Looking for some advice for teaching/coaching friends!

[Protosauce]

Hey guys! Im looking for some advice on helping coach my friends.

So Ive been playing melee and project m religiously, and have started to place respectably at local tournaments. Ive been doing all of this out of the knowledge of my friend group, because I thought they wouldent be interested. Turns out, they all love smash (most of them played melee, 64, or brawl casually), and they all love the idea of the competitive/advances scene. This has me unbelievably stoked, but Im running into a bit of a problem. They are starting to come to me for advice/coaching on their play, because my skill level is still way above theirs.

Everything Ive learned has been solo through videos and reading (Ive lurked about every strategy thread ever, and watch every almost competitive video thats been put out since 2009), as there was no one to ask/teach me in person. I know Im passionate, not amazing, and Im worried that if I coach them they will learn my bad habits or not develop their own style or take bias on something directly related to my opinion(such as tiers, tech, or general strategy) or something bad thats related to my play or coaching or etcetcetc. Do you guys have any coaching tips or advice for me? I know it might be a vague question, but any advice will help.

tldr; freinds really want to get into PM, coming to me for advice. im self-taught, whats the best way of teaching them?

 

[Zujx]

Smash has been a big thing with my friends for awhile + I've taught somewhere along the lines of 10+ people how to play
I had similar concerns when I started coaching but, after getting very positive results overtime you'll find its extremely enjoyable to see how far your friends will come

The most important part is giving the new player a strong foundation
Teach them the importance of basic mechanics,combos, spacing, techs everything your already expecting to do.
This is not a quick process its a slow burn depending on the person don't get frustrated congratulate them on what they are doing right.
They aren't going to figure it all out immediately don't expect them too so just keep reminding them over time it's going to take many matches to drill the "flow" of a match into their head.

Finding a main in this game is overwhelming even for a seasoned player with such a large roster of diverse charterers. In the above process look for what they really excel at and watch their habits. Help them pick a character that capitalizes they're strengths.
For example:
The player plays a little to defensively Zelda may be able to turn that weakness into somewhat of a strength.
The player can't keep up with faster-paced characters introduce him to the heavier ones
The player can't do a tech move to save his life show him less mechanical characters
A lot of of this is common sense but, it goes a long way once you find someone that really fits your friends taste they get way more passionate about learning.

Your going to feel like a jerk when your teaching your friends 1v1 but, this has to be done. The person your teaching needs to be ready to take a beating and go into it with an open mind. I think this is something that makes teaching a local multiplayer game really hard. For the most part until they get confident just random your character give them a basic example of what different matchups will be like at a higher level of play. I just want to emphasis don't go easy on them. Just point out what they could do differently to counter your actions if they take your advice and keep at it they will learn. This part of the process sucks if your friends are salty people.

I know bad habits are a big part of your concern and they are going to happen just watch for them. People get very stubborn about correcting bad habits too the best way to show them why its not good is too punish it continuously.
(Shield Rolling is going to be a big one try not slam your head against the wall over it.)
Than show them what they could do differently and MOST importantly show them how to correctly punish it when they encounter someone else doing it.

Some of your friends are going to learn bad habits that you alone cannot fix. Your only one person they're is only so much you can possibly do. It's fine this is going to work itself out. This is where
"MOST importantly show them how to correctly punish it when they encounter someone else doing it."
comes in most handy as long as some of your friends know how to punish these bad habits overtime the person doing them will learn if I do X, Y will happen.

Be sure to give them references to guides, videos, smashboard threads, how to play netplay etc. so when they feel so inclined to they can take the next step + learn things that you yourself cannot teach.

Overtime it will get a lot easier because once they process the information and are confident players they will practically teach themselves by fighting against each others different play styles. Eventually you'll start learning yourself because, matches will actually become a huge challenge which the greatest reward of all.

I'm going to end my ramble on how to teach people how to play smash
this is what happens when your waiting for your next appointment at work

 

[CORY]

what are they asking you about? general basics and how to improve that? or are they getting to the more advanced and character specific parts and into the whole mindgame/metagame portion and you're uncomfortable with that?

 

[Protosauce]

oh man zujx that was an awesome post. im gonna take a whole bunch away from that! it really is awesome having people around me who are now getting on the same hype train i boarded a year ago.

Do you think its worth playing poorly(missing techs, quick dj instead of sh->fh, sheildrolling a **** tonne) so that they can learn to punish aswell?

what are they asking you about?

they've all been watching videos and what not now, and are sending me replays via fb and private youtube to give an analysis of what could have been done better. nothing to specific yet, although i did have one guy want to learn waddledashing( i main d3, and its hard to teach mirrors because i have a very different style of play from the basics)