Coaching Focus Board

A rotating set of one to three coaching questions to display on the whiteboard. Pick from the menu below every one to two weeks. The goal is to keep core coaching principles visible and top of mind for the whole team without turning it into a lecture.

How It Works

Pick one to three questions from the menu below. Write them on the whiteboard in the coaching area. Every coach who walks in sees them. Nobody needs to answer them out loud or submit a response. They’re there to prime your thinking before and during class.

Rotate every one to two weeks. You can pick questions from the same category to go deep on one skill, or pick from different categories to cover more ground. Either works. The only rule: don’t leave the same questions up for more than two weeks, or they become wallpaper.

Coaching Language

Am I using external cues more than internal cues?
If I wrote down my last ten cues, how many would reference the opponent vs the student’s body?
Am I asking “What do you see?” before telling students what to do?
Am I giving one concept per break, or chasing five rabbits?
When I give feedback, does it point forward (what to do) or backward (what went wrong)?
Am I using the common language (alignment, base, posture, structure, frames, levers)?
Could a first-day student understand my win conditions?

Game Design and Adaptation

What’s my targeted goal for each game today? Is it specific enough to observe?
If this game isn’t producing the behavior I want, what rule would I change?
Am I designing games, or just running positional sparring with a starting position?
Did I read the curriculum before walking in?
Do I have a backup game ready if my first choice doesn’t work?
Am I using the drill-to-game pattern when students need a waypoint?

Entropy

Is chaos increasing within each segment, or am I reversing direction?
Have I caught myself wanting to stop a game to demonstrate something? What happened to the energy?
If I want to show a movement, am I saving it for the next drill-to-game entry?
Is each round harder, more variable, or less constrained than the last?

Feedback and Attention

Did every student hear from me today? At least one positive comment, one nudge?
Am I watching during games, or planning what to say next?
After giving a teaching point, did I watch whether students used it before adding another?
Am I coaching the whole room, or just the best performers?
Is my live feedback quick and external, or is it pulling students out of the game?

Time and Pacing

How long were my breaks between games? Was I under two minutes?
What percentage of class was students playing vs listening to me?
Did each segment get its allotted time, or did I short-change something?
Am I talking because students need information, or because I like talking?

Energy and Culture

How did I set the tone at the start of class?
When someone was going too hard, did I say something?
Am I modeling investment in loss, or am I trying to look good?
Are new students being welcomed by the room, or just by me?
Would I want to train with every coach in this room? Am I one of them?

Self-Handicapping and FYJJ

Are experienced students actually self-handicapping, or just winning slowly?
Did I remind anyone that they’re the game level designer for their training partner?
Am I self-handicapping when I play with students, or am I showing off my skills?
Is the room playful, or is it competitive?

Kids-Specific

Am I picking partners deliberately, or defaulting to random?
Were my instructions under 30 seconds?
Did every kid get specific praise at the closeout? Not “good job” but something real?
Am I “strict but silly,” or am I leaning too far one way?
When a kid pushed a boundary, did I enforce it the same way I did last time?
Am I having fun? (If you’re not, they’re not.)

The Big Questions

These are good for weeks when you want to step back from specifics and think about the bigger picture.

What kind of coach am I becoming?
What would I change about my coaching if I watched a recording of my last class?
What’s the one thing I do that I know I shouldn’t but keep doing anyway?
Am I an adaptive coach, or have I settled into a routine?
If I could only give my students one thing from today’s class, what would it be? Did I give them that?
Am I coaching the way I was coached, or the way the research says I should?