Some say, “Variety is the spice of life” – it might also be a key to coaching.  Variety not only keeps things interesting it also taps into the various ways our athletes learn.  All athletes learn differently:  they have their own unique learning style.

Learning styles are different ways of thinking and learning.   High school and colleges coaches that understand their athletes’ learning styles and vary his or her style of teaching strategies accordingly, have the best shot at truly impacting all their players.

In 1983, Dr. Howard Gardner, psychologist and professor of education at the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University, proposed his theory of Multiple Intelligences.  Gardener believes that there are many ways to show our intellect and he defined 7 original intelligences.

Gardner claims that all people have all intelligences but to varying degrees, such that each person has a unique intellectual make-up.  For a coach to optimize their learning environment, they must identify and teach to these various styles with a range of activities that engage all types of learners.

Today, let’s look at one of the seven intelligences – Linguistic or Word Smart.  People who are naturally good with writing or speaking and memorization.  They learn best by reading, writing, listening and discussing ideas.

Traditional teaching and coaching (telling athletes how to do skills) favor this type of learner.  Other strategies to consider include having athletes:

• Read books and articles about your sports techniques and tactics;
• Write down what they’ve learned at practice and games;
• Talk about they’ve learned, or
• Discuss corrections they would make after viewing video tape of their technique or tactics.

Unfortunately, button pushers get a bad rap.  They’re considered rude, inconsiderate, disrespectful, intrusive, self-absorbed and insensitive. They are the difficult people in life.  Teachers send them to the principals office, coaches pull their hair out and bosses fire them.

I see it differently.  I believe my job as a coach, partner and a parent is to push buttons and to welcome my buttons being pushed.  Why?  I’ve found that the best at anything – sports, public speaking, sales or surgery, have the fewest buttons and the ones they have are really hard to find.

Attempting to protect athletes or ourselves from button pushers is to do them (and you) a disservice.  Our competitors are all about to pushing our buttons.  The more buttons we discover within ourselves and the more we learn how to manage them, the better we will be under pressure.

So how do you know a button has been pushed?  Here are some classic signs:

• Getting angry and upset at someone’s behavior.
• Feeling annoyed by something.
• Feeling taken advantage of
• Being rebuffed, spurned, made fun of or humiliated
• Feeling unappreciated, unimportant or devalued
• Feeling falsely or unfairly accused

Typically when one of our buttons get pushed it send us down an unwelcome path of anger, hurt or withdrawal.  Unfortunately these patterns do not allow us to learn about ourselves.  Remember, when a button gets pushed – you’ve just discovered another area for growth.  So instead of reacting when a button gets pushed, stop, breathe and reflect.  Stay calm – do not get angry or yell.  Cool off before you say anything.