Supporting player/athlete decision making Seánie McGrath

Outcomes Importance of involving player/athlete cognitively in their preparation & performance Tools for structuring deliberate practice Cognitive skills Decision training skills – focus on feedback UCC – Coaching the Coaches Forum – 30 June 2010 – Seánie McGrath MSc

Information Processing UCC – Coaching the Coaches Forum – 30 June 2010 – Seánie McGrath MSc

INFORMATION PROCESSING - SCHMIDT’s MODEL UCC – Coaching the Coaches Forum – 30 June 2010 – Seánie McGrath MSc STIMULUS this is the input from the environment / surroundings STIMULUS IDENTIFICATION refers to the reception and interpretation of sensory information RESPONSE SELECTION is responsible for decision making RESPONSE PROGRAMMING concerned with the sending of movement information via the nerves to the muscles OUTPUT is movement resulting from the process

UCC – Coaching the Coaches Forum – 30 June 2010 – Seánie McGrath MSc

An Applied Information Processing Model (Volleyball) UCC – Coaching the Coaches Forum – 30 June 2010 – Seánie McGrath MSc

Decision-Making Approach Athlete/Player centred coaching Empowers athlete/player to take responsibility for performance Enhances player education Enhances long-term performances UCC – Coaching the Coaches Forum – 30 June 2010 – Seánie McGrath MSc Requires high levels of coach preparation

MJ on Defence UCC – Coaching the Coaches Forum – 30 June 2010 – Seánie McGrath MSc

Cognitive Skills (Vickers, J:2007) Anticipation Awareness (attention) Focus & Concentration Pattern Recognition Problem solving Decision Making UCC – Coaching the Coaches Forum – 30 June 2010 – Seánie McGrath MSc

MJ on Offence UCC – Coaching the Coaches Forum – 30 June 2010 – Seánie McGrath MSc

Training for Decision Making Aim to Integrate the development of cognitive skills into technical/tactical and physiological training Step 1: - Identify an area for improvement, including the decisions that a player has to make (e.g. Support play in offence/defence) – highlight the decision dilemma. Step 2:- Design a drill/conditioned practice to simulate the actual game situation (also consider pairings/groupings/work to rest ratios etc) - Variable practice (multiple components) UCC – Coaching the Coaches Forum – 30 June 2010 – Seánie McGrath MSc

Training for Decision Making Step 3 : - Set out rationale for the practice - & provide cognitive cues for players Step 4 : - Run practice – allow for desired number of repetitions ( Use failure as an opportunity for learning ) Step 5 : - Feedback – Question players/athlete to analyse their performance and the outcomes following several repeats. Seek solutions for further improvement. Reserve coach feedback to situations where responses are outside acceptable limits; e.g. Misleading interpretations of tactics etc. (“bandwidth feedback”) UCC – Coaching the Coaches Forum – 30 June 2010 – Seánie McGrath MSc

Sample Set – Defensive/Offensive Task Aim - Develop offensive/defensive strategies No/Gro upW:RPhysicalTechnicalTactical 1 unopposed - take & drive/take & clear2/3 1:2/1:1/ 2:1R/Acc.Sp/AgPick/Kill/StrikeLow 21 V 1 opposed (conditioned + 3m)3/4 1:2/1:1/ 2:1 Sp/Ag/An ThreshSkill + evasion/tackle Low- Med 3 2 V 1 Opposed (back play out - forward play in)31::1Sp/AgSkill + Feign/supportMed 4 2 V 2 Opposed (backs play out - Forward play in)41::1 Sp/Ag/An Thresh Skill+support(screen /pick)Med UCC – Coaching the Coaches Forum – 30 June 2010 – Seánie McGrath MSc Expand – 4 v 3; 5 v 5; 7 v 7 etc – the more players the less opportunities for practice, but the greater the complexity of the situations and subsequent decisions that have to be made.

Ex. Decision-Making in Hurling UCC – Coaching the Coaches Forum – 30 June 2010 – Seánie McGrath MSc

Various types of feedback (Schmidt RA – 2009) Augmented- The coach provides “augmented feedback” either about the outcome or the quality of the action (video very useful in this regard) Summary- Provide feedback back after 5, 10 or 15 performances of a skill. To retain the skill after it is learned, summary feedback after 10 or 15 performances is beneficial type. Instantaneous- while this is the tendency for most coaches— this is the least beneficial. Continuous and Concurrent- this type of feedback is less effective for retention. Bandwidth- The coach establishes a high level and a low level of acceptable performances and makes comments only when the performance is on either side of the “bandwidth”. UCC – Coaching the Coaches Forum – 30 June 2010 – Seánie McGrath MSc

Outcomes? Importance of involving player/athlete cognitively in their preparation & performance Tools for structuring deliberate practice Cognitive skills Decision training skills – focus on feedback UCC – Coaching the Coaches Forum – 30 June 2010 – Seánie McGrath MSc