"If we are facing the right direction, all we have to do is keep walking"
-Buddhist saying
So
Eve (age 9) is one talented gymnast. But she has a tendency to allow
her mind to race ahead of herself when working on a new skill. So if
it's a layout at the end of a round-off backhandspring layout salto (as a
new skill), she'll either balk or flub the skills that precede the end
skill her mind is fixated on.
So today she's working on her layout half and layout full, and she begins balking. Instead
of the usual way of reminding her of what was happening to her
mentally, and how step A has to follow step B before you can get to
C.....I phrased it in this fashion: "A path is formed by laying one
stone at a time."
She gets back in line....comes back to me and
says, "I don't get it." I tell her to ask her teammates for help in
deciphering. I send her to Remi, who loves a good philosophical story.
Remi comes over to me, confused. I ask her to repeat back what Eve told
her. Remi says, "Something about a 'path to your stones'...."
"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Labels: coaches, kids say the darn'dest things
