Chris Turner

Most highly skilled athletes spent a lot of time playing in unstructured environments. In these environments there is a playfulness present . The players aren't afraid to take risks & explore different solutions. We need to find ways to channel this during practice too

Loved this from the legendary Arsene Wenger. Really captures the importance of having to make decisions in practice tasks 🔥 “No, no, I would say it's quality of education. What has dropped in recent generations is that of course park football has disappeared and now the trend in some academies is to recreate again what happened before. The game itself is a good coach. “Why? Because, if I play in the park, I have to make decisions. If I’m shrewd enough to think why did that not come off, and have a right assessment, the next time I am in the same situation I am correct. We have lost that a little bit. And maybe today we are overcoaching a little bit sometimes, and we lose a bit that freedom, that creativity, that individual personalised training that happened before.” Arsene Wenger (@MiguelDelaney) independent.co.uk/sport/foot…

Coaches can use constraint manipulations to create practice activities that help athletes learn and develop their skills more effectively. By changing the rules, equipment, or space in which athletes play, coaches can make practice activities more like the real game.

The role of a coach can be viewed as a learning environment designer. They should create information-rich surroundings, encourage exploration by manipulating constraints, and ask athletes questions rather than giving orders.