Coaches Coaching with a horse voice

[aeja]

So I scratched my throat during something, not exactly sure what though. Since then my voice is horse, it hurts to swallow, eat, drink, TALK! So I was wondering if anyone has any tips on how to coach with a sore voice.

 

[Splash123]

What sort of level are you coaching? And what age? It all kinda depends on the age/ability of the gymnasts in your care

 

[eucoach]

Tell the gymnasts and ask them to be extra attentive so you don't have to talk loudly. Kids are capable of being very respectful when they know you don't feel well.

 

[aeja]

What sort of level are you coaching? And what age? It all kinda depends on the age/ability of the gymnasts in your care

I currently coach kids aging between 4-5. But at times but i do field trips & open gyms with kids up to 16 also

 

[aeja]

Tell the gymnasts and ask them to be extra attentive so you don't have to talk loudly. Kids are capable of being very respectful when they know you don't feel well.

Thank you so much! It worked very well with my classes tonight!

 

[Deleted member 14190]

use hand signals, I do. There is
the "I'm going to beat you signal" (head tilted sideways death stare),
the "oh yer in the biggest trouble ever look" (arms folded, squinted eyes head turning side to side ever so slight),
the "I've told you a hundred times look" (crunch up your nose, eyes wide open, lips pursed, pointing to whatever body part isn't doing what you want like "look at this"),
the "yes you finally did it so kinda good job, but it took a hundred tries to make a simple correction", (half smile, single nod of the head),
the "That was nice" (smile and clap, then give a thumbs up)
the "that was the bomb, you are the best", (use the "i've told you a hundred times look", but with a fist pump, and a big WHOOO HOOO, then add "that's what I am talking about " in your scratchy voice, how in a big high five and tell her she is better than all the others).

Hope that helps.

 

[aeja]

I use the first one literally all the time! some of my kids just wont listen and they know when i give them that look they need to straighten up and get their head in the game

 

[ayyyrial]

With kids ages 4-5 it is hard. Coaching that age I tend to use a loud voice with a lot of excitement to make sure I have their attention - and I have to loudly remind some kids to stop doing x or catch up with the group etc, especially in a loud gym with a lot going on around us. Coaching a lot will definitely make your voice hoarse. One thing that was recommended to me was to try to use different parts of your throat to change it up and give some things a rest - I'm not sure if this is scientifically accurate but I feel like trying to use different voices and different ways of projecting helped me. If you are coaching a lot you may just be hoarse for a while - e.g. when I was coaching summer camp and was coaching 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day, my voice was pretty much gone all summer.

 

[Splash123]

With kids ages 4-5 it is hard. Coaching that age I tend to use a loud voice with a lot of excitement to make sure I have their attention - and I have to loudly remind some kids to stop doing x or catch up with the group etc, especially in a loud gym with a lot going on around us. Coaching a lot will definitely make your voice hoarse. One thing that was recommended to me was to try to use different parts of your throat to change it up and give some things a rest - I'm not sure if this is scientifically accurate but I feel like trying to use different voices and different ways of projecting helped me. If you are coaching a lot you may just be hoarse for a while - e.g. when I was coaching summer camp and was coaching 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day, my voice was pretty much gone all summer.

This. It is hard with the really young ones as a lot of communication with this age group needs to be verbal and quite loud to get the attention required for you to be able to instruct and explain activities to them safely.

But @ayyyrial is right. Coaching in itself if you stack up a lot of hours can make your voice temporarily hoarse. And this week because it's half term in England we have been running day camps so I've coached 3 days 8:30am-8/8:30 pm between the camps, private lessons and squad/team sessions and one 8:30-6pm day and one 8:30-3 / 5-8 day. Long story short. My voice is now practically gone.
But the tactic of telling your gymnasts as they come in and get signed in/ registered before the warm up does work. Unless you have any particularly badly behaved or highly strung children in your groups who decide that you feeling rough is a good excuse to mess around even more :/

 

[CoachV]

I teach Pre-School through level 9 and I also have aweful allergies that at times leave me with absolutely no voice.

When this happens, I let my students know I'm not feeling well and ask them to be on their best behavior. They almost always go above and beyond to both listen better and help out. When I need to give instructions, I use a white board. Not the most convenient, but it works and the kids like to guess what I'm writing.