Play is a powerful teaching tool

Bary Gately, a frequent contributor to Scuttlebutt Sailing News, offers trade secrets for youth coaches from his life well-lived:

I have had over fifty years pursuing this sport. As I moved from initiate to competitor and further to coach I have had several mentors: Candy Shepard and Joan Ellis (nee Fillsinger) in my youth as an apprentice sailor, and others in the past decades during my pursuit as a master coach; in no particular order, Rich Jepsen Larry Legerwood, Jahn Tihansky, Nancy Haberland, and Susan Taylor. All are professional and a major influence in my development.

I did learn an important component of teaching from the four legged Golden members of my own household…Play.

In my short time at as a development sailing coach at the US Naval Academy, I realized that constant drills and racing were boring my excellent and intelligent charges. They needed more challenges.

So began a number of new practices. One was the balloon chase, a large field described by buoys and I unleashed balloons upwind across the water. Popped balloons were not to be counted in the final tally and you can imagine the mayhem that occurred.

While environmentalists may chastise me, I just feel lucky that there were no collisions of the boats and all stayed safely on board. Not a practice plan I would ever do again, but it provided great fun and lessons from the participants on the next day’s debrief.

Some years later, I was asked to coach youngsters for Navy Youth Hockey; my group was the six to seven year olds. My first discussion was with the parents.

We made a promise, a pact, that if they brought their youngsters on time at that ungodly hour, dressed to go, I would deliver them back so Mom and Dad could continue on in the morning chores with the progeny napping quietly, exhausted in the back seat. It was an agreeable, resounding success…

The other coaches and I quickly realized that the drills we had experienced in our own careers were not only beyond the skill level, but also the confidence level of our young students.

I took the initiative one morning to introduce for myself ping pong balls as a substitute for the heavy hockey pucks. I recognized my failure; the balls were so quick to respond and the color so close to the white ice that even my colorblind eyes had trouble following them.

I tried this again one early morning with a tumble of yellow tennis balls I had inherited from my mother. Releasing the youngsters, they were to chase down the yellow orbs, to catch them, and place them back in the basket; they did not know that there were more balls than players. Enthusiasm ensued.

Confident, I went a step further. After two more weeks of drills, I introduced Katie, our ball centric and long legged Golden Retriever, to challenge the children.

With no instruction, they chased both dog and ball with reckless abandon. The dog led the pack around the rink with a particular tennis ball in mouth; she ducked behind the goal and to up and down the boards, dodging with grace the chase of the youth. I skated on the interior watching, to make sure all were safe.

At the end of our ice time, I noticed that Katie had settled down next to the boards and the players had all made a semicircle around her. They rolled tennis balls to her which she would grab and then dispose as the next was offered to her. Each had pleasure at which ball was rolled and offered to Katie and to whom she looked with appreciation.

I recognize now my recklessness in putting my charges (and my beloved dog!) in these situations. Please do not chastise me; I am the first to say “mea culpa”. Years later, I read that what my actions caused is ‘Unconscious Learning’. In an effort to chase a goal, the pupils use all of the talents learned before and sometimes excite and explore new talents they had not the confidence to try at all.

Do not forget the power of Play. We had that capacity as a child. That is where we made relationships and learned the boundaries and the rules for fair Play. My midshipmen on the water and the youngsters on the ice revealed to me that Play is a powerful teaching tool.

Woof!