In my courses, seminars, and workshops where I talk about imagery, which I define as “Using one’s senses to create or recreate an experience in the mind.”, I always share this excerpt from the book Cloud of Sparrows by Takashi Matsouka. “The only place he could be sure of privacy was his own mind.  So that is where he practiced. Draw. Cock the hammer on the upswing. Sight the heart. Squeeze the trigger. Cock the hammer on the recoil. Sight the heart.  Squeeze the trigger.  There was an advantage to this. His mind was a portable room, and he could practice … [Read more...]

In today’s world people are often looking for the shortcut, the hack, the secret. Some want you to just tell them the answer, rather than challenge them do the research, to think, to reflect and to run the experiment(s) to figure it out.  The reality is that there are no shortcuts, hacks or secrets and “THE Answer / System / Theory / Model / Tool / Technology” is a myth.  Ecological Dynamics is not “THE Answer” to all real or perceived issues with law enforcement training. The Constraints Led Approach (CLA) is not “THE Answer” to all real or perceived issues with law … [Read more...]

Time is a limited commodity. We have a limited number of hours in the day. You have a limited number of instructional hours available to teach your material. The people you train have a limited amount of time they are willing and able to invest outside of training to engage with pre and post course material. You have a limited amount of time to invest in course and content planning, development, and refinement.  Given all of that, you may want to invest some time in reflecting on how you are currently using your time and how you might use it more effectively. From a training … [Read more...]

One agency hired 20 people for their academy, then lost half the class in the first month of training. When I asked one of their training staff what the reason was that so many left, their response was, “They decided it was not for them.” I always find this comment interesting and am curious as to what exactly is covered in the first month of training that would cause so many people to decide that policing was not the career for them. I suspected I knew the answer but was still curious.  In a discussion with another member of that agency they happened to mention that the first month of … [Read more...]

This week’s Between The Lines Newsletter from Coach Dan Pfaff was on The Power of expectation. This information has massive implications for police trainers. I could not find a link to share it so the newsletter is below. You can go to this link to subscribe to all the Altis weekly content: https://altis.world/newsletter/.  In today's Between The Lines, I’ll discuss why research conducted over 30 years ago can help us achieve improved results with athletes where they are least expected …Back in the 1980s, a pair of researchers - Rosenthal and Jacobsen - observed the results of intelligence … [Read more...]

In recent years there seems to be a growing discussion and debate regarding which pedagogical model or theory of learning and coaching is most effective for police training.  When I get asked what theory or pedagogical model underpins my teaching and coaching my answer is, “There isn’t ‘one’. I am guided by my personal values of curiosity, excellence, and respect and by what works best for the participants in my training.” My 35-year journey as a police trainer has taught me to stay curious, keep an open mind, and continually seek better ways to serve the heroic men and women I have the … [Read more...]

I agree that when it comes to training for subject control tactics it may be optimal to train with a partner who is going to provide the verbal and physical cues and the varying levels of resistance and aggression an officer would face on the street. But optimal is not always possible. Sometimes the only person you have to train with is yourself. I agree that it may be optimal to practice striking with a training partner in a dynamic environment, which replicates the real-world performance environment. But optimal is not always possible. Sometimes you only have a heavy bag or a homemade … [Read more...]

In the third part of his miniseries on keys to integrating mental skills work, mental performance coach Aaron Walsh shared the following:  Three principles to guide our content.  The second aspect of enhancing engagement is related to how we present to the athletes. Once we identify what needs to be delivered, how do we maximise our time with the athletes, so the work is meaningful to them? Below are three principles I have leaned on to make this happen: In reading these three key principles it struck me that if we substitute the words “trainer” for “athlete” and … [Read more...]

I recently listened to Episode #53 of The Primal MMA Coaching Podcast where host Scott Sievewright interviewed Andy from The School of Grappling. Andy is well educated, well read, very articulate and seems to have a strong reputation in the grappling community. Very early on in the interview Andy made the following statement: “I basically have emersed myself in this whole topic about how we learn, how we perceive, how we act from a philosophical interest, and it is cool that I can apply it to grappling. What I have learned over the years is that many theories have many great … [Read more...]

There is a lot of talk about the importance of failure and mistakes for learning. People are encouraged to fail fast and fail often and are told that to be successful they need to fail more. Trainers are told they need to develop training environments where participants are encouraged to fail and encouraged to make mistakes. We hear it said that we learn more from our failures than we do our successes. Maybe that is because we fail to examine our successes to extract the lessons and the learning. Too often we only debrief when something goes wrong, and we perceive there was a failure, and may … [Read more...]