Blocked practice -
All the trails of a
given task must be completed before moving on to the next task. This can make
for acquisition performances, but hinder long term development.
Variable
practice – This is very much similar to
blocked practice with a few additions of the coach’s choice. In our session we decided to use kicking the ball
with the weaker foot for our variation. Once the players were comfortable, we
then game the freedom of choice to kick with either foot!
Random
practice - Practice in random order can lead to better learning
(two possible mechanisms).
Athletes have to use more elaborate processing
strategies to keep the task distinct. There may be some forgetting of the “solution” to the task. Thus athlete must go
through more solution generations with random practice.
For our
session we chose to look at developing passing in football. The aim of the
session was to develop passing, by using all 3 types of practice, in any order
we preferred. The order would depend on a number of things; skill or technique
being developed, age, level/ability of participants. For example, we wouldn't
use blocked practice with elite footballers, however we would with young
children (e.g. age 5-8). The same reason we would start with variable/blocked
practice with younger children.
Our
blocked practice was passing the ball into a marked zone against a wall. We
gave coaching points which are vital when starting so basic. The coaching
points were;
•
Non-kicking
foot position (plated and pointing in the desired direction to pass -standing
foot)
•
Part
of foot used to pass the ball (Inside of the foot - kicking foot)
•
Which
part of the ball is kicked (centre - to avoid scuffing or chipping the pass)
•
Weight
of the pass (Not too little - Not too much)
For
the variable practice we looked paired up the participants and put them over a
distance of 10 yards. The objectives was to simply pass the ball between them.
We also made the introduction if using the weaker foot. Again we enforced
coaching points, with it being very much similar to the blocked practice except
this time your passing to a player, the coaching points very much the same with
a few additions which were;
•
Control
of the ball (Using the should of the foot "trap" the ball or the
inside of the foot to "coushin" the ball)
The
final part was the random practice, for this we introduced a defender into the
equation. The defender wasn't to tackle the player or intercept the pass but
the defender was there to apply a little bit of pressure and make the player
making the pass think about it a little more. They had to think how to get the
ball to his team mate with a defender in the way. This meant that the way in
which they passed would changed significantly.
The
key coaching point for this was where they passed and they way they passed it.
Again looking at another coaching point from the first practice, "weight
of pass", was going to be vital here. Even though the defender couldn't
intercept, in a game situation, a pass with not enough weight will be
intercept, the same goes for an overhit pass will be harder to control, so it
was important in this practice they focused on that coaching point more than
anything.
The
reason for using Varied/Random practices as opposed to