Skill Training Periodization in “Specialist” Sports Coaching—An Introduction of the “PoST” Framework for Skill Development

                                                    Photo by Rhett Lewis on Unsplash

🚀 Article in 3 Sentences

1. Discusses some of the theory behind the CLA and some of the challenges facing specialist sports coaches when planning for skill development
2. Introduces the Periodisation of Skill Training Framework and describes the different aspects of the ‘PoST’ Framework
3. Explains how the PoST can be applied over both micro and macro cycles as well as the implications for single session planning

🤝Impressions

Enjoyed reading this article and planning for Skill Development is something that I do really need to focus on more to improve my own coaching.

👨‍🏫Who should read this?

This article is more suited for people that have a good knowledge of the CLA and have been applying it in their coaching.

🎾How Article will influence my coaching

• Identifying the relevant skill training stage for the player is really important.
• Moving athletes between the different stages in practice is important
• By planning I can identify weeks that will provide better opportunities to work on skill development.
• I’m going to try plan my own macro-cycle and be more aware of what stages the athletes are in during the course of a session.

📃Takeaways for coaches

• The CLA is underpinned by NLP pedagogy and the mutual relationship between the performer and the environment
• The performance environment provides constantly changing constraints on the performer meaning that no two situations will ever be identical.
• Affordances are opportunities for action and behavior, which act as information for motor executions and decision making in sport
• The CLA gives a theoretical perspective which frames the coach as a learning designer responsible for manipulating the learning environment to meet the needs of the athletes
• The coach needs to be able to design in appropriate affordances within representative ‘enough’ training
• It’s very important that coaches intentionally adjust the task constraints to make the players have to adjust their movement patterns.
• Coaches need to manage the informational complexity of the task so that it’s in the challenge ‘sweet spot’
• Coaches need to be careful about how and when they are using specific training aids to support learning
• The coach needs to first identify the relevant skill training stage for the athlete
• Coaches can identify critical training weeks in advance when they use systematic planning

🥇Top Quotes

💡 Due to the ever-changing constraints on the performer, the CLA stresses two prevailing aspects (amongst others): (1) the athlete's ability to adapt and perform self-organized functional movement solutions in response to the emerging combination of task, environment, and individual constraints; and (2) the athletes' constant coupling of information and perception with movements and actions 

💡 Thus, the CLA provides a theoretical perspective, which can allow coaches to meet individual athlete's needs by manipulating the learning environment. 

💡 Particularly, it is paramount that coaches systematically manipulate task constraints (e.g., goal or ball sizes) in training to intentionally create situations that lead to a change in an athlete's coordination 

💡 Derived from the CLA perspective and in relation to model, the “PoST” framework displays three main skill training stages (i.e. “Coordination Training,” “Skill Adaptability Training,” and “Performance Training”). 

💡 In sum, while training games themselves drive learning, it is the coaches that further facilitate the training environment by manipulating task constraints (e.g., field size, rules, equipment) and by driving feedback processes through instructional strategies of questioning and guided discovery 

💡 By systematically planning skill training months in advance, “specialist coaches” have the opportunity to gain an early insight into critical training weeks for skill learning 

My Detailed Notes on the paper

Skill-Training-Periodization-in-Specialist-Sports-Coaching-An-Introduction-of-the-PoST-Framework

Link to full Paper

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An Introduction of the "PoST' Framework for Skill Development

Podcast Episodes

• Rob Gray- Periodisation of Skill Acquisition
  
• UK Coaching- Fabian Otte