Wrong Answer? No Problem. 5 Ways to Help Players Learn

How coaches can turn player error into teaching moments

This is a follow-up article to how coaches can get more out of their questions.

Asking questions is a crucial part of coaching, but the next step often gets overlooked: what to do after an answer’s been given. In this article, we’ll examine player responses and present different techniques that coaches can use to hold athletes accountable and optimize their learning.

Create the Environment

When we ask questions to our team there’s potential for players to be wrong in front of their peers, which feels quite vulnerable – especially for young athletes. Now every player has been told that mistakes don’t matter; that they’re simply an opportunity to improve and as long as players are committed to developing then mistakes are okay. But turning lip-service into a functioning team culture is difficult to do. Explicitly stating and modeling what we want our team culture to be like is the first step in turning this ethereal idea into a productive learning environment.

Right is Right (or Wrong is Wrong)

It may seem odd, but the best way to show players that it’s okay to be wrong is to tell them when they’re wrong. Too often players give an incorrect answer that we then coerce into the correct one.

Here’s a simplified example:

I ask young Jack how goals are scored. He says “You kick the ball over a line.”

I say “Yes, that’s right! We kick the ball over the goal line to score!”

Two minutes later, little Jack gets the ball, kicks it out of bounds and then starts celebrating.

As soon as I told Jack he was right – that all he needs to do to score is kick the ball over a line – he latched on to his answer, not realizing that kicking the ball over the goal line is how he can score.

When we coerce right answers out of wrong answers we do three subliminal things:

1) We keep players from making the psychological steps that lead to learning.

2) We tell players that they don’t need to engage with the learning process because Coach will just tell them the answer anyway.

3) By not telling players that they’re wrong, we don’t get to show them that it’s okay to be wrong.

When a player gives a wrong answer, we have to let them know in clear terms. We disservice the player and the team when we pretend that a player is right when they’re not.

Getting the Correct Answer

When players give incorrect answers there are a few techniques we can use to get them to the correct one. While there’s many to choose from, we’ll examine three time-efficient techniques that abide by the 4th Principle of Good Coaching.

The first option is to repeat back what they’ve said to see if they can fix it themselves.

“You kick the ball over a line, Jack?”

Another option is to use a guided question to help them arrive at the correct answer.

“No, Jack. Not just a line. Which line does the whole ball need to cross over?”

A third option is to fold a teammate into the answering phase.

“Jack said you score by kicking the ball over a line, but that’s not quite right. Who can help him get to the correct answer?”

Any of these techniques force Jack to keep paying attention because he hasn’t received the external validation that he was right – because he wasn’t. By helping him get to the right answer it shows that mistakes are okay as long as effort continues to be made until the question is answered correctly. Once the correct answer is given, the player can then be positively rewarded. “Good job, Jack!”

No Way Out

Regardless of the technique used, the important part is that Jack stays mentally engaged until he gives the correct answer. Even if another player gives the correct answer, we need to return to Jack and have him repeat it.

Continuing the above example, let’s say I decide to fold a teammate in.

I say “Hans, can you help Jack? When is a goal scored?

Hans says “When the whole ball cross the goal line.”

I say “Good Hans. Thank you. Goals are scored when the whole ball crosses the goal line.”

Now I return back to Jack. “Jack, how are goals scored?”

Jack replies with “When the whole ball crosses the goal line.”

Returning to players and having them give the correct answer keeps players focused on the conversation because they know they’ll be called on again to answer the question. Ensuring that Jack gets to answer the question correctly, after he’s already answered it wrongly, reinforces the learning in his head, keeps him paying attention, and bolsters the idea that players shouldn’t give up on the learning process just because they were wrong the first time.

There will be a time when we ask a question and a player responds with “I don’t know the answer.” If we don’t return to that player then the unspoken message is that players don’t have to pay attention. All they need to say is “I don’t know,” and that gets the coach off their back. By using No Way Out it helps show that not knowing is okay, but it’s not a reason to disengage from the learning process.

Be Specific

Regardless of the question, you want to make sure that answers are given using specific language.

In the examples above, the specific language used was “goals are scored when the whole ball crosses the goal line.” When players answer questions, coaches should require that the specific language be used for four different reasons:

1) It allows you to keep a high standard of accountability which makes players pay attention.

2) Creating shared terminology builds a unique team identity and increases team buy-in.

3) Makes problem-solving sessions more efficient in the future because players clearly know what’s being referred to.

4) Maybe most importantly, players actually feel like they’re learning instead of latently taking in information (Principle 3 of Good Coaching).

Returning to our example with Jack.

“How are goals scored, Jack?”

“When the ball crosses the line.” He says.

“The line?” I ask (Repeat)

“The goal line.” Jack says.

“And which part of the ball needs to cross the goal line?” (Guided Question)

Jack says “The whole ball.”

“How are goals scored then?” I ask. (Be Specific)

“When the whole ball crosses the goal line.”

While this example about scoring goals is straight-forward, having a high level of specificity is important when more complex terms are used, such as half-space, triangulate, cover shadow, etc. By assigning specific language to each concept, it ensures that any future problem-solving sessions are devoid of any confusion and helps players feel more comfortable using such terminology.

Echo Answers

This may be the most straight-forward technique: when players give the correct answer quickly repeat it to reinforce the correct terminology.

After Jack gives his answer, I would then say “Yes, good Jack. Goals are scored when the whole ball crosses the line.”

Echoing correct answers gives players an extra opportunity to learn the information. If the question & answer process is done correctly, players should hear the specific language at least three times.

First, they are primed when the question is asked.

Second, when a player answers the question.

Third, when the coach echoes the answer.

Wrapping Up

What to do with a player’s answer is just as important as asking the question. To get the most out of the question and answer process it helps to have specific language that describes the given topic. Being clear about when a player is wrong, helping them arrive at the correct answer, and making sure they repeat the right answer is an easy-to-follow three step process that creates engaged learning environments. While we want players to learn about the game, what we need to really focus on is developing growth mindsets within our players and these techniques can help get us there.