Coaching Methodology
An insight into our approach to coaching and facilitating Disc Sports activities...
State Management
There is great potential with Disc Sports to develop new skills and understanding in managing ones own state of mind. Our coaches take pride in our ability to quickly lead a group into a positive state by fully engaging participants and orientating them into the ‘here and now’ and on into a ‘flow state’. Accelerated learning can be achieved while in this kind of flow state.
In the context of a Disc Sports session, we aim to lead participants into this 'peak' learning state by facilitating activities that achieve a suitable balance between ‘challenge’ and ‘competency’. Here, individuals are successfully using skills that they have already developed to the level of ‘unconscious competence’ while being continually challenged just enough to fully engage and test the conscious mind. This type of experience is often referred to by top sportspeople as being ‘in the zone’ or 'zoned'.
So, when the conscious and unconscious minds are aligned and positively engaged in this way, the universe allows the 'super-conscious' mind or ‘spiritual realm’ to enter into existence. This is when a player truly let's go and ‘catches the spirit!’
First Learn Frisbee® - Then Learn With Frisbee®...
One of the pillars of our coaching methodology is to maintain behavioural flexibility. This means being open to incorporate unforeseeable events by viewing them as opportunities rather than problems or failures. This process is called 'reframing’. We therefore see our coaching role as being flexible facilitators - we prepare a plan for our sessions, and then follow the plan with flexibility, ensuring we make the game fit the player and the situation. At Catch the Spirit we maintain fixed goals with variable means. We aim to channel all the resources available to us into positive energy for the benefit of our participants.
This concepts and skills can be useful in everyday life too - the key is to avoid getting stuck in the 'problem frame' and shift focus to the 'outcome frame'.
When working with young people, we sometimes encounter confrontational or aggressive behaviour. Here we use a 'pattern interrupt' technique to break the state of the individual/s who are experiencing the negative emotions. Once they are distracted away from viewing the situation in the unresourceful way, we offer new choices of perspective and behaviour. Of course, our good use humour and our spectacular Frisbee® skills help these trance-formations along.
