Coaches Corner: Jargon and the Power of Key Words

Coaching really is a job that revolves around effective communication. Coaches need to be able to verbally communicate not only ideas and concepts but also complex physical movements. It is no longer sufficient to merely demonstrate  techniques – not that this was ever really a good approach, people just didn’t know any better – a coach should be able to easily describe the major movements involved in that technique to someone regardless of their training experience.

A huge roadblock that often impedes this verbal bandwagon is the use of jargon and language unique to the sport or, worse yet, the gym itself. The most frustrating thing about this problem is that coaches frequently don’t even realise that they have it. Before you write this off as something other people do; take the time to really examine the language that you and your athletes use during class and you might be surprised at the level of jargon that is in use at your gym. For instance, at Elements Jiu Jitsu we:

• Use Guillotines to stop Psycho Babies.
• Wall Walk, Wrestler Walk, Sidewind and Bridge.
• Encourage Crazy Monkeys, Angry Turtles and Stone Squirrels.

Is your turtle angry?

All of the above should make sense to anyone who’s been training with me for more than two months but is, most likely, completely incomprehensible to almost everybody else. Even phrases more common to the general world of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu such as hooks, whizzer, crossface and guard require explanation to the layman.

When teaching, coaches should always be careful to explain these things in plain English, as well as demonstrating them, before using whatever jargon is common in their gym to describe them. For example, after demonstrating an underhook I would show it again while describing it as “bringing my arm up into my opponent’s armpit so that I am between his arm and torso. Once I am there I cup the back of the same side shoulder. This is called an underhook.” I would then go on to refer to this action as an underhook for the rest of the lesson, redescribing it whenever necessary.    

In my opinion, it is important to explain movements in easy to understand language for a three major reasons:

1. Some people are instruction orientated and learn best when they hear something.
2. Whether they realise it or not people ‘practice’ something every time they hear it in such a way that they can visualise it, everytime they feel it and everytime they do it. This means that every time you effectively describe an armbar to someone you’ve just given that person another repetition of practice. It’s even better if you can get them to say the description out loud as then they have the person they trust most telling them how to do it.   
3. Describing a technique allows you to provide key words which will help your athletes learn and remember a new move. For example, when teaching an armbar from guard you might say “ First you should capture  your opponent’s exposed arm. Once you’ve claimed this arm you place your foot that’s on the same side as this arm on your opponent’s  hip, squeeze your knee in to their body and use this to climb your other leg high onto your opponent’s back. You can now use your legs to pivot your body 90 degrees to your opponent all the while keeping a tight hold on the captured arm. The foot that is on the hip now comes around your opponent’s face and clamp down on their head as you try to kick yourself in the butt. Now, all you have to do is squeeze your knees and raise your hips to finish them.” Next, when first talking the class through the armbar you would abbreviate this to “Capture the  arm, put your foot on their hip and climb your legs onto their back, pivot your body, swing your leg round their face and clamp down on their head and finish.” Then, while everyone is drilling, you would further boil this down to “Capture, climb, pivot, clamp and finish.”       

 Key words are useful and effective training tools which, once established, enable coaches to quickly and easily communicate collected movements and techniques. They allow quick and easy correction of technique while rolling without interrupting the athletes training and make direction during competition possible.  And this brings me back to jargon. Jargon phrases are simply key words that have become so established that they are now a part of the culture of the sport or gym.  It’s just that some athletes and coaches forget or simply don’t know that these phrases can and should be expanded into plain English descriptions of movements every time they come up in training to allow new students to learn what they mean and for established athletes to have their meanings reinforced.

In other words, jargon is just like the Force; it has a light side, a dark side and is all around us. The dark side seems to offer a quick and easy path but it is the light side which leads to the path of true understanding.