Why should my student attend a driving camp?

Imagine your child approaches you and says they want to play competitive soccer.  However, they’ve never played before.  Most parents in this scenario find a team with a great coach or a training camp to teach the child the basics of soccer… passing, kicks and how to shoot a goal.  Once those foundational pieces are in place, a coach might add in field formations, assists, headers, and of course, the rules of the game. With these basic skills mastered, a child might be ready for a few local games with their team. However, it’s not until the child matures and gains more advanced skills through hours of training that they are truly able to play competitively at higher levels.

Learning to drive a vehicle is similar, but the stakes are much higher.

First, a new driver needs to get acquainted with the basics of a car. This often includes locating and understanding the physical components of the car interior and what the various dials and gauges mean. Next, they move on to more advanced tasks like putting the car in motion, turning, and stopping. They need to learn about the dynamics of a 4,000 pound vehicle in motion, the limitations, and how to control it. Only when these fundamentals are learned and truly understood is a new driver ready to drive on public roads. 

Telling a new driver to be careful is not going to do anything to actually keep them safe.

ACHIEVING MASTERY

If you showed your new driver how to parallel park once, would they be able to do it again safely on their own? Probably not. How about 10 times? Maybe? Successful maneuvers become a mastered skill through many repetitions. 

Learning, whether it’s to master a sport, a musical instrument, or any other complex task, happens through repetition. . . lots of it. It has to be taught correctly the first time, coached to improve skills, and practiced over and over again. Why? Repetition helps wire together the knowledge in the brain so that it can access it quickly. Mastery happens when you’ve practiced something enough times that you can do it automatically, without even thinking in some cases. 

We encourage parents to work with their student to help them practice fundamental driving skills. The DMV requires a significant amount of coached time for behind the wheel for new drivers as a way to help ensure they are getting the practice and repetition they need to operate a vehicle.

However, mastery behind the wheel of a vehicle isn’t just knowing how to stop at a stop sign, make a left turn, or parallel park. It’s having practiced safety maneuvers over and over again. So much so that when you are in danger your brain tells your body to do the maneuver with almost no conscious thought from you.  Mastery happens when you’ve practiced something enough times that you can do it automatically, without even thinking about it. Mastery is when safety and control have become a reflex.

Mastery is when safety and control have become a reflex. 

REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT

Our driving camps ensure drivers are given ample opportunity to practice critical skills on repeat under the guidance of professionals. Initially, a student spends time behind the wheel learning defensive braking skills, collision avoidance, and how to recover from more dangerous situations like skids without losing control of the vehicle. These exercises are facilitated on our private driving range. 

Students get the most out of their training when Driving Camp is paired with our Skid Camp.

Better now than Never

Some parents hesitate to enroll their student in our driving camps because their student is close to getting their license and they don’t think they have enough time to complete the training. The good news is that the driving camps can be completed in just one weekend and will not hold your student up when getting their license. In fact, our driving camps are a critical part of training whether your student hasn’t been behind the wheel yet or they already have their license. 

Although comparing soccer to driving a car is a helpful analogy, sending your new soccer player onto a competitive field isn’t likely to end up with dire consequences.  Sending an unprepared, unskilled driver into real-life driving environments can prove deadly. Remember, the skills that save lives are taught by professionals and practiced repetitively until mastery. Our driving camps are a great investment in your student’s safety behind the wheel now. . .and for a lifetime.

Learn more about our programs at www.masterdrive.com/programs or call us at 720-893-1249.