Benefits of Narrative Learning
Should You Tell Your Story?
Talking about yourself can be a really vulnerable position to be in. I often question whether I should share experiences or situations because I fear that it might make me look weak or incapable as a coach. However, by sharing with your athletes, you’re showing that you trust them enough with your story and that you care more about their growth than how you might appear.
The motivational benefits of narrative learning include self-efficacy, presence, interest, and perception of control (McQuiggan et al., 2008). By teaching and coaching through narrative learning, we are providing our athletes with the grace and space to try, fail or succeed, and learn from those experiences and consequences.
Additionally, these interactions between coach and athlete where the coaches explain what they might have done well or something they learned from, positively affect an athlete’s construction of knowledge and their pedagogical voice (Toner et al., 2012). Even if you don’t feel like telling your entire life or athletic story, you can start small. Explain the how and why a particular drill might have worked for you or how you’ve witnessed a strategy help a former athlete.
Narrative learning is never to be an example of how an athlete might be failing or that they should be compared to their coach or a former athlete. It should be a way to motivate athletes and validate coach strategies and practices.
How do you incorporate narrative learning into your coaching? Comment below!
References
McQuiggan, S. W., Rowe, J. P., Lee, S., & Lester, J. C. (2008, June). Story-based learning: The impact of narrative on learning experiences and outcomes. In International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems (pp. 530-539). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Toner, J., Nelson, L., Potrac, P., Gilbourne, D., & Marshall, P. (2012). From ‘blame’to ‘shame’in a coach–athlete relationship in golf: A tale of shared critical reflection and the re-storying of narrative experience. Sports coaching review, 1(1), 67-78.