Teaching & Training Help

[thespymachine]

Backstory:
Over the last half-year or so my girlfriend's interest in Melee has increased significantly. With Armada's announcement of his retirement in January (who's her favorite player) she got an urge to pick up the game and get good at it - with no real productivity coming out of it. Then, after going to EVO with me, meeting a bunch of top players, seeing basically no female smashers, and seeing Armada lose and his retirement strongly settling in her mind, she has decided, for real, to play Melee competitively.

She wants to main Peach, but be like Mango in how he plays pretty much every character super well - and she only wants to play as female characters (except Jigglypuff, she hates the character - no hate toward you HungryBox, she actually was trying to buy you a drink during EVO, lol).
She wants to be a prominent Melee player and help other female gamers get into the game.


Basically, I'm wondering how other players teach/train their friends in Melee. Obviously certain things will be different from person to person, but what is some basic stuff everyone does with their new smashers.
I'm thinking more so what techniques/approaches people use when teaching/training new people, not so much what techskill stuff to go over first, or whatever - I already have her practicing her short-hopping and l-cancelling, and have a playlist of videos to watch constantly.

But, I don't play Peach, so I'll probably be hitting the Peach boards a lot to check stuff. Or I'll make her join SWF.

I'm not the best of players (went 2-2 in my EVO pool), but I really want to make sure she is shown Melee correctly, and hope it fosters a love for the game like I have.


[Also, this is a major plus, because I'll have a training partner 24/7 now.]

 

[Beat!]

Encourage a play-to-learn mindset, but also realize that someone who doesn't enjoy themselves while playing will lose interest eventually. Make sure that she's having fun. Ideally, beginners with high aspirations shouldn't mind getting stomped over and over again, since they can still learn from the experience, listen to advice, and look forward to the day they become as good as (or better than) their opponent. However, we're all human. Even the most play-to-learn embracing player can get tired after getting 4-stocked for the twentieth time in a row.

Also, giving advice during and between matches is obviously good, but some people can get a little offended if someone gives them advice when they haven't explicitly asked for it. Make sure that you know where she stands on this subject to avoid unnecessary awkwardness/hostility, because the more annoyed someone is, the less likely they are to listen to advice.

As for watching videos of high-level players, remember to stress the fact that she shouldn't just watch what they do, but also be observant and try to understand why they do it. A classic example (which I myself was guilty of as a beginner) is low-level Marth players who watch M2K wreck Foxes on FD and try to replicate his style without actually understanding when and why he used the moves that he did.

Good luck!

 

[Zhea]

It might be a good idea to bring up that getting good at this game can take upwards of three years. Just to make sure to set expectations.

 

[thespymachine]

Thanks for the input guys.

And, yeah, she's definitely aware of the time commitment. Let's just hope she enjoys the game enough to keep playing.