If you've been following along, you've got a rough idea of what Universal Design for Coaching (UDC) is by now.
But what does it actually look like on a Tuesday, with your team in front of you? Theory's fine, but it doesn't mean much until you're standing on a court trying to get a drill to work. So today I'm breaking down one drill, start to finish, and showing you the adjustments that make it accessible to every brain on your team.
A quick recap
UDC is the Universal Design principle applied to sport. The goal is to build practice and game environments that more athletes can actually access, neurotypical and neurodivergent alike.
Quick definitions, since I'll use both words a lot.
Neurotypical - having a brain that cognitively functions in a way that falls within the dominant societal standards of “normal.”¹
Neurodivergent - having a brain that cognitively functions in ways that diverge from the dominant societal standards of “normal.”¹
Neurotypical isn’t better than neurodivergent, or vice versa. Neurotypical just means your wiring happens to match what the environment was already built for.
So: you're not building five different practices for five different kids. You're running the one practice you already run, and making universal adjustments so all athletes can access it.
The drill: 2-on-1, cut to score
This one's basketball, but I trust you to pull the concepts into your sport!
The setup:
One offensive player has the ball at the three-point line on the right side, free-throw line extended, with a defender within an arm's length in front of her. Both face the rim. A second offensive player stands at the top of the key, in line with the front of the rim.
The player with the ball passes to the top of the key. The second she passes, two things happen: she's free to cut to the basket and score, and the defender is free to stop her. The player at the top can't score. All she can do is pass back to her teammate.
The brains you're designing for
Picture one athlete in that group. Call her Sarah. She's got a ton of energy and can be highly distractible. When she's locked in, she's the most dynamic player on the team. But during long explanations, her eyes wander. She fidgets with her gear, taps her feet, fixes her hair. You've probably thought… if she could just focus, she'd be incredible.
Now picture a second athlete. Call her Jess. She is the most dedicated, punctual player on your team. She knows the rulebook inside out and takes pride in doing things exactly the way they were taught. However, she struggles greatly with ambiguity. If you tell the team to "go find a partner and warm up," she might freeze, look panicked, or stand alone because the instruction is too vague. If you suddenly change the rules of a drill halfway through to make it "fun," she might get visibly frustrated, argue, or refuse to play. You may think she’s not coachable.
Keep both of them in mind. Everything below is aimed at them, but supports all of their teammates as well.
First: what are we even adjusting?
Before we get into the specifics, here's the framework I use. There are three categories of adjustments²:
- The individual - Their size, fitness, speed, confidence, emotional state; everything they walked in with.
- The task - The drill itself. What the objective is, how it's scored, what the emphasis is, how you win, etc.
- The environment - The physical space, the equipment, the culture of the gym, etc.
UDC lives in the second two. We aren't trying to change who the athlete is so she fits the drill. We're changing the drill and the space so she can access it.
Second: are they even ready?
Before any of that, are their bodies and brains ready to take in what you're about to say?
I get it. You’ve got a practice plan and skills to cover. Part of you might be thinking that’s their job; if they’re not ready to go once they get between the lines, that’s on them. I’ve thought those words, and I’ve said them to athletes. But I’ve talked to a lot of players, neurotypical and neurodivergent both, and many of them genuinely don’t understand how to get their brains and bodies ready to learn.
Ask yourself the same question. What helps you when you can't focus?
There are times my brain is scattered, thoughts going a mile a minute, and I know I need to lock in and finish something (for example, this blog post). What works for me is a hot drink. If I don't have tea, I'll drink hot water. Something about it settles my brain down and allows me to focus.
So when you notice an athlete acting outside their norm, they probably need a reset before they need coaching. A reset might be:
- a few deep breaths
- getting energy out on purpose. A couple of down-and-backs, push-ups, wall sits
- letting them warm up in silence, or carving out a quiet space to do it
- writing down what's on their mind, then saving it or tossing it
- strong mint gum, or sour candy
Help them figure out which one is theirs, and eventually they'll start doing it without you saying a word.
