Structuring multiple lessons

[Stoatstail50]

I was beginning to think it was just me.

It’s definitely not just you Is any of it useful Gary ?

[Mangrove Cuckoo]

I was beginning to think it was just me.

It’s definitely not just you Is any of it useful Gary ?

Useful?

Definitely.

But also quite sobering.

At least when I consider how I have been teaching fly casting for more than the last 20 years.

I am, or was, definitely old school.

That is changing though, partially due to these discussions and the recommendations on books and other info.

Luckily for the local fly fishing population, I am my only student these days.

And that student is heading out to the field now.

[Stoatstail50]

That’s nice to know

If there is a problem it’s the one you have highlighted and that is, if you’re old school, it’s a bit like someone peering over your shoulder and telling you you’ve been making your Spag Bol the wrong way all your life….and the natural reaction to that is usually” wtf!!!…. get out of my kitchen”.

There is, I believe, some movement in a couple of instructor organisations towards including some basic teaching theory as an advisory part of instructor preparation. Getting books on motor skill learning onto some instructor reading lists was a major step forwards and a fully endorsed program before or after qualification would be awesome…I think this is on the way and I don’t think it has to be at all complicated…it’s just a slightly different way of making Spag Bol

[Paul Arden]

Excellent video. I certainly don’t do that all the time. There are times when I offer a new pattern template and then create variability within that, to then ultimately contrast with what they were doing before.

An example where I think I would really struggle would be to go from OSD to 170 using the CLA. There isn’t a midway position that I like and so instead build it first using PUALD backhand drills, followed by falsecasting horizontal to vertical stopless backcasts, next developing backhand shots to targets at 60/70/80’ and finally the 170.

Ie instead of taking their existing stroke and adding constraints to get to the 170, I have a set of drills and exercises to be trained over 20-30 hrs in order to build a completely new stroke.

Two CLA exercises that I use are lengthening carry. Mark the line at 80 (or 90) feet and try to extend carry to your max and strip measure forward or back to your mark. Repeat this over weeks, months, years to find ways of increasing this length.

Another is the elevated carry exercise, standing on a truck/house/boat roof. Extend to max carry and then play with movement (swoop, thrust, cradle grip etc) and see what effect it has on the loop, during false casting.

Cheers, Paul

[VGB]

Hi Paul

Moving a PUALD or accuracy target behind the caster such that they have to deliver off their backhand is a change of task constraint. It ticks the boxes of implicit learning, external focus of attention and positive transfer.

Regards

Vince

[Paul Arden]

Hi Vince,

Yes that’s a good point and I agree with that. What I haven’t done is to take their existing forward distance stroke and turn it into a backhand shot (or 170) with constraints. Instead I’ve started afresh building a Stopless backcast PUALD.

I was thinking about the baseball pitcher’s change of stroke in Rob Grey’s video, using a longer bat, the stance change and striking to the right. Have you read his other books incidentally?

Cheers, Paul

[Paul Arden]

Another example, it’s actually in this thread. If I get a student with a frozen wrist, of which I am getting quite a few nowadays because it’s commonly being taught in the US, then I don’t think they are going to easily find wrist movement from a CLA, since it’s been drilled into them to not use the wrist. So I have a block and flip drill to free up the wrist, to which we can then fine tune it later.

It would be different if they came to a lesson having a frozen wrist and had found it themselves. But it’s so unnatural I don’t think this happens.

I’d be interested to hear what Mark thinks about this?

Cheers, Paul

[VGB]

Hi Paul

I haven’t read his new book and I think another is in the pipeline for the autumn. At the moment, I’m awash with theory and working on fly casting specific application but I don’t want to use paying customers as a test bed. Instead I have a couple of novices and some engrained students that I experiment on and the bits that work I retain or adapt. I’m planning to retire this year again, so I can put more time into it.

Old way, new way is intended to bypass stuff like frozen wrists. I use straights and ovals with the line or tip to articulate the wrist, freezing does occur even with novices when they start to look at their hands and arms. “It’s like playing with sparklers” was what one student said and that has gone into my analogy box for future use. Fly first, kiss and go to a target unlocks the wrist as well and it has positive transfer to pocket water dry fly techniques.

Regards

Vince

[Paul Arden]

Hi Vince,

Nice analogy. I try to go the other way completely with many intermediate students, who are having their casting advancement restricted by this poor teaching.

I remember one very well known instructor telling me how he made a living out of correcting another even more famous instructor’s mistakes. But I won’t say who either was

Of course with a complete beginner we usually have to rein in the wrist. But I think at instructor level it really needs some more attention in the FFI because it’s not just one of two casters who are making life very difficult for themselves. And many are being mentored this way.

I like to have casters, even beginners, explore ulnar and radial deviation vs flexion and extension. Thats not telling them what to do but instead offering alternatives to explore. And there are times and places for both.

Cheers, Paul

[Rickard]

Is the cue "hold a book tucked under the arm" still alive?

One day when I was doing 170 distance on the field someone walked by and told me that I was "too wide/bushy" and should be able to keep a book tucked between my upper body and arm. That would be an interesting constraint in trout distance.