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How do you teach 'strategy'?

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sedjtroll
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Joined: 07/21/2008

I'd like to know how to teach people strategy...

I played in an ultimate tournament this weekend, and frankly the experience- though fun at times- was unfulfilling because I was playing on a team entirely devoid of strategic thinking. Even the good players on the team (and by good I mean players with good skills and athletecism, and even some years of experience) would not only fail to make good tactical decisions on the field, but in fact would attempt to strategize during timeouts and between points with the most absurd results...

By way of example, we're talking about things like attempting a huck play and sending our worst (slowest and least able to judge/catch) receiver to receive instead of our best receiver.

So my question is... how can I teach my teammates to think tactically or strategically??

- Seth

Ken
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Joined: 12/31/1969
How do you teach 'strategy'?

You could start a book club and have everyone read Sun Tzu's "Art of War" :roll:

Or you could lead by example. Let your team know what you are doing and why, and they will begin to pick it up ... especially when they see that a little bit of strategy goes a long way to winning!

Just as an example - At my old school we had a beat up foosball table and there was a fellow in our class by the name of Mike. He was hard to beat. Then some clever fellow found his weakness - tease him about his mom and he got so flustered he couldn't play anymore. (He was a good Scotsman who didn't appreciate such personal musings!) Needless to say, it didn't take long to get around ... or for people to start using a strategy of pshycological intimidation in their quest to be champ.

Ken

DavemanUK
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Joined: 12/31/1969
list the mental skills

Ken wrote:
Mike was hard to beat. Then some clever fellow found his weakness - tease him about his mom and he got so flustered he couldn't play anymore.

Well im sure that trash-talking is in an entirely different category of strategy than is commonly employed in a _social_ board game ;-)

Basically, a good strategist wants to be able to out-wit their opponents through various methods, e.g. psychological analysis/pattern prediction (as seen in poker), or creating new patterns of play for oneself (to not become predicatble), or just thinking "outside of the box" (not always following traditional routes). Naturally one can benefit from good mental skills, be it a good memory or mathematical calculations and probability analysis (risk assesment). Fully understanding all the rules and _why_ they exist will help to see the "paths of least resistance" to victory (e.g. in chess, one doesn't move a rook's pawn on the first turn).

You will be better off in teaching your team a little piece of strategy at a time, e.g. explaining the possible alternatives for a particular play they made along with the risks/rewards payoffs. It'll be easier for them to digest a little piece of advice/instruction at a time without it coming across as a lecture ;)

As the old saying goes: "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime" :)

Best of luck,
Dave.

Anonymous
Re: list the mental skills

DavemanUK wrote:
Well im sure that trash-talking is in an entirely different category of strategy than is commonly employed in a _social_ board game ;-)

Poppycock! Good-natured trash-talking is a meta-game all unto itself! (keyword: "good-natured") :wink:

DavemanUK
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Re: list the mental skills

MikeDew wrote:
DavemanUK wrote:
Well im sure that trash-talking is in an entirely different category of strategy than is commonly employed in a _social_ board game ;-)

Poppycock! Good-natured trash-talking is a meta-game all unto itself! (keyword: "good-natured") :wink:

Agreed it's best to be "good-natured" but it's "horses-for-courses" as some players/groups will rather have none at all and just get on with playing/analysing the game ;-)

Dave W

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