An unconstrained task would be to hit the target with a fly. Posing this problem has a huge range of potential solutions, they could throw the rod at it if they want. With an externally cued outcome such as hitting the target whilst keeping the loop under the tip, I will demonstrate the task so that they know that it is achievable but I am not directing a solution, that is their problem to solve.
I only use mirroring if they are struggling, I don’t use it from the get go. If I make a long exaggerated movement with the tip path, they still have to arrange their sequencing and rate of motion to solve the problem.
If I tell someone to draw the longest possible line on the wall at waist height, they will try a lot of different movements to achieve that, they will know if they have achieved the goal but I may suggest a better way or a range of potential solutions. If they have to then fish in the same situation with their casting side foot on a wobbly rock, they will have to solve the potential instability. The teaching objective is student adaptability, they need to be a Swiss Army knife not a Samurai sword.
The example I gave of a tip path that is too short is an individual constraint that I want to remove in most cases. Students that have been taught the closed stance, elbow up and down movement, they translate that to the new task and often tail every stroke because they believe that there’s an optimum casting technique. I may lead them to an answer by tightening the constraints but the self discovered solution is more likely to stick.
The downside is if your student then out fishes you, that happened to me last week
Regards
Vince
