Setting Drills and Exercises

https://youtu.be/uI1Ytdr1k7U?feature=shared

Whereas an Exercise would be used to develop the complete cast, usually with variety included. An example of this is the three loop control exercises and a chainsaw video I posted from the UK.

https://youtu.be/1sL8Sfe68Pg?feature=shared

Now I have definitely been guilty of mixing these terms. And as you can see, even in these videos I have called the second one drills! I’ve never pretended to be perfect! However since there is no standard use of these terms in flycasting to date, then these things are still fluid at the moment. But ultimately this is the way I would like to take them.

Anyway the point about this is, that nowadays I approach lessons as really being about studying movement (and I really like Position, Pattern and Force Application analysis for this, certainly with higher skilled casters) and then I set both drills and exercises that the student trains for the next weeks. Ideally 8-10 hours of training. And then I experience one of the highlights of any lesson, right at the beginning, when we discuss and analyse which drills and exercises were successful.

For me this really is what coaching is about. And in our particular field – flycasting – there are not actually very many standard drills and exercises to choose from. Largely I think that this has been overlooked by the flycasting coaching community. Which is actually wonderful!! Because I get to invent stuff and I find it thoroughly interesting to do so.

The fun for me is inventing a specific drill for a student, him (it’s always a him at the moment for some reason!) then goes away and trains these drills or exercises and then, two to four weeks later, I see the result when we meet again. It’s completely fascinating. I can’t begin to describe how absorbing this is for me. It’s like planting a seed and seeing what grows. There is nothing else as good as this in coaching and it makes me really look forward to my next lessons.

There are two considerations that I look for when setting drills and exercises. In coaching terms we have a couple of standard methods. One is error amplification and another is old way / new way.

Error application is an interesting example, because loops narrow to wide to narrow is an example of this in action, although here it is not an “error” that we are amplifying; instead it is a loop and movement exploration/development.

Old way/new way is another interesting one, because a similar use of that in large scale is the Closed Accuracy/ Open Stance Distance /170 exercise. Here we are contrasting different overhead techniques to develop each of them. For example tracking problems in OSD can be fixed by training Accuracy and then developing the Stroke from Accuracy into OSD. Timing problems in Accuracy and OSD can be solved with 170. And again I have an exercise that goes from Accuracy to OSD to 170. (Here again called a “Drill” when it should really be called an exercise!!)

https://youtu.be/6Y7DTJAhGLY?feature=shared

As a coach I think it’s important to realise that often it can be more effective to make a change to an existing stroke in another stroke. Spey casting for example is extremely effective for teaching control at the beginning of a distance stroke. For decades I’ve used the dynamic roll cast to teach and experiment with Drag in a distance stroke.

There is nothing worse than hitting a flycasting wall and not knowing where to go next. Indeed going backwards can actually be preferable because at least something is happening! Something we have to realise, is that making changes to movement patterns takes a very long time to ingrain without thinking. And that is what we are seeking; that the flycasting movements occur autonomically.

For me nowadays, there is absolutely no point in setting a drill or exercise that doesn’t have variation inbuilt. Variable line lengths. Variable speeds. Variable planes. Variation in how we want the fly to land. And so on and on.

It really is a very exciting time for me as a coach right now.  I’m fortunate to have many long-term students currently, as well as over the past years, and I’ve really been trying very hard to develop myself as a coach. I’m totally convinced now that a constraints-led approach to flycasting coaching is far superior to all other methods.

I’ve just purchased a book called “A constraints-led approach to swim coaching” for two reasons — one is I want to be a better open-water swimmer/triathlete and the other is I want to be a better flycasting coach! I’ll let you know what I think of this work after it’s arrived and I’ve read it.

It’s a great time to be alive! I wish you all a wonderful, happy, prosperous and fishy 2024.

Cheers,

Paul