NEXT LEVEL COACHING – DECISION MAKING DURING GAMES – PLAYER/TEAM PERCEPTION (PART 4/4)

                                       

NEW TERMS

Explicit Knowledge - guided learning

• The application of decision making processes at an individual level may depend on the cognitive complexity of different game situations and those who have developed explicit knowledge of the task are advantageous when cognitive complexity is high whereas those who have developed actions for the game rather than knowledge of the task (implicit learning), were advantageous when cognitive complexity was low
• Players can become blind via an over-reliance on a specific memory representation that dictated their behavior rather than behaving in response to game perception
• Player’s perception of game information is mostly dependent on the task and game situation and when players had time, they looked at global information but when time wasn’t available their perception of information was more discrete
• Memory representations is the connection between the perceptual search for information and an ideal action response and thus, players form plans of action in regard to what to look for, hear or feel
• If the initial assessment of situational probability was accurate then players described having time to consider options to come to an appropriate decision
• Representations still drive what the players need to achieve in the decision making process but these were rare and coincided with moments where players had a split second to react to game information but if players are required to update, diagnose or self-organise to game information, then these incidents must be accounted for in representative training environments
• Player’s perspective must be considered when seeking to understand cognitive mechanisms and decision making processes through a no, fast and slow though grading system
• Whether it be implicit, explicit or through the presence/absence of cognitive mechanisms, player decision making occurs relative to its environment within a game situation
• Player’s individual and collective perceptual strategies, retrieval of memory representations, actions and use of language are consistently underpinned by players deep declarative knowledge of the game, and by supporting player’s game intelligence and a deeper understanding of why, coaches can support players development of self awareness, meta cognitive strategies, realistic evaluations of their performance, valid assessments of their own technical and physical capabilities and the ability to consider game context during performance to make informed decisions

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