THE ADAPTABLE COACH (STUDY)

                                         

This study came out a couple of weeks ago and is a must-read for today's coaches, most of who has come through the coaching ranks with a direct instruction-based approach that doesn't assist players in the chaos of a game on its own. Instead it suggests how to also incorporate ecological dynamics approach for the best of both worlds and goes close to ensuring all players can receive the coaching they need at the level of development that they are at.

• The task for coaches is not deciding what approach (direct instruction v a constraints-led approach) is better and only coach that 1 way, but to determine the approach/learning principles that best suit the athlete’s learning requirements
• Coaching is not an exact science so you need to be open/adaptable/flexible in your approach
• For a gymnastics coach teaching a 6yr old how to perform a basic handstand they would need to think about what instructions should they provide to facilitate safe technique, how do they balance athlete expectations of the timeline of progress, is the athlete motivated to engage in the current training schedule or are they expected to participate by their parents, and this is just a fraction of the diverse influences in the coaching process
• These factors are not static with some being more/less prominent at certain times and with others taking their place
• A constraints-led approach refers to the self-organisation around interactions between individual, environment and task v skill acquisition via int movement representation
• Skill acquisition is now often coined skill adaption
• Each approach can be broken down into the same 5 categories x perception (internal memory representations v a variable environment), motor control (memory interactions v self-organisation in real time), skill acquisition (explicit v implicit instruction), movement variability (low v high) and practice (decomposition v simplification)
• Formal coach education opportunities are dominated by traditional approaches where coaches are then at risk of not developing the appropriate tools on how to coach and the knowledge of why a particular principle should be applied, instead coaching how they were coached previously
• Set clear intentions for training
• Align instructional content to the individual needs of the athlete/s and learning outcomes of the coaching context
• Balance the amount of movement variability in practice
• Allow more opportunities to to make mistakes in training
• Set flexible practice structures to allow for the non-linearity of learning
• Appropriately represent  the demands of competition environments in practice
• Simulate critical information sources to develop connections with relevant performance information
• Instructional Delivery x use explicit instruction early to reduce cognitive load to establish a basic movement pattern + use implicit  instruction to encourage exploration of individual movement patterns.
• Movement Variability x introduce it by manipulating task constraint (ball size etc) to encourage athletes to adapt movements while maintaining a high level of success + monitor how constraint manipulation influences task difficulty and see whether it introduces too much movement variability that is detrimental to performance
• Skill Acquisition x deviations that interfere with task achievement can be corrected in line with the minimal intervention principle which allows task variability in practice and the ability to remain flexible to certain movement deviations as they emerge over time + in a  constraints-led approach, movements that might interfere with behavioral goals can be leveraged to facilitate the development of individual movement solutions + athlete safety is always prioritised so any incorrect movement patterns that increase injury risk will need to be explicitly corrected
• Training Specificity/Representiveness x task complexity early in skill acquisition can be overwhelming so you can use task simplification/drills to maintain athlete motivation + where appropriate, aim to introduce critical components of performance contexts (small sided games) to facilitate transfer of learning into competition + this might include purposeful manipulation of task constraints (increase/decrease ball size etc) to encourage the exploration of different movement solutions
• Quantification of Workload x drills may better represent appropriate game intensities so provide appropriate stimulus to elicit physical adaptations + utilise technology/GPS etc + consider the quantity/quality of training goals and the balance that is needed between repetition and a constraints-led approach design
• Development of Perceptual-Cognitive, Decision-Making and Tactical Skills x lower level athletes can use independent practice (video review etc) to reduce cognitive load + different skills/athletes may require different levels of complexity meaning technical skills may be practiced in isolation before adding tactical/strategic elements + monitor/evaluate training/performance outcomes to understand whether training could be adjusted to include the concurrent execution of technical/perceptual-cognitive skills