Our STOP & Learn experience is the final stage of our program.
STOP & Learn is a two-hour-and-a-half team- like practice that incorporates film feedback followed by high-intensity skill development drills, offensive and defensive concepts and competitive scrimmages. We promote a hybrid open-gym playing environment, where we offer correction and light instruction while allowing players the freedom to play without being over-coached.
Ability to make DECISIONS
We resist the urge to over-coach because when coaches (and parents) micromanage and scream directions during the game, it can ruin the flow of the participants. Over-coaching produces confusion and doubts in players’ heads that can prevent them from doing what they already know how to do. In addition, over-coaching denies students one of the greatest life lessons and character development opportunities: the ability to make decisions and live with the consequences of those decisions. This is why we feel it is important for students to play freely in each of our experiences.
The MOTIVE
The main purpose of our STOP & Learn experience is to create the best opportunity to help students develop their skills and knowledge of the game. This is where their repetitions and instructions from the Skills and Drills experiences during the week are most critical. While our training experiences during the week are geared toward individual skill development, STOP & Learn provides an environment where players can apply their skills in a game-like setting. It is a fundamental part of the students’ learning process of translating skills into the game.
WHAT do they get?
During the open-play segment of STOP & Learn, the coaches give our students:
- Instant feedback as they play
- Small adjustments on both offense and defense
- Reminders to focus on effort, play smart, and play together
- Encouragement to stay positive regardless of results
CONTROL what you can
Student-athletes need to learn the important life lesson that we cannot control all aspects of our lives – instead, we must learn to focus on things we can control such as attitude and effort. Coaches and parents should help prepare students during game prep by solely fostering essential characteristics such as determination and desire, and positively reinforcing these efforts when they play.
Gift Now