AI to help with Cues in teaching Athletics

Using Google Bard to help summarise teaching cues...

This time of year we start preparing for Junior Athletics Day and few of us in the Department are expert in Track and Field so sometimes we need a bit of help with cues for students learning a new skill.

I have been trailing AI to help me with this...

I input a prompt into Bard asking the following:

The first draft it gave me looked like this:

I asked Bard to break it down into more of a sequence and this was the result:

Stance:

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, with your throwing foot slightly in front of your other foot.
• Turn your body so that your throwing shoulder is facing the target area.
• Bend your knees slightly and keep your back straight.
• Hold the discus in your throwing hand, with your grip on the rim.

Grip:

• Place your index and middle fingers on the rim of the discus, and your thumb and other fingers on the bottom.
• Your grip should be firm but not too tight.
• The discus should rest comfortably in your hand, with the rim against the base of your knuckles.

Backswing:

• Swing the discus back and forth, keeping it close to your body.
• As you swing the discus, gradually increase the speed and range of motion.
• Keep your upper body relaxed and let your arms and legs do the work.

Throw:

• As you swing the discus forward, drive your legs and hips into the throw.
• Release the discus at the highest point of your throw, and follow through with your throwing motion.
• Keep your head up and your eyes focused on the target area.

Follow-through:

• Continue to follow through with your throwing motion after you release the discus.
• Rotate your body so that your opposite shoulder is facing the target area.
• Keep your balance and finish the throw with a strong follow-through.

It is important to practice these cues regularly in order to develop good throwing technique. Once you have mastered the basics, you can start to focus on generating more power and distance.

My next step was: "now simplify the steps for students to use as cue cards" and got this:

Here is a simplified version of the discus throw cues for students to use as cue cards:

Stance:

• Feet shoulder-width apart, throwing foot slightly in front
• Throwing shoulder facing target
• Knees slightly bent, back straight
• Discus in throwing hand, grip on rim

Backswing:

• Swing discus back and forth, keeping it close to body
• Gradually increase speed and range of motion
• Upper body relaxed, arms and legs doing the work

Throw:

• Drive legs and hips into throw as you swing discus forward
• Release discus at highest point of throw, follow through with motion
• Head up, eyes focused on target

Follow-through:

• Continue follow-through after releasing discus
• Rotate body so opposite shoulder faces target
• Keep balance and finish with strong follow-through

So... it wasn't perfect but it gave me a good start and a similar process might be useful if you are teaching a skill you are unfamiliar with 😀