Part 2 of this cracker of a study on developing challenge-based practice design in sports coaching.
- High challenge can about unexpected rewards/close misses which can engage the learner
- Small changes for small periods of time can keep motivation high while balancing the benefits of errors for learning against their costs in motivation
- Performance errors can have psychological/physical costs especially in group settings where they can be compounded by the social consequences increasing psychological pressure
- Feelings of competence is important for engagement in short and long term so you need to provide the awareness of the potential trade offs when introducing challenges and the performance dips that will follow and creating a culture where athletes feel comfortable exposing their weaknesses, performing under novel conditions where successes are not guaranteed and engaging in challenging practice conditions
- Player psychological safety is always paramount so coaches need to take extra steps to ensure precautions are taken when increasing difficulty as it also increases injury risk
- Reduced motivation decreases learning so when challenge increases take protective steps to ensure motivation by promoting competency (feedback after excellent attempts and not criticising average attempts), autonomy (athlete control over challenge) and social relatedness (self comparison v teammate comparison)
- When individual's believe that improvements are made through hard work and not innate talent (examples of growth mindsets), they persist under challenging conditions for longer
- Consolidation refers to the long term process of strengthening memories created in practice into longer/more durable forms which can be recalled later, is transforming information through the continued learning which takes place once practice has stopped and is sensitive to long periods of rest/sleep
- Rewarding activities through feedback/praise/physical incentives helps to promote the consolidation of motor skills which is mediated by dopamine during the practice session (memory consolidation) so create opportunities for success/reward, particularly unexpected success which is strongly linked to behavioral change
- Near misses/falling just short of success motivates players to stay engaged (challenge point)
- The exact balance of costs/benefits is likely individually based on cognitive load, motivational disposition and prior experience + the athlete/coach relationship
- Challenge that reflect cognitive-perceptual/physical/psychological demands will promote better transfer to competition but they might not always be compatible with task challenges to bring about learning
- For maximum transfer you want sensory/cognitive/emotional thoughts and feelings of impending competition during practice, or at least in aspects of practice
- Practice to learn is the most important goal and should underpin the majority of practice-based decisions in designing practice, expanding on challenge point
- Practice to maintain is related to maintaining current skills and developing automaticity in skills and keeping athletes motivated through high competency expectations/relative success
- Practice to transfer creates challenges which simulate game demands
- All 3 practice types regardless of goal, should have at least a moderate degree of specificity to the upcoming game context
- Coaches should worry less about game representation when practicing to learn is the goal as athlete's need to be comfortable sacrificing performance to maximise learning/improvement through increased challenge point and the creation of opportunities for new information
- Because there are fewer opportunities to learn/gain new information at higher levels of skill, creativity is needed to create situations that do this (constraints-led approach)
- If learning is the goal then create situations that are moderate to high in functional task difficulty relative to the individual and based on their constraints at that time
- Conditions that increase cognitive demands on the performer leads to better retention/learning and this is best done via manipulating variability in practice conditions x frequently switching between skills + performing the same skill under different conditions as random training separates the good to very good players
- The aim of variability is for the learner to be actively involved in determining how and when to act and to be constantly thinking of what they’re doing
- Uncertain conditions not only keeps the learner engaged but also provides opportunities for events that mimic competition where vision might be blurred/obstructed or playing surfaces might be damaged/uneven
- Because errors are expected coaches should consider ways to manage expectations, de-emphasise immediate performance and reinforce behaviors in the desired learning zone
- Because errors/decreased performance is considered negatively, a culture needs to be cultivated where players know the difference between practice and learning situations
- As competition approaches there is less focus on learning/permissible errors
- Learning practice can be merged within any practice session where errors are not allowed and where mistakes have agreed upon consequences, better matching game demands/goals of transfer
- Practice to transfer is where challenge is matched to expected game demands with considerations put in to determine the optimal challenge point at which transfer to games will be greatest, which will shift over time
- Practice needs to mimic the psychological/physical states of games, self evaluation, competition, attention demands and fatigue
- 1 way to simulate high cognitive/attentional demands of time-constrained team invasion sports is through practice designed to challenge players working memory such as not passing to person who passed it to you, designating players that the ball must be played through etc as players need to know who just passed the ball, who the receiving players are etc which places demands on working memory so that players always have something to hold in their memory and use before making their decision
- Include consequential practice where errors occurring training have consequences that are completed at the end of training under fatigue but get creative hear as punishing players through activity is not usually the best way to go and only gives them bad experience with increased activity so you'll have a hard time getting them to run in their own time off the back of it, leaving you less time to train more important game aspects like tactics, technique etc if you have to run them for half the session
- Train to maintain is reinforcement practice where accomplished skills/technique's are honed/practiced
- Session plan might start with high challenge/practice to learn leading into low challenge/practice maintain but might need to break up into small groups based on skill/experience
