Tag only one thing at a time. For example:

Say you want your learner to keep legs together AND toes pointed, this would need to be broken down further and addressed with two seperate tag points, one at a time.

The tag point is.. legs together (repeat 5 times)

Once legs together has been successfully executed, move on to the next tag point.

The tag point is.. toes pointed (repeat 5 times)

If the learner forgets about legs together, you could go back to that tag point later in the session. Eventually the two things will come together, without you ever having to ask for both.

Here is a video that illustrates a complex skill being taught with one tag point at a time. It is to be expected that when the criteria are raised, or changed, that the learner will lose some previously learned aspect. Don’t worry about this, it is a normal part of the learning process. In this example, the learner loses the “arch back” aspect every time the coach moves to a different tag point. The coach simply revisits the arch back tag point to strengthen it when required. Eventually all the independently taught aspects of the skill come together. A tag point for the completed skill is never given. There are too many things to go wrong! If she didn’t get a tag she would have no idea which of the many parts had gone wrong.

By focusing on one single tag point each turn, the coach or teacher is the one who decides on the focus for that turn. If the learner has too many things to focus on, she will just pick one herself and it may not be the most beneficial to the overall performance.

There is one point in the this video that illustrates the concept of using a tag point that CAUSES a behaviour to happen. The tag point “shoulders to mat” corrects the problem of coming out of the arch too early. Landing with shoulders to mat causes her to stay in the arch position longer. You can see at about 00:45 sec into the video that she is landing flat and coming out of the arch early. She is still doing the arch, and so gets her tag for that. The coach sees the problem and instead of giving the learner a correction, she changes the tag point to cause the desired behaviour at around 00:53 sec into the video. The learner was never informed of the error and learned to do the correct action quickly and without frustration.

There is also a place in the video where the learner did not get a tag. You can hear her assess and verbalize her error to the coach. Watch it again to be sure you noted this. Did the learner seem upset or frustrated when she didn’t get a tag?