Impulses for Using NLP for Teachers and Coaches in Children's Sports and Dance

For this, I pay attention to the following aspects

In the opening circle at the beginning of the lesson, we begin with a moment of alignment, and I try to establish rapport with the children—especially with new ones—to build and maintain a foundation of trust.

For this, I observe how the individual children are sitting and what kind of posture they have. Each child briefly shares something, and I mirror their posture (pacing) and briefly respond to their topic.

Through the ritual of gathering at the start of the lesson and briefly discussing important topics with the children, I have all the children together, gain their full attention, and then shift the focus to the specific lesson and its goals—for example, dancing in rhythm or focusing on expression, holding the head upright, or achieving a certain body tension.

To calm excited children, I speak more slowly and softly and sit down in the circle in a very relaxed manner.

To activate tired children, I consciously use my voice—volume, emphasis, and speaking pace. You can also increase activity and energy, for example, by clapping.

I can also choose the music accordingly, for example, in stop-dance games, to encourage enthusiasm and activity or to help the children calm down.

In general, I always formulate my statements and expectations positively, which means I clearly communicate what I want to work on in the dance and how a change can best be achieved in a targeted way.

For example, I say: “Stand in a straight line and make sure you're level with the child next to you so that the line looks neat” (instead of: “Don’t stand all jumbled up like a mess”).

It’s important to me that I communicate the topic and my intentions to the children so that over time, they internalize them and automatically, for example, stand in line at the same level—because they’ve already understood my expectations through clear communication.

An important element in my choreographies is that the children often stretch their arms up into the air, of course in different variations, so that the dances remain versatile in terms of coordination.

This “stretching arms up” trains the body in various ways, but it also has another aspect. When a person stretches their arms up into the air, their posture unconsciously lifts their mood.

“What we do today determines what the world will look like tomorrow”

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

Austrian writer and aphorist

The best example of this is the following experiment: Stretch your arms into the air and say, "I'm feeling bad." The body perceives this as incorrect, and the bad feeling usually doesn't occur. The thought of a bad feeling feels wrong due to the elevated body posture.

Now throw your arms up in the air and say, "I'm feeling good," and often your mood will actually improve.

Even without the sentence “I’m feeling good,” the body perceives raised arms as a positive signal.

That’s why using positive body posture is an important aspect of children's dance for me.

Another element of NLP is the positive use of language.

I give a lot of praise, even for small improvements. Especially for shy children, honest praise is important. I make sure to distribute the praise evenly and aim to praise every child during a lesson. Every child has done something well during the session.

When the children as a group have danced the song well, I praise them and clearly state what I liked, so that they can recognize the praise as sincere (for example, that they kept the rhythm well or that they showed great body tension).

When I want to improve certain aspects of their dancing, I first name the things that already looked good and then address the points we can still improve.

I consciously use the word “we” because I see myself as part of the team with the group. I also use the word “improve,” as it sounds more pleasant than criticism, which would demotivate the children. Word choice has a powerful influence on motivating children.

A bad example would be: “This and that was bad, you need to dance better now.”

A good example is: “This and that was good, and here’s what we can still improve, for example by using more body tension.”

This second example shows that I first offer praise, then address a point I want to improve, and also explain how to reach that goal.

You can also improve children’s motivation and engagement through praise.

When individual children perform an action very well, I praise them and ask them to demonstrate the dance move (for example, arms were well extended or body tension was great). I then explain to the group exactly what I liked and how the action can be improved, and what to watch out for. Then I let the whole group dance again, and you can often see many children trying to improve that movement. I praise them again afterwards.

For performances, you need to address beliefs early on, so the children can go into a dance exam or performance with confidence and a good feeling.

I achieve this by setting goals in advance, reminding the children of these goals often over the weeks, and pointing out what we’ve already achieved and how good the dance already looks—and what we can do to make it even better.

In the last few weeks before a performance, I constantly mention everything we’ve accomplished, what we’ve achieved, and how good the dance looks, so the children can step on stage with a good feeling.

Mentoring can also be an important aspect. Many children have dance idols, and you can use these idols to demonstrate how they walk confidently onto the stage, keep their heads up, and maintain an open posture. Children can easily visualize this and use it as a role model for their own stage presence.

I also mention that every dancer has made mistakes at some point, and that it’s okay. In such cases, the goal is to get back into the choreography as quickly as possible and keep dancing—just like their idol would likely do.

The element of future pacing is also very valuable: A few weeks before the performance, I repeatedly mention how proud the children can be of themselves for having trained so well, and how brave they are to dance in front of so many people. I describe what it will feel like when they have danced wonderfully and confidently as a team on stage, bow at the end, and receive lots of applause.

This also motivates them to repeat certain movements over and over until they can perform them really well and automatically—because they can already see the success in their mind’s eye.

My contribution today is full of examples that can certainly be applied to other sports or adapted accordingly. Your creativity knows no bounds here.

For me, the most important thing is motivation and that children enjoy learning. To support that, I try to teach as playfully as possible and use many NLP methods for this technique.

I hope I’ve given you some helpful inspiration.