Traditionally, coaches thought of skill acquisition as a structured process with tried and tested ways of developing an athlete. But a non-linear approach has become more prevalent across a range of sports, using game-based activities to allow athletes to learn from their environment. UK Coaching 2024 Community Coach of the Year Award winner Hannah Vines, from Dorney BC, explains more.
Applying the concept of game-based skill acquisition to rowing can sound like it’s all fun and splashing around. And that’s what the rowers may experience. However, there is a great deal of academic support for it as a successful way of developing well-rounded athletes who can think for themselves.
Understanding the theory
A key concept is that of the ‘constraint-led approach’, which means creating practice and game situations that enhance skill acquisition. This involves three key constraints: environmental (for example, weather conditions, socio-cultural norms and expectations), individual (such as flexibility or motivation), and task (such as equipment and rules).
Another concept is that of ‘ecological dynamics’, which refers to how athletes interact with their whole environment when participating in a sport. This environment is always changing, so an important aspect of skill acquisition is developing athletes’ ability to read these changes. This is known as attunement. It’s often described as not just knowing where to look, but what to look for.
As coaches, could we need to find ways for our athletes to learn what cues to look for so they have confidence to execute the actions needed for the given environment. Opportunities to take these actions are referred to as affordances. These are the interaction between objects (such as blades) and their use (how to reposition the boat).
What this looks like on the water
Think about the times you’ve seen crews turn too early/late, or too wide/tight around a buoy. This was probably because they hadn’t calculated the impact of wind or stream on the boat. The result can be coaches or race officials shouting instructions at them. This can leave the athletes feeling bewildered, stressed or incompetent, and at the very least no longer in control.
Yet these same crews have often learned how to manoeuvre the boat competently in training. The missing link in their development when they struggle to do the same thing in a race environment is that they haven’t been able to attune to the unfamiliar location and opportunities for action (affordances) when an umpire asks them to complete a task.
How hard should these games be?
When designing game-based tasks to develop skills, make sure that you challenge your athletes appropriately. An easy way to view this is whether they are in comfort, stretch or panic. When posing a challenge, each athlete will compare their own ability with what they perceive is required to complete the task.
‘Stretch’ is the sweet spot where a challenge is difficult but doable.
Their behaviour will show you how these match up. An athlete in ‘panic’ may well step back and wait for others to have a go. Their reaction could also be more extreme with a lot of emotions being expressed – normally quite negative.
‘Comfort’ is making a task too easy for the athlete. This again can come across in their behaviour as disruptive or not paying attention. ‘Stretch is the sweet spot where a challenge is difficult but doable.
A regular sight at Dorney Lake are our large, yellow plastic ducks. These are used as objectives – athletes need to work out how to manoeuvre towards them and collect them as part of a relay.
Monitoring how athletes are finding the challenge is important. Assessing whether they are finding it too easy (comfort) or too hard (panic) allows the coach to intervene and give some advice or guide through discovery where they may be struggling.
Allowing our athletes to attune to the environment and to their own ability gives them confidence not only to develop but also to share with their peers. This can be really helpful because as coaches we can get stuck in explaining a task in the same way. Using other athletes to help coach can also uncover young leaders within the group.
Ultimately we are looking for our athletes to develop their perception of the environment and select an appropriate action to execute that deals with these factors in order to complete the task. This is known as Perception-Action Coupling, and the duck collection relay game helps to develop this.
Coaching tips for game-based skill acquisition sessions
Tip 1: Consider the language you use.
You might want to rename exercises as challenges – for example, reframing ‘the rigger dips exercise’ to the ’10 rigger dips challenge’.
Tip 2: Pose questions about the environment instead of telling.
As we want our athletes to be able to attune to the environment, ask them questions that draw their attention to the environment rather than instruct them on the actions you want them to complete.
Tip 3: Make sure you’re comfortable with the approach.
Whatever a coach’s approach to developing the skill of their athlete it must sit within their own coaching philosophy. Otherwise being able to explain and engage with the development of an athlete can cause internal conflict.
Conclusion
Coaches should consider themselves as problem setters. Their role is to develop tasks and challenges to help athletes to make the link between their own decisions, movement and the environment. Adopting a games-based approach doesn’t mean you need to fill every session with games and yellow plastic ducks (although they are a regular feature). A good starting point may just be to add games as part of the warm up in a land session.
