has been seen as a kind of magic. In this way of thinking, the magic is located mostly inside the coach - in their keen eye, their intuition, and their way with people. Thus we’ve assumed great coaches (insert name here) tobe wizards. This way of thinking makes sense, but it also leads to some problems.

For one, it’s unscientific. We live in a world where the skill sets of doctors, engineers, architects, and every other professional are built on foundations of evidence based research and continuously improving methods. Coaching culture, for whatever mysterious reason, has proved mostly immune to science, leaving coaches to guide themselves by the hazy, unreliable stars of tradition, intuition and anecdote. Sometimes it works well. But, down deep, it’s unclear. Even the most fundamental questions echo with uncertainty: “what’s the best way to design practice? “ , “what’s the best way to give feedback”

Bearing in mind that this is not directed at casting instructors in particular it nevertheless is a pretty accurate picture of our own coaching history both personal and collective. To be a competent instructor we need to be both students of casting science and students of coaching science. There’s plenty of resource out there, and you’re right there are epiphanies on both fronts, revelatory moments when you go “whoa..!!” and then shortly after “…why didn’t I think of that ?”.

I still think it’s a little bit like magic, I know it isn’t, but I can’t help myself

[Paul Arden]

Yep my philosophy on this is quite simple, as I wrote to Bernd on FB, as coaches we should be constantly looking for ways to improve. I’ll take on board everything and anything and test it out for myself. These books really have been tremendously useful to me (and continue to be so). They have allowed me to analyse, assess and improve upon what I do. No question about that. But more that that on many levels. They offer a coaching route that hasn’t existed in flycasting.

Sometimes I find it all a bit hogwashy. I’m sure however that many anglers find the SL Board to be similarly overly complex at times. So perhaps it’s only because I’m not in that particular techno-bubble. That can be a mistake too however because sometimes people do it as a put down. Or to make it sound like they know something only few gifted people can understand. That annoys the hell out of me because it makes information inaccessible as well as elitist, which unfortunately can make it undesirable to learn. After all, most people don’t want to be seen to be wankers

But hats off to Nick Winkelman for being down to Earth and communicating. The two books I have read so far that you recommended, I would think essential reading to any FCing instructor.

I really do want to have a conversation with Bernd after he has read both. I know Bernd has directly taught 8-10,000 students. You said something along the lines of after X amount of time I had fallen into teaching in ways that work (and I think I said I had experimented on students to get there!). If Bernd doesn’t want to read them then I’ll pass on to Haysie. He’d be all over it.

I’ll send some emails

Cheers, Paul

[Stoatstail50]

Not “fallen”, “found” ways that work better…not the same thing.

Suggesting that new instructors read books about some of the knobs and levers that might make yourself a better instructor isn’t elitist as far as I know. If someone thinks that there is some exclusive claim to awareness due to being uniquely gifted then that’s very unfortunate and I’ll stop. No one wants to be seen as a wanker.

[Paul Arden]

Not suggesting you Mark - of course not mate. But some of the things that are written elsewhere are not inclusive to a wider audience. Case in point…

Conscious Motor Processing was positively associated with mental toughness, intrinsic regulation, integrated regulation, mastery-approach and task goal orientations, and dispositional flow, whereas Movement Self-Consciousness was positively related with stress and mastery-avoidance goal orientation. The findings of the study supported (a) the two-dimensional representation of the movement-specific reinvestment responses, but did not fully support (b) the practice of dichotomization of the movement-specific reinvestment responses, and indicated that (c) at the trait level, Conscious Motor Processing and Movement Self-Consciousness were associated with positive and negative psychological constructs, respectively.