APPLIED COACHING RESEARCH JOURNAL 2021 , Vol . 7
their attention on amongst a range of information sources . Practice tasks should constantly help athletes to become strongly attuned to the different possibilities for action ( affordances ) in performance situations ( see Pacheco et al , 2019 ).
Further implications for training and coaching Now we move to the bottom half ( Part B ) of Figure 1 . A critical idea in an athlete-environment-centred coaching perspective , is understanding the coupling of environmental information and movements during practice and performance ( see central , red section in Part B of Figure 1 ). This is an important property for training designs , coaching interventions and the development of enduring athlete-coach relationships .
Additionally , we cover aspects that span across Part B in Figure 1 . On the left , three pedagogical principles for effective training designs are listed , whilst in the centre , coaches ’ roles are viewed as facilitators and moderators . Finally , on the right , athlete wayfinding , nonlinear learning and movement variability are listed . We explain each of these in the following sections .
Pedagogical principles for effective training designs
Designing effective training environments , as the main stimulus for learning , is important for athlete development . Practically applying theory to coaching practice , we discuss three methods for enriching training design / planning .
Constraint manipulations
Manipulating task constraints in training may be the most accessible and effective way of directing a learner to perceive and explore relevant information during performance . Particularly , understanding how to drive athletes to search for , discover and exploit information and action possibilities ( affordances ) to solve performance problems is key in training designs . Figure 2 shows three different constraints categories , originating from Newell ’ s ( 1985 , 1986 ) model of constraints on coordination : individual , task and environmental constraints ( Button et al , 2020 ; Davids et al , 2008 ).
Figure 2 : Three interacting constraint categories and examples to drive the coupling of information and movement ( Source : adapted from Davids et al , 2008 ).
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