1. Motor Skill Learning For Effective Coaching and Performance
Chapter 2
Motor Skill Learning For Effective Coaching and Performance
Cheryl Coker
“Most people get excited about games, but I've got to be excited about practice, because that's my classroom.” Pat Summitt, Basketball Coach
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2. Definitions
Motor Learning: A set of internal processes, associated with practice or experience, leading to relatively permanent changes in the capability for skilled movement behavior. Capability: Once a skill is learned, the athlete shows a high likelihood of exhibiting the same skill performance in a consistent manner (although errors will still sometimes occur).
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3. How do we monitor motor learning?
Through performance, an observable behavior, and draw useful inferences about learning
Changes in performance are relatively permanent, the athlete should be able to demonstrate the skill repeatedly
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4. Phases of Motor Skill Learning
Phases are continuous with no clear transition between them
Think of it like a continuum
Athletes can be in different phases for different skills
First proposed in Fitts & Posner’s model (1967)
The Cognitive Phase
The Associative Phase
The Autonomous Phase
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5. The Cognitive Phase
Focuses on getting an understanding of how to perform the skill
Develop a motor program: an abstract, internal representation of the skill – like a computer program with instructions to guide movement
Unable to attend to external events like teammates or movements of defensive players
LOTS of inconsistency and error
Dominant sensory system is vision
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6. The Cognitive Phase (cont.)
Role of the Coach:
Clearly communicate critical aspects of the skill through verbal instructions, visual demonstrations, and feedback
Duration of the Cognitive Phase:
A few minutes or longer – depends on the athletes age and the complexity of the skill
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7. The Associative Phase Refining the skill:
Goal is to perform the skill both accurately and consistently
Movement becomes more automated and proprioceptive – athlete relies on visual control less and less
Athlete uses sensory feedback to evaluate movement correctness, also develops the capability to generate strategies for skill correction
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8. The Associative Phase (cont.)
Role of the Coach:
Design effective practices to optimize skill refinement so athlete can quickly adapt to performance setting demands
Provide a variety of practice experiences and more feedback
Duration of the Associative Phase:
Longer than the cognitive phase, ranges from a few hours to several years
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9. Closed vs. Open Skills Closed skills: Open skills: Performed in
a stable environment.
tennis serve
free throw shooting
putting in golf
Open skills:
Performed in a dynamic, changing environment.
football punt return
basketball fast break
volleyball set or hit
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10. The Autonomous Phase
Skill performance is at a maximal level of proficiency
Requires little conscious thought or attention to movement – it’s established in memory
Excellent understanding of the skill
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11. The Autonomous Phase (cont.)
Role of the Coach:
Help the athletes maintain their level of skill
Motivate the athletes to continue improving
Error correction and learning process:
Major changes in technique should be handled during the off-season because it can take awhile to again reach the autonomous phase.
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12. Practice Considerations
Deliberate practice:
Combines tasks of appropriate difficulty, information feedback, and sufficient opportunities for repetition and correction of errors
Not enough on its own…
Athlete must be motivated to learn
Practice ≠ perfect
Must practice with the intent to improve
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13. Practice Methods: Whole vs. Part
Whole Method:
Athletes practice activity or skill in its entirety, as a single unit
Part Method:
The athlete practices each component of the activity or skill separately and then combines the parts into a whole skill
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14. Practice Methods: Whole vs. Part (cont.)
Progressive-part method:
The first two parts of a skill are practiced separately and then combined and practiced as a unit . The third part is practiced separately next and then combined with the first two, and so on until the skill is performed in its entirety.
Repetitive-Part method:
First part of the skill is practiced independently. Once a level of proficiency is obtained, the second is immediately added to it and the two parts are practiced together. The pattern continues until all parts have been integrated.
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15. Practice Methods: Whole vs. Part (cont.)
Which method you use depends on the nature of the skill and the nature of the learner.
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16. Practice Methods: Blocked vs. Random
Blocked Practice
All trials of a given task are completed before moving on to the next task
Random Practice
Trials for a given task are mixed with other tasks in a random order
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17. Practice Methods: Blocked vs. Random (cont.)
EXAMPLE:
Swimmers need to learn the four strokes in 2 weeks, or 8 practices.
BLOCKED
Practice each stroke for 2 sessions. Swimmers can concentrate on one stroke at a time without worrying about interference from the other strokes.
RANDOM
Practice all 4 strokes within each practice period but to do so in a random order so that the swimmers never practice the same stroke on two consecutive trials.
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18. Practice Methods: Blocked vs. Random (cont.)
Blocked practice better acquisition, but poorer long-term learning
Measured by transfer:
The application of practiced skill in a new situation
Contextual interference effect:
Making practice environment more difficult (AKA random practice) leads to better learning, though performance is depressed
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19. Practice Methods: Blocked vs. Random (cont.)
During the initial stage of skill acquisition, blocked practice conditions may be more beneficial
However, once the basics are acquired, contextual interference must be increased
Solution = Repeated blocked practice:
Combines the advantages of blocked and random
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20. Practice Methods: Constant vs. Variable Practice
Constant Conditions:
Maintaining constant environmental conditions so the player may put all of their focus on the task at hand
Variable Conditions:
Changing environmental variables in order to force the athletes to adapt to new demands
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21. Practice Methods: Constant vs. Variable Practice (cont.)
EXAMPLE: Practice fielding a ground ball and throwing to first base
CONSTANT
100 ground balls thrown by a pitching machine…constant velocity, same spot on the field, same bounce and roll characteristics; can master the fundamentals of fielding.
VARIABLE
100 ground balls hit by a batter…different bounce and roll characteristics, different spots on the field; forces player to move and adapt to the ever-changing demands.
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22. Improving Performance
Error Identification and Diagnosis
Analyzing the skill:
Compare athlete technique to correct technique
Determine the cause of the error(s)
Technique, physiological deficiencies, inaccurate/delayed decision making, drill design, psychological factors
Select which error to correct – only one at a time!
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23. Feedback as an Intervention Strategy
Shapes a learner’s efforts to achieve the task goal
Can reinforce a behavior
Provide information about the correctness of a performance attempt
Explain why an error occurred
Prescribe how to fix an error and motivate athletes to continue working towards their goals
Must consider the frequency, timing, amount, precision, and the learner’s task related experiences
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24. Feedback (cont.) Feedback frequency
Faded feedback: feedback is gradually reduced as the athletes’ skills increase
Bandwidth feedback: feedback only provided when athlete’s performance falls outside a range of acceptable error tolerance
Learner-regulated feedback: feedback only provided when the athlete requests it
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25. Feedback (cont.) Choose words carefully One correction at a time
Positive
Short and Simple
Matches the learner’s developmental level
Use specifics
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26. More Intervention Strategies
Manipulating Task and/or Practice Variables
Creates action possibilities that allow for the emergence of improved techniques and/or tactics by capitalizing on the process of guided discovery
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