Each training session, match, competition, or meeting with the players requires the coach’s careful preparation. The way a coach conveys information regarding the opponents, the competition or the game are key. Do you know how much players actually remember from all of this? You’d be surprised! Research conducted by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the United States reveals that the level of memorising information following a spoken presentation is only 10%, while the percentage after a presentation which includes pictures increases to 51%. After a presentation which consists of spoken content, images and including the players themselves, the level of memorising information increases to 92%. What can we conclude from this?

The spoken word of a coach has the least impact on the players. The spoken word along with visual instructions has a moderate effect. Interestingly, the coach’s spoken words together with visual instructions and actively engaging the players in discussion, by far achieves the maximum effect. I strongly advise to enrich your preparation for competition or training with images, graphics, or even video footage. If the players are actively included in the whole story – the success is on its way!

This theoretical knowledge has been put into practice for many years by leading coaches around the world. Your assistants certainly won’t be too enthusiastic about hearing this. In fact, it’s them who’ll have to carry and take care of all the technical equipment needed and these are sometimes difficult to transfer from the bus to the plane, and from one match to another match.