Weaknesses in tutory

It's hard to say what exactly my weakness is in tutoring, considering that I have barely tutored anyone at all. Ali, however, seemed to find one pretty easily the other day while I was tutoring an ESL student. Basically, I have a hard time connecting to the student, and an even harder time explaining certain concepts in easy-to-understand terms. Not surprising, since I encountered the same problem in coaching.

After my family moved down here in 2002, I earned extra cash during the summer by coaching at Carolina Panthers Youth Camps. The camps were for mainly 13 and 14 year old players who were making the transition from Pop Warner to high school football. That transition is tough for a lot of young offensive linemen, since Pop Warner coaches are neighborhood dads that pass on their own antiquated approach to blocking (a lot of the kids I coached were completely baffled that a lineman is supposed to block with his hands, not his forearms). I had high hopes for my group of kids, and I had this grandiose impression that I would, in just one session, get them to completely discard their old blocking techniques.

Well, imagine that happening, only the complete opposite.

Completley overeager, I took the field for our first session and blerted out a bunch of technical terms I learned at Marshall that these kids had probably never heard in their life. They just stared at me blankly. I had to explain everything to them, and after only one 30 minute session, I was only just beginning to get them used to the idea of a pass set.

Now, I don't know if you guys have spent a lot of time around a bunch of athletes, but they tend to be a little crass (but then again, so are 13 year old boys), and well, I learned by observing other coaches that that vulgarity is actually put to good use. For example, an easy way to convey to a kid what they're supposed to look like in pass set is to tell them to imagine "a bear shitting in the woods." A good way form them to learn hand-placement is to tell them to imagine "giving the defender a titty twister."

I guess I've prattled on and on here, but let me just part from you with this final thought. While I was sitting there trying to explain to this ESL student why he should not use colloquialisms or parentheticals in certain sentences, I kept reaching back into my mind trying to find my own bear-shitting metaphor.