5 Sep
SHEEPP-C
One day, when I was in the African village of Embu doing some work for my Charity Water for Africa, which builds wells and provides villages with clean water, I noticed a group of about 20 children playing soccer. Suddenly I got an idea; I reached into my backpack and pulled out a Frisbee. Immediately, a little boy named Duante came over to see what I was doing. I tossed it directly to him. This amused him, because of the way it floated on the air he thought it was from another planet or something. He tried to return it to me, but couldn’t quite throw it. He ended up rolling it along the ground. I tossed it to him again, and this time he threw it back. Although it didn’t make it all the way, it was much better than his first attempt. As we continued to toss the Frisbee back and forth, other children crowded around to watch. Suddenly, Gamba, the leader of the group, came up and asked Duante if he could play too. Gamba caught on to the game quickly, and soon the three of us were passing back and forth to each other. Within ten minutes, other children trickled into the game.
After watching the kids play the game for a few more days, I noticed that Gamba was getting bored. I decided to teach him some tricks. like the underdog and around the back. He practiced these for about two weeks, until he became almost as good as me; he could even do forward and underhanded passes. But after about a month of group Frisbee and more advanced tricks, he started to get bored again.
To help him learn and stay interested, I pulled out a second Frisbee, and taught him and the other children how to play Ultimate Frisbee. Once again, I saw the group’s enthusiasm for learning, and just like before, Gamba excelled at the game. Before long, his skills were far better then the rest of the children’s and he began showing them how to improve their techniques.
One day, Gamba had to travel to Lamu, a village that was about 20 miles away. Before he left, I gave him a Frisbee. This made him very happy, and when he got to the village, he taught the children how to play Frisbee, just like I had with him a couple of months before. Of course, the new group of kids were fascinated with the Frisbee. Much like the first group, they quickly caught on to the concept of passing back and forth. When Gamba felt that they had mastered it, he taught them tricks, and then Ultimate Frisbee.
When Gamba finally came back home, he brought a surprise with him – his Ultimate Frisbee team. Since he had trained the children from Lamu to play Ultimate Frisbee, he wanted to set up a tournament between the two villages. All of the children were thrilled, especially Duante, the first little boy I played Frisbee with. Although he was excited to have the opportunity to play in the tournament, he felt a bit nervous and worried that he would forget some of the moves he had learned. The next day, the two teams played in their first tournament and Gamba served as the referee. The team I trained won, but Gamba’s team played very well too.
Using the Ultimate Frisbee story, let’s take a look at how you can apply SHEEPP-C with your own clients. Remember, your goal is to take them from clients to trainers.
Show – just like I showed Duante how to play Frisbee, you will want to show your client what to do so they get the basic idea of the activity. This should take one or two minutes.
Hear – when Gamba first came over, he stood for a while and listened to Duante and I play before he joined in. When you are training someone, they will hear what you are saying and get a feel for what they are supposed to do. The hearing phase should take about three minutes.
Explore – when Gamba first threw the Frisbee, he was exploring. In the explore stage, your clients try out the activity you have just shown them. Depending on their skills, this should take about five minutes.
Explain- once Gamba and Duante had a chance to practice the basic act of passing the Frisbee back and forth, I took time to work with them to explain proper form and other ways to play the game. In this stage, you will give close, hands-on instruction to help your client with the proper technique for the exercises you’ve just had them do.
The Explore and Explain stages are interchangeable and depend on your client’s learning style. Some people like to jump right in, but others need detailed explanation first.
Practice- in the story, Gamba spent the majority of his time practicing. First, he practiced the basics, then the more advanced moves, and finally Ultimate Frisbee. At each stage, he spent longer amounts of time practicing. This is the stage where your client will spend the most amount of time. Practice will include performing the exercises until he or she gets them right and building on them by doing harder, more challenging exercises. You want to balance how long your client spends doing the same thing because, like Gamba, once they become good at it, they will quickly become bored.
Performance – Duante and the children who were in the tournament were given the opportunity to showcase their skills to see who was the best. In this stage, your client will compete and apply everything they have learned. It’s not unusual for them to be nervous, have anxiety, or even forget a few things they learned during practice. However, people who are successful in competition and in life are those who learn from their experiences and improve.
Coach – remember how Gamba went to Lamu and formed an Ultimate Frisbee team? He was essentially their coach. In the final step, once your client has mastered their skills and competed a bit, you want them to teach/coach someone else. If they teach others, their success will have a trickle down effect and they will become even better themselves. Think back to SHEEPP-C climbing the mountain, not only do you want to get up, but you also want to pull someone else up. When you both reach the summit, the accomplishment is that much better.
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