Exciting announcement! My next book is coming soon (well, kinda soon...in a few months). It will focus on skill acquisition and development in coaching. Pre-order of the e-book version now. Paperback version will be released at the same time.
As some may have heard, very excited to be joining
@RedSox
as a part-time skill acquisition specialist! Working across this storied organisation supporting player development, coaching and sports science โพ๏ธ
The more I think about sports decision making the more I believe we have it backwards - its not about reacting fast & taking the best option quickly. Its about acting to keep as many options open for as long as possible until one affordance is more inviting & a decision emerges.
It's here!
My new book on skill acquisition -- "How We Learn to Move: A Revolution in the Way We Coach & Practice Sports Skills"
Available for order now.
If you treat a movement skill (like a baseball or golf swing) like a fragile piece of glass that you should be incredibly careful with when you finally "get it down",not doing anything to mess with rythym or timing for example, it will invitably break into pieces on you..
My first attempt at a CLA infographic :)
Join us in just over two over 2 hours for our practice activity analysis that will look at this and other coaching methods..
โLet the ball be your feedbackโ. This is exactly what our research shows highly skilled hitters focus their attention on. Furthermore, we find that when you use drills to direct attention to the ball leaving the bat, hitting performance improves.
Surprise, it's here!!
My NEW book, the follow-up to "How We Learn to Move" is available NOW.
"Learning to Optimize Movement:
Harnessing the Power of the Athlete-Environment Relationship"
P&A Podcast - Constraints Led Approach episodes:
-What are Constraints?
-Representative Design
-Evaluating its Effectiveness
-Why do we โConstrainโ?
-Research
Key point I like to keep making: All coaching involves constraints manipulation (ie, can be understood in terms of Newell's model). There is nothing else a coach can do! What differs is the goal of the manipulation and the type/severity of the constraints.
P&A Podcast
#168
โ Periodization of Skill Acquisition. How might we periodize skill acquisition in a manner similar to physical training โ taking into account factors like specificity, load, progression and reversibility?
..but, if instead, you spend practice trying to break it by adding variability and changing constraints, exagerrating errors and even deliberately trying to do it "wrong" at times, you will get a resilient and adaptable movement made of iron!
Beyond the fact that the action is completely decoupled from its natural perceptual info, why do we care how quickly an infielder can respond to visual stimuli in their far periphery and behind them? In the game, they look directly at the ball! Task analysis, please!
Still getting a lot of Ecological Dynamics is just knocking down coaching "strawmen" and is just "old wine in new bottles" types of comments. Honestly, I just don't get it....๐คทโโ๏ธ
Passed a nice milestone on the P&A Podcast recently! Never in my wildest dreams did I think this many people would be interested in what I have been told some call the "big word" podcast :) Thank you for listening and all your continued support!
P&A Podcast โ Cueing to Facilitate Skill Acquisition
External vs Internal Cues
Analogies
Research
Movement Instruction vs Description
Alternative Ways to Cue
My latest paper (Comparing cueing and constraints interventions for increasing launch angle in baseball batting) is out and has been added to my collection of baseball papers
NEW: Variability of Practice Resource Page. My attempt at clarifying the different definitions (e.g., blocked vs random, constant vs variable), findings, theories (e.g. Contextual Interference) and implications for coaching.
Finally, this approach does not mean letting athlete do whatever they want. It is a transition from the coachโs role from instructor to designer. Think how can I design practice conditions to allow athlete to find solution within bandwidth I want, not give them the solution.
Have heard some claim lately that the ecological approach is insufficient for coaching because it only focuses on motor skill acquisition and ignores other important factors like confidence, motivation, social influences, etc. Thus, mixing theories is required. Simply not true!
2017 Perception & Action Podcast:
-48 episodes
-20 interviews
->100 journal articles reviewed
-spin off Skill Acquisition AZ Meeting
-lots more to come in 2018!
Thanks everyone for the feedback about my infographic!
I have now started a "CLA Resource page" for those interested in learning more about this coaching method and applying it:
Audio clip: "Repetition doesn't provide any information. Information comes out the differences" which our body is designed to create and detect. Wolfgang Schollhorn
One of the most exciting aspects of the ecological approach to skill development is its potential to reduce injury risk and speed adaptation to injury.
Creating a resource page to keep track of this growing area!
Well, the first week's response to my book release has been overwhelming and honestly very humbling! We nearly got it to the top of the competitive "sports coaching category".
Thank you so much to everyone for ordering and all the kind words!
I absolutely LOVE this paragraph. It captures so many aspects of the self-organization approach to skill acquisition (from attractors to variability to constraints to psychological safety) in such a succinct way! From:
Manipulation of task constraints is the most effective motor learning method for reducing risk factors for ACL injury during side-step cutting in both male and female athletes
A few comments to the main critique of self organization in skill acquisition: โif I just let athlete do whatever they want they will develop bad habits & never find an effective movement solutionโ...
