An interesting site to subscibe to by the way....
Could be a disguised ad for Xeno!!
Teaching Movement Patterns
by Will Haskell
When I was a young athlete I always remembered hearing coaches say “this game is 90% mental and 10% physical”. The obvious question that has to be asked is why are our training programs simply designed to improve our bodies? As a college athlete our typical day consisted of practice followed by weight training and agility work. The only mental aspect really gained from the experience was attempting to study every night after each grueling workout. If sports are really 90% mental the logical course of action is for trainers to consider the mind when developing a training program. Every developing athlete develops a motor program that is a mental plan or model of what a skill movement should be like. Teaching a skill like acceleration will create an “acceleration” motor program that carries over and will be applied regardless of the situation. If we change the surface from natural grass to turf or if the situation changes from getting to a ground ball or driving to the basket for a lay-up, the acceleration motor program still exists and can still be carried out. These are six points that can be incorporated into a mental training program that will help athletes develop and perform correct motor programs.
1. Observe and imitate a skilled model. Imitation provides a good mental picture of a skill. As a trainer it is very important to show the movement first so the athlete can gain a mental representation of what the skill should look like. It is always a good idea for young athletes that carry similar traits to pick an athlete that has mastered a skill or a professional athlete to model themselves after. Just make sure that the athlete they are modeling is a good representation of there own physical characteristics. It wouldn’t be a good idea for an athlete who is five feet tall to model the way a seven-foot tall athlete moves and plays the game.
2. Introduce verbal rules to back up motor learning when the motor skill is first being presented to an athlete. When an athlete is learning to accelerate, have the athlete say something like PUNCH! PUNCH! PUNCH! It can help an athlete that is having trouble accelerating to remember to “punch” and drive the knees to create force back into the ground.
3. Make practice as lifelike as possible. Sports are random in nature so the drills incorporated into a movement program should also be random. The athlete will learn to receive the random stimuli, interpret the stimuli, and then react accordingly making athletes more receptive and improve reaction time when they encounter similar stimuli during games.
4. Make sure the athlete is receiving feedback. A mirror, videotape, or even the trainer can visually show where the athlete is making mistakes so they can be corrected. If skills aren’t corrected they will be repeated and become technically poor motor programs that are detrimental to performance.
5. Whenever possible, have the athlete practice natural units before breaking the task into artificial parts. When developing acceleration it is better to make an athlete perform acceleration than breaking down each aspect of acceleration and making them perform each component separately. Only in cases of poor technique should a trainer break down a drill to teach proper form. In the case of acceleration, an athlete that fails to drive the knees adequately can be drilled to improve technique. Drills can be simplified to correct knee drive but should also incorporate other components of acceleration (dorsi-flexed toe, hands passing behind the hips).
6. Athletes must learn to analyze their own performance. When an athlete performs a skill incorrectly they must be able to recognize the mistake. As a trainer, when an athlete makes a technical mistake ask them, “what did you do wrong?” A simple question like that will help the athlete recognize and correct errors so when they aren’t under a trainers supervision they can make adjustments to stay technically sound.
As an athletic development specialist I’ve found these techniques can make better athletes by incorporating cognitive functions of the mind to help develop the body. Give these techniques a try you’ll be amazed in how much better your athletes will perform.
Will Haskell Sport Performance Director Sirius Sport Performance 518.743.0162 HoopDreams51@aol.com
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