Technology can be a wonderful thing. What we are able to do with this technology isn’t always so wonderful. Please don’t use the ability to video tape your child’s every move to add one more layer to the pain they experience from an already tough game.
We’ve all been on the long car ride home where your kid has to explain, “What the ______ happened?” Yes, she made an error, or struck out with the bases loaded or whatever… Let’s assume she isn’t messing up on purpose so what are we accomplishing by making her relive it, in super slow motion?
Use your video to celebrate what she is doing well! Don’t use it to beat her up with what went wrong. Just because you can stop action, or freeze frame or slow motion or draw lines and circles around her mistakes doesn’t mean she can correct them from watching them.
Video can be a great teaching tool but I think we have all gone way around the bend with the technology. Do you really think your 10- or 11- or 12-year-old kid can make the fine motor adjustments you are asking her to make just because you can “show” her what she is doing?
And even more unlikely that she can make any real changes without a great deal of time, effort and drill work. At many of my lessons I get the dads who want to show me, in slow motion, what their kid is doing wrong. I appreciate the effort but what I am looking for in these videos is what she is doing right! Then we can continue our work on our long term plan for her success.
We will never get a player to do what we want by showing her what we don’t want her to do!
