Part of growing up is understanding that there's no such thing as as skill acquisition. Skill is not binary, it's not something you have or don't have. What improving a skill really entails is becoming more finely attuned to the affordances of yourself and your environment.

Traditionally/conventionally, the game is taught broken down into individual actions trained in isolation - not connected with team intentions - then put back together at the team level. By taking a complex dynamic systems approach, we see the game holistically/interconnected

What makes a good learning activity? Almost every activity impacts learning, but how much impact depends on how it’s designed. Here’s a simple framework I use to evaluate practice design after analysing 100s of sessions across 30+ sports: 🧵 #coaching #skillacquisition

Variability allows us to interact dynamically with our ever-changing environment. This is key in building adaptability in our athletes.

Skill is about adaptability. A functional fit between an athlete and their environment means that an athlete can adjust movements and decisions to match the ever-changing demands of their environment.

How do you stack the development deck in your favour? If you want to increase player development, you need to increase the probability of learning occurring That means designing environments that invite growth Here's a few ideas from work I did for an NBA team:

A huge part of playing the game is watching the game. Picking up details, nuances, tendencies. You can practice watching the game by watching games on TV.

Should healthy athletes ever fully shutdown from throwing? In my opinion, no. Removing 100% of a stressor only makes sense in the event of serious injury. Otherwise, it’s really only our top 20-30% of throwing intensity that generates any significant fatigue. So, in the

🚨 🆕 Finding the Edge Ep 61🎙📺 In this episode we delve into the process vs results dichotomy. We discuss the importance of a principled-based approach, developing adaptable athletes, pitch calling strategies, & effective practice design. 🎙️📺 🔗 shorturl.at/M7dPr

The constraints led approach isn’t about leading the athlete to the movement you want. It helps shape the information the athlete is connecting to, creating powerful information-movement couplings that channel the movement behavior that emerges. When you use constraints to try

It’s almost like our youth have prepared in environments where they are mostly unopposed. 🤔 researchgate.net/publication/38…

The next time you are thinking about pitching mechanics, make sure the scale of analysis is the performer-ENVIRONMENT relationship. #widenyourgaze

Hitting 20mph flips and talking about how to hit velocity isn't actually going to help you perceive and act against actual velocity better If you want to hit velo better, you need to hit velo

How about that breaking ball you’re going to see in game? Is flips or traditional FB only BP going get you ready to hit a pitcher with 2+ different pitches? What if he can throw multiple pitches for a strike? It’s like studying for 1 question on a test thinking that will go well

Your practice environment should invite this swing solution

Hitters should eliminate pitches: 3 Questions to think about 1. What pitch is he throwing for a strike? 2. What pitch is he struggling to locate? 3. What pitch is he getting outs with? Simplify hitting as much as you can.

Passionate, intrinsically rewarding practice is the key to real athletic development. No matter what the sport. Coaching that focuses on rote repetition, extrinsic reward, and highly specific technical models of a skill does not work. These approaches overload an athlete

Is the movement solution meeting the problem at hand? Don't get so focused on the movements themselves that you forget to ask what context it is currently being performed in. What is the problem they need to solve? Does this movement solution solve said problem?

Technique isn't something to be perfected, but something to help become adaptable. "Practice does not consist in repeating the means of a solution of a motor problem time after time, but in the process of solving this problem again and again by techniques which we changed and