Skill learning in sports: How to practice, how to coach?

Isabel Mesquita, Professor at Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, Portugal

Isabel Mesquita, PhD, is Full Professor at Faculty of Sport, University of Porto. She is member of Centre of Research, Education, Innovation, and Intervention in Sport (CIFI2D) and responsible for the field of Sport, Education and Culture. She is member of scientific committee of Doctoral Course of Sport Sciences in FADEUP and coordinator of Sport pedagogy and Volleyball departments. Her research interests in the area of Sports Sciences are mainly related to the topic of Teaching Models, Teacher Education, Sports Coaching and Coach Education. She was member of Portuguese commission of Sports Coaching Education between 2008 and 2018. She was coordinator of the current Portuguese manuals for coaching education between 2018 and 2022 and author of Sport Pedagogy and Sport Coaching contents.

Summary of presentation: Towards a collaborative approach in coaching education between sportive and academic systems: the case of Portugal.

The actual moment is particularly pertinent for the improvement of the knowledge in the coaching educational field as it conjugates the fact that sport acquires a plural sense, the increase of the coaches’ qualifications and the growing research interest in this domain. Hence, is mandatory the implementation of participatory work approaches between sportive and academic systems, a process that could transform old receipts and dogmas in more flexible and appropriated principles and concepts, much more aligned with the dynamic, complex and ambiguous nature of sports coaching. Recently, this assumption was considered in Portugal, from the recognition of the academic system as an official coaching education agency due to the following reasons: (i) the universities, which includes on their graduation and master programs the subjects aligned with the national sportive curriculum, are certificated to be formal agencies of coach education; (ii) A dynamic and collaborative process have been implemented between both systems, since the new curriculum was constructed from the ideas of coaches and academics, towards a participatory work approach of coach education; (iii) The research accomplished in academic systems have been deeply recognized to guide the revitalization of the coach education in the country.

Jia Yi Chow, Associate Professor, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Jia Yi Chow graduated from the School of Physical Education (SPE) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) with Honors and is a teacher by profession. He taught in a Singapore school before returning to Physical Education and Sports Science (PESS) Academic Group as a lecturer. Jia Yi undertook further postgraduate study and obtained his PhD in the area of Motor Control and Learning with the University of Otago, New Zealand. His research interests include examining multi-articular coordination from an Ecological Dynamics perspective, visual perception in sports expertise and in a pedagogical approach (Nonlinear Pedagogy) that encourages exploratory learning and adaptation. He is currently on the Editorial Board for International Journal of Sport Psychology, Sports Medicine (Open), Asian Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, Journal of Expertise and an executive member of the Australasian Skill Acquisition Network (ASAN).

At present, Jia Yi is the Associate Dean, Programme and Student Development, with the Office of Teacher Education (OTE). For his excellence in teaching, Jia Yi was awarded the Nanyang Education Award (College) and inducted as a Fellow to the NTU Teaching Excellence Academy in 2018. He was also awarded the Nanyang Education Award (University, Gold Medal) and was accorded the NTU Educator of the Year in 2019. Jia Yi is currently the NTU Teaching Excellence Committee Chair.

Summary of presentation: Transforming Practice through Nonlinear Pedagogy: A focus on exploration and adaptability.

Nonlinear Pedagogy focuses on encouraging exploratory learning and an emphasis on acquiring individualized movement behaviours. In this sharing, the discussion centers around how practices can be transformed through the adoption of design principles in Nonlinear Pedagogy. Would it be possible to increase the proportion of ‘nonlinearity’ in our practice sessions? And if so, how can this be done? Implications on the use of a learning and evaluation tool to examine nonlinearity in practices will also be discussed in this sharing.

Ana Ramos, Lecturer at Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, Portugal

Ana Ramos, PhD, is Lecturer at Faculty of Sport, University of Porto and member of Centre of Research, Education, Innovation, and Intervention in Sport (CIFI2D). Within the area of Sports Sciences, her research interests are related to the topic of Sports Training, Sports Pedagogy, Didactics, Learning, Action-Research, and Long-term Athlete Development. Specifically, her research program conducted over PhD sought to examine the influence of combining an ecological and constructivist approaches, using an insider action-research design where the researcher assumed the dual role of coach-researcher, on the development of youth sport performance (i.e., tactical knowledge and tactical behavior). Currently, she is dedicated to examining the training and development of novice sport coaches.

Summary of presentation: Could practice benefit from implementing constructivist and ecological approaches? Insights of an insider action-research project.

To step further into a full and extended comprehension about the development of sport performance in youth volleyball players, the interplay of information between training and competition must be guaranteed. To this end, it is vital that the training approaches adopted do not only consider the ecology of the learning context, namely players-environment-task interaction (Constraint-led approach), but also didactical content specific to each sport (Step-game approach; volleyball). Moreover, to monitor how the training process is effectively shaping competitive performance, it is necessary (i) a continual and close monitoring of the pedagogical coaching-learning process (based on Action-research design), and (ii) that the performance indicators assessed in competition continue to be linked to the representativeness of practice so that the ecology between competitive performance preparation (training process) and performance in competition (product perspective) can be ensured. Thereby, using an insider AR-design (the coach played the double role of coach and researcher) implemented across a competitive volleyball season, this research project intended to examine the influence of combining ecological and constructivist approaches on the development of sport performance (i.e., tactical knowledge and tactical behavior) in female youth players.