Free version of my new paper available here for next 50 days:
"Comparing the constraints led approach, differential learning and prescriptive instruction for training opposite-field hitting in baseball"
Having seen a few posts lately where people chime in on a video of a (often young) pitcher saying something to the effect: โthatโs an injury waiting to happenโ. Not only is this very harmful, itโs simply ridiculous...
Passage highly pertinent to the comment I frequently hear that some athletes like/prefer isolated, repetitive practice. What you like is not always good for you!
From:
When and How to Provide Feedback and Instructions to Athletes?โHow Sport Psychology and Pedagogy Insights Can Improve Coaching Interventions to Enhance Self-Regulation in Training
Today, The Perception & Action Podcast is officially 5 years old! Thank you everyone for listening, feedback & those that have supported the podcast via I am also quickly creeping up on the 300th Episode. For that, I plan to do something a bit differentโฆ
2023 is going to be the Year of the Coach on the Perception Action Podcast! Starting w/ this episode, I am going to be turning my focus from skill acquisition in athletes to skill acquisition and development in coaches. Any suggestions for specific topic ideas welcome!
Typically best way to improve โperipheral visionโ is just to get better at primary skill so can devote more attention to periphery. Not expanding visual field.
P&A Podcast
#304
โ Interview with Wolfgang Schollhorn, Mainz, Differential Learning. โIf we want to have extraordinary performance we need to train extraordinarily!"
Using a self organization approach does not mean there are no wrong movements. It means there is no one ideal one you are going to prescribe. Instead, there is an acceptable range you will let the athlete self organise within to optimally adapt to their own individual constraints
Holy cow! The commentator in the Tigersโ spring training game on mlb tv just nicely explained the difference between random vs blocked practice and how the Tigers are trying to add more random practice in training!
Great thread! This issue is not cueing vs not cueing. The issue is what you are saying & how you are using verbal instructions: as a constraint in the CLA to promote self organization VS a prescriptive instruction to develop an ideal technique. CLA is not "silent instruction"
Thread: To cue or not to cue? Is that the question?
I believe we owe it to the broader coaching community to consider the merit of what appears to be a growing tension between instructional (verbal) and constraint-led (non-verbal) approaches to coaching. 1/19
P&A Podcast
#166
- Exploratory Search for Information, Affordances & Action Selection. A look at exploratory head movements in team sports and the affordance competition hypothesis.
The effect of small-sided games with different levels of opposition on the tactical behaviour of young footballers with different levels of sport expertise
Thank you for pulling this quote out Loren. Its one of the most important messages I hope people take from the book - inspired by one of my fav Ingold quotes: โLearning is about attending to things, rather than acquiring the knowledge that absolves us of the need to do so...โ
โYou can see 50 things that are wrong, but if you find the right virus, maybe 40 disappear because that virus is the triggerโ -
@PfaffSC
@ALTISEdu
#ThorneACP
For people out there trying to randomly poke holes in the Ecological Approach to Skill Acquisition, fair enough. But the Info Proces vs Ecol debate been going on for decades involving some giants in the field. Take some time to have a look. Most of your "issues" are not new..
Starting next week on the podcast: the first episode in a long overdue series looking at the legacy of JJ Gibson, Direct Perception & Invariants. Essential material for understanding CLA and Ecological Dynamics. As Bernstein is to action, Gibson is to perception :)
It fits well with Gibson's idea of "acting to perceive". Its "acting to decide". If we can act to keep multiple affordances available (that is, with skilled intentionality) the best course of action, the best "decision", will reveal itself.
Very excited to have this all coming together! Was a lot of fun marrying my ideas about skill acquisition/research with Randy's knowledge about anatomy/attractors and his incredible ability to design practice activities.
Finishing touches on a new book โฆw
@ShakeyWaits
โฉ (Rob Gray). A Constraints-Led Approach To Baseball Coaching. Excited to see it all come together. Rob is brilliant. Heโll join us at The Baseball Skill Acquisition Summit Oct 22/23. Register at
Why do we focus so much on understanding the control of movement in Ecological Dynamics? Seemingly (but actually not!) neglecting the higher-level, โmore importantโ things our brain does like motivation, cognition, and social factors, so that it is "just" a theory of action.
A thread about my new paper that just came out today: Changes in Movement Coordination Associated with Skill Acquisition in Baseball Batting: Freezing/Freeing Degrees of Freedom & Functional Variability 1/10
Somehow my podcast episode on the Contraints-Led Approach has morphed into a 3-part series! (i) what are constraints?, (ii) dynamics theories, (iii) Evaluating CLA effectiveness.
Fantastic discussion of direct perception (the roots of the ecological approach to skill) by Bill Warren!
Information Is Where You Find It: Perception as an Ecologically Well-Posed Problem
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