One thing that I had to learn about two years into coaching is that not everyone approaches aerial training in the same way I do. When I discovered aerial training for myself, I became almost immediately hooked to the point of obsession. I committed wholly and passionately. I was willing to put in the effort to improve. It didn't take me long to surpass my peers and I started coaching after two years of being a student.
After I'd been coaching for about two years, I moved to a different studio that was just starting out. It was the first aerial studio of its kind in Kelowna and the students were all absolute beginners. I began coaching with the same level of gusto as I'd approached my previous classes. However, I soon learned that many students found me intimidating and even scary as a coach.
I was approaching my job as a professional coach - of course I am a professional, but my students were not. My students were trying out aerial circus arts as a new form of fitness training, as a hobby, or even as a novelty event with their friends. For me to treat those students with the same level of constructive criticism and technical jargon that I had used with my students at the other studio turned out to be detrimental both to their perception of me as a coach and also to their own learning.
I couldn't imagine taking aerial circus classes and not trying to get as good as possible as fast as possible.
It turns out, this isn't an unusual occurrence. Brookfield describes how I felt perfectly: "At a deep level we really have no idea why they would not want to learn the thing that we find so interesting. We register analytically that they're having problems but in our soul it is completely incomprehensible that anyone would resist learning something that produces such joy in our own life" (2015, p. 214).
Now, my students were certainly enjoying their classes as recreation, but they did not want to be pushed in the same way that I desired as a student and in the way that I was pushing them. Once I figured this out, I was able to tame my usual aggressive approach and, though I accepted that the progression would be slower, I was a much more chill and fun coach.
Thankfully, I have now been at this studio long enough that some of the once-beginners are now at an advanced level and appreciate a coach who pushes them. But there is a time and place! And recognizing when my students differ from me is part of serving them well.
Brookfield, S. (2015). The Skillful Teacher. (3rd Ed.) Jossey-Bass.
This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Comments