The teacher and learner must be able to detect instantly whether the tag point was executed.

One way to make the tag point definition clear is to use visible targets. The video below shows a creative way to use a laser light to help guide the learner. Here the tag point is “light on shoe”. You could use this method with children who have trouble moving from one place to another without becoming distracted or for students learning dance moves or other footwork patterns. Once the learner becomes proficient you can remove the visible target.

The video below shows another example of the use of a visible target in foot placement. The tag point is.. toes on the line

If more precision is needed, various different criteria for the tag point could be used including, toes at the line, foot anywhere on the line, heels at the line, one or both feet on the line, etc.

Sometimes the learner will do something unexpected, like put their right foot on the line, instead of the left, or put their heel on the line instead of the toe. They have still done as you asked “Foot to line”, but it wasn’t exactly what you meant. If this happens, you must tag and reinforce anyway, since they did execute the tag point. You will need to make the tag point more precise the next time in order to get exactly what you had in mind. It is always the teacher’s job to make it clear. If the learner misinterprets, it is up to the teacher to take responsibility and clarify for the next time.

You could use this approach to teach proper stance or starting positions in golf, tennis, baseball or anything that requires precise foot placement. Tape on the floor or other permanent lines on a gym floor also make good targets.

Remove the target or work away from the target once the learner gets the feel for the position.

Sometimes no words at all are needed. The tag point is defined by the environment.

In the video below Lexi’s teacher captures the observable action of Lexi’s stepping on the dark tile. Lexi is very tag savvy and so she knows to repeat the tagged behavior. You will see that both Lexi and the teacher have the same concept of the tag point, even though no words were spoken. This is another example of the clever use of targets. The dark tiles are targets that Lexi can follow to keep her going in a straight line.

Tagging a behavior when it happens naturally is called capturing. You can capture behaviors that occur and reinforce to make them stronger and more likely to happen again. Once you have captured the behavior a few times you may want to give it a name, which becomes the future tag point.

You can also give instructions for the learner to move in a way you specify and tag when they get to the correct position. Golf instructors have found this useful to pinpoint the exact correct position for the top of the swing, but doing it is slow motion and capturing the top of the swing with a tag. Eye contact is another useful behavior to capture, as it can be fleeting and occur randomly throughout the day.

As we discussed earlier in the course, sometimes you may have to look for factors that would cause a behaviour to happen.

For example: jump higher cannot be a tag point since it is not clearly defined.

“What is higher?” “Higher than what?” “How high?”

There is no point in tagging someone at the height of a jump since the movements required to get to that point are already over. You must create a tag point to focus on some part of the jumping action that governs the height of the jump.

Identify specific behaviors that would cause a higher jump and design tag points for these.

For example:

The tag point is… swing arms up to ears

The tag point is… jump through pointed feet

Another way to define a subjective tag point is to capture it so that both student and teacher agree on the meaning as we saw on the video with Lexi stepping on the dark tiles and in the video below of the volleyball player.

If you don’t know what would make the desired behaviour happen, find an expert and ask them!