Street Soccer and The Inner Game course a great success!

Last Updated: Friday, Nov 26, 2010, 14:11

What is the Inner Game?

The Inner Game was created by Tim Gallway.  He noticed that there's an outer game played against the opponent and also an inner game played against the interfering thoughts inside our minds. Interference can get in the way when we're learning as well as when we're performing. Tim first developed the Inner Game principles when he noticed the interference in his tennis students, especially the internal dialogue which sometimes broke through the surface as audible self-criticism or less than helpful self-instruction. To his horror, he realised that at least some of this interference was caused by a coaching comment he had made himself. To help explain what he was seeing, he coined the terms Self 1 (the voice doing the talking) and Self 2 (the part of the mind-body system responsible for performance & the one with all the potential). We have described Self 1 as the left brain and self 2 as the right.
 
Pe (your performance) = Po (your potential) - I (your interference)
 
It became obvious to Tim that when Self 1 got out of control, Self 2 was not able to learn or perform easily. Invariably a downward spiral of interference and lowering self-esteem went hand-in-hand with a growing number of mistakes. So Tim began experimenting with his teaching style. His solution consisted of just three major ingredients:
 
•    Awareness
•    Trust
•    Choice

When Tim was able to help his students to focus their attention in a non-judgemental way, learning happened naturally and easily as Self 2 got on with the job unimpeded. Often simple directing of awareness would solve technical problems without any specific technical instruction. Tim found that the more he could convey trust in his student's ability and the more they began to trust their own potential, the less interference there was. Allowing the student to choose the direction of learning helped them to focus better,  because focus naturally follows interest. Increasing choice also had a positive effect on their self-esteem because they were responsible for the learning. Each of the three ingredients resulted in a quieter Self 1. Working together, the results sometimes seemed magical as the interference gave way to the innate and awesome ability of Self 2.

The Course

 
The day consisted of practical demonstration and theory and was tutored by Peter Farthing form Inner Works Coaching and Darren laver from the ISSA.  The course was a great success and we will be sure to run more for 2011. The course ran for six-hour focussing on coaching techniques applying Inner Game coaching skill.
 
We had a diverse range of coaches form all backgrounds (Hockey, teachers, Rugby, football, students etc) The tutors worked with the participants always relating to their chosen areas of interest within the skill-set, finding an appropriate balance of theory and practice with the group.
 
We finished the day with allowing participants more ability to link the key Inner Game principles to the intricacies of goal setting, asking effective questions, listening, summarising and giving feedback. We also explored the balance of instruction and performer-centred skills.  A great day!
 
For further information on courses or if you would wish to host a course yourself please do contact us.
 
“The course was excellent and really challenged my coaching methods.  I can away from the course buzzing and with more questions than I started with.  Brilliant – I do recommend you find out more about this approach as it has so much to offer geniuine learning for sports performers” Frederick Williams