"Learn Like a Champion"

"Read. Read. Read. Read. Read." - Werner Herzog, Director

"Teaching" is both art and a science. Consciously or not, teachers work to organize, inspire, and craft information into useful pieces. Become your own teacher. Every great athlete is a student of their sport. 

Learning habits cross over to inhabit academics as well. 

They use imagination, persistence, and analogy among other techniques.

The "Feynman Technique" is a famous one from Professor Feynman:

• Name
• Explain
• Research
• Revise and simplify

Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden used EDIRx5

• Explain
• Demonstrate
• Imitate
• Repeat x 5

The Coursera free course, "Learning how to learn" emphasizes:

• Pomodoro technique - 25 minutes on, 5 minute break
• Self-testing
• Spaced repetition, don't cram

Consider these techniques:

• Teach another student or peer with a brief (e.g. 2 minutes) lesson
• Summarize your knowledge on a topic on a single sheet of paper
• Choose a subject (e.g. volleyball footwork) and see what you know
• Role reversal. Think how you'd run practice if you were coach.

When Victoria Crovo was a basketball assistant for me, I assigned her two five minute practice segments each practice.

Lagniappe (something extra). To beat the best teams, blockers have to impact the opponents' attack. It's no accident that the 2012 State Champions had Melrose's top blocking pair - Rachel Johnson and Kayla Wyland, "The Great Wall." Nobody stops all attacks but reducing mistakes will help.