Viola Spolin's core teaching method: coaching players during the exercise, not stopping to lecture. Spolin called it "the most subtle and essential element in Spolin Games." The side-coach is simultaneously fellow participant, grounded instructor, and observant director.
The defining principle: All side-coaching is given during playing. Players do not stop to consider what is being coached — they act on it at the moment it is needed. This keeps players in the game rather than pulling them out to intellectualize. The moment a player steps outside the exercise to think about the note, the exercise has stopped working.
What side-coaching sounds like — words of empowerment, not authority:
- "Use your where!" — redirects attention to the environment
- "Heighten what's going on!" — intensifies the core dynamic
- "Help your fellow player play the game!" — builds mutual support
- "Show, don't tell!" — prevents narration replacing action
- "No playwrighting!" — stops pre-planning
- "Follow the follower!" — encourages group mind
- "Share your voice!" — projection and presence
- "See the space!" — environmental awareness
- "Take your time" / "We are with you" — reduces urgency and anxiety
Side-coaching vs. directing: Directing tells players what to do ("Do it this way"). Side-coaching prompts action ("Use your where!"). The distinction matters: directing creates dependency on the teacher; side-coaching develops the player's own capacity. The side-coach avoids "showing how," instead allowing players to grapple with the problem. The role requires staying a detached observer while simultaneously remaining engaged as a participant.
Connection to Point of Concentration: Each Spolin exercise has a POC — the specific focus. The side-coach's primary job is keeping players on the POC. When attention drifts to performing, planning, or pleasing the teacher, the side-coach redirects: "Focus on the focus."
When to coach vs. stay silent: Requires intuitive timing developed through personal playing experience. Critical obstacles to effective side-coaching: ego (coaching to show your own knowledge), urgency (too many notes too fast), insufficient familiarity with the game's potential, and lack of rapport with where the players actually are. Gary Schwartz (Spolin's student, endorsed by both Spolin and her son Paul Sills) emphasizes that the side-coach must be able to read the room intuitively — coaching the room's need, not the teacher's agenda.