How to ask your players the right questions

A powerful tool that any coach can use with their athletes is asking effective questions.

Not only does this allow you to measure their understanding, but it is also a simple way of consolidating their learning and knowledge.

However, not just any question will strengthen your athletes’ learning. The questions you ask must be psychologically rich to develop understanding.

So, what makes a question psychologically rich? Let’s take a deeper look into how to do this.

What does Rosenshine say?

Barak Rosenshine was a professor of education psychology, and he believed that asking questions was a staple part of teaching.

His third principle of instruction recommended teachers - or, in our case, coaches - should ask a lot of good questions. 

This is because questions are a great way for your athletes to practice rehearsing new skills and make connections with previous learning, as it gives them a chance to discuss their thoughts. 

Not only do questions show whether your players have understood what you are trying to teach them, be it a new skill or set of tactics, but they also reveal which players have engaged with the training session. 

"Questions also reveal which players have engaged with the training session..."

If your players cannot answer your questions, it may suggest they need more guidance before you can move onto the next stage of teaching.

What makes a good question?

A “good” question can depend on many factors, such as what the players already know, the purpose of the question and the timing of it.

There are three forms of questions that are great for you to use with your players on the pitch. These are: pre-questions, hinge questions and elaborative interrogation.

Pre-questions

These types of questions are asked before you teach your athletes new skills.

For example, before teaching a player the correct technique for a skill, try asking them what they already know about this skill or if it is like anything they have learned before. This encourages them to start thinking and engages them with the skill before it is taught. 

Pre-questions can help increase your players’ curiosity and the amount of attention they pay to the training session. 

Some key benefits of pre-questions include:

• Allowing athletes to preview some of the skills and tactics they will learn in the training session
• Helping reduce players’ overconfidence, making them more open to learning new information
• Helping players become more curious about the topic, which helps them stay attentive in training sessions.

It is key to ask yourself whether pre-questions are appropriate in certain situations. 

These types of questions are most beneficial when athletes have some prior knowledge of the skill or topic being taught. However, they may not be as useful if your players are completely new to the topic.