One concept that often raises eyebrows and inquires from coaches and parents is the use of the “
Magic Ratio” in helping our kids learn from their youth sports experience.
The Magic Ratio, rooted in sports and educational psychology research, states that coaches can get the most out of youth athletes by providing five specific, truthful praises for every one piece of specific, constructive criticism. “Five to one?!” we hear. “When Sarah makes five errors for every ball she fields cleanly, how am I supposed to get to this ratio?!”
There are ways for Responsible Coaches to achieve the Magic Ratio, legitimately, while helping your players improve. Take a simple fielding drill. Let’s say you’ve got five players in a line, and you hit 10 ground balls to each of them in a five-minute drill.
That’s 10 chances to find something positive to say to each player. Start the drill slowly, hitting balls that are relatively easy to field. That will gently warm up the players and build their confidence as they field balls cleanly.
And since they are fielding cleanly, you have a chance to offer specific, truthful praise.
“Great footwork, Tess, that’s it, left-right field, left-right throw,”
“Perfect triangle from feet to glove, Susie.”
“Way to keep that glove low, Pam. That’s even better than last practice.”
As the drill progresses, gradually increase intensity and make the players range. Warmed up with confidence from their successful fielding and your praise, they will make the tougher plays, giving you the chance to praise them more and build more confidence, which will lead to more success.
On the tougher plays that they miss, provide specific constructive criticism.
With full emotional tanks, your players are more likely to accept your criticism, because they are more confident from their earlier success and because they have heard plenty of your praise.
Even with little tricks, such as the start-slow technique described above, achieving the Magic Ratio still is not easy. Just as players struggle to gauge and appreciate incremental improvement, so do many coaches. Every little bit that player and coach can recognize as a step in the right direction will provide that much more encouragement to continue pursuing the Magic Ratio.
Therefore, another tactic you may use to help you maintain a 5:1 ratio is to break skills down into tiny details, giving you that much more opportunity to catch players doing things right. For example, you may break a player’s swing down into five parts. If one of those parts is the typical “squish the bug” for the back-foot pivot onto the ball of the foot, you may consistently praise that element of the swing. That way, even if the player has trouble breaking some other habit, you can praise her along the way, keeping her confidence up enough to keep working until she has the right swing.
You also can move yourself closer to the Magic Ratio by praising players not just for physical feats, but also for effort, such as hustle, or emotional contributions, such as filling a teammate’s emotional tank. Achieving the Magic Ratio makes you a better coach, because as your players’ performance improves, so does your team’s on-field results. If you keep that in mind as a Responsible Coach, you are more likely to continue pursuing the
Magic Ratio.
The
Liberty Mutual Responsible SportsTM program supports volunteer youth sports coaches and parents who help our children succeed both on and off the field. We offer many
youth sports resources including $2,500 community grants, instructional videos, weekly tips, peer and expert advice, and coursework for those interested in improving the youth sports experience for all involved.
