10 Ways for Gaming Coaches to Level Up Their Skills
Becoming an exceptional gaming coach takes dedication, patience, and a commitment to constant improvement. Even with years of experience, there are always new techniques and best practices to learn.
We've put together 10 core tips to help fellow gaming coaches enhance their skills and take their coaching impact to the next level:
1. Watch Recordings of Your Coaching Sessions
One of the best ways to evaluate and improve your coaching abilities is to record your sessions and review them afterwards. Pay close attention to your teaching clarity, feedback quality, and student engagement. Identify strengths to continue and flaws to fix.
2. Continually Learn from Other Coaches
Great coaches are always learning. Seek out courses, books, podcasts and more created by other esteemed gaming coaches. Stay humble and keep adding new drills, training ideas, and coaching methods to your repertoire.
3. Request Feedback from Your Students
Your students are your secret weapon for improving your coaching skills. Frequently ask them for candid feedback on what they find most and least helpful. Adjust your approach based on their constructive critiques.
4. Observe Other Coaches in Action
If possible, sit in on sessions from coaches you admire or take a private lesson yourself. Pick up subtle techniques from watching them coach in real time that you can integrate into your own style.
5. Stay Up-to-Date with New Games and Meta
Great coaches master not only universal skills but stay on the cutting edge of each game's evolving strategies and techniques. Spend time each week learning the latest meta to share the newest tips.
6. Focus on Asking Great Questions
Superior coaches aren't just great at teaching - they excel at asking insightful questions to diagnose each student's specific needs. Study techniques to ask questions that illuminate and educate.
7. Build a Library of Drills and Exercises
Collect go-to drills focused on fundamentals like aim, positioning, reaction time, teamwork and more. Develop a diverse set of targeted exercises to improve any area a student needs help with.
8. Master Explaining Concepts Simply
Effective coaches are experts at breaking down complex ideas into easy-to-understand instructions. Study great teachers to improve how you convey hard skills in simple, memorable ways.
9. Analyze Past Student Replays
Save old VOD reviews of past students and re-watch them later with fresh eyes. Identify new things you missed before that could inform future lesson plans.
10. Commit to Continuous Small Improvements
Don't expect overnight transformations. But do commit to steady fine-tuning through deliberate practice and learning. Small improvements compound over time into mastery.
The path to becoming a truly exceptional gaming coach never ends. Strive for a little bit of daily progress through self-analysis, peer learning and client feedback. Your future students will thank you.