At the end of the day, if your athletes aren't ready to learn, it doesn't matter how good you are.
The how
I'll walk the 2-on-1 through step by step. As I go, I encourage you to follow along with one of your own drills.
What this usually looks like
Coach blows the whistle. Then talks for three to five minutes straight, explaining the drill. Demonstrators are out on the floor in their spots, which is definitely a plus. But somewhere in there, the coach gives three to five ways the offense can score, giving the passer another three to five things to remember, giving the defender three to five more. Sprinkled throughout are phrases like: "go fast," "move quickly," "hustle back."
Sarah starts drifting around and gets yelled at for not paying attention. Jess is standing there white-knuckling a list of fifteen items, trying to hold every one of them in her head before the whistle even goes.
Let's take it piece by piece.
Adjusting the task
How you present information is part of the task. It's what defines how an athlete engages with it.
Talking nonstop for three to five minutes tanks attention for anybody. We live in a world where attention gets pulled in every direction, and I'd bet you've watched a group check out somewhere around the ten-second mark. When we notice this, we tend to blame the athletes ("lock in!"). I’m encouraging you to change the way you communicate.
- Ask questions while you explain, not after. And not just "got it?" Ask specific questions like, "When can the defense start?" Now you're checking for understanding and reengaging them at the same time.
- Split the explanation with another coach: you take the first part, she takes the second, and the change in voice does some of the work for you.
Then there's the fifteen points problem.
Working memory is where thinking happens, and all of us have a ceiling on how much we can hold there at once. Go past it and information starts falling out. For some neurodivergent athletes, that ceiling is even lower.³ So when you hand out fifteen separate things to remember, you haven't taught fifteen things. You've guaranteed that most of them get forgotten.
It’s very tempting to want to emphasize everything, but pick one. If you're working on cutting, coach cutting. If it's on-time passes, coach that. If it's defensive recovery, coach that. If the drill isn't producing what you want, change the emphasis or change the drill.
Ambiguous language is the other half of this. Traditional coaching runs on phrases like "hustle back" and "move quickly." To a literal thinker like Jess, that's not an instruction, and it can be confusing. For all other athletes, if you all don’t have the same definition of what hustle means, everyone’s working off a different scale.
So, build it into the task instead: once you pass, you have three seconds to score. Now "fast" isn't a word you keep repeating. It's baked into the drill.
Adjusting the environment
Sometimes there's not much you can do here. You're sharing a gym; the equipment is what it is. But a couple of things are almost always in your control.
You can point an athlete's attention at what matters. A distractible athlete like Sarah may be trying to filter too much at once, especially if you just handed her fifteen things. You can help direct her attention to something specific in the environment. Say she can't figure out which way to cut. Instead of explaining it again, guide her attention: watch where the defender's feet are. That's one read. Now she's looking at the thing that actually decides the answer.
And you can cut down what's competing for that attention. If you're sharing the floor and your kids are staring across the gym at the other team, turn them around. Line them up so their backs are to what has been distracting them. It's a five-second fix; it helps the athletes who are most pulled by movement, and it quietly cleans up the visual field for everyone else too.
Try this
Take one drill you'll run this week. Ideally one that always falls apart the first time through. Before you coach it, write down two things:
- What's the one thing, just one, you want them to walk away with?
- What could you change about the setup, not the athletes, so that one thing stands out on its own?
Then run it and observe what happens.
Experiment, experiment, experiment. If it doesn't click the first time, try something else.
And send me a message. I'd love to hear what you tried and how it went.
References
- Walker, Nick. "Neurodiversity: Some Basic Terms & Definitions." Neuroqueer, neuroqueer.com/neurodiversity-terms-and-definitions/.
- Newell, Karl M. "Constraints on the Development of Coordination." Motor Development in Children: Aspects of Coordination and Control, edited by M. G. Wade and H. T. A. Whiting, Martinus Nijhoff, 1986.
- Dyson, Cath. "Working Memory and Neurodivergence." The Education Hub, 4 Sept. 2024, theeducationhub.org.nz/working-memory-and-neurodivergence/.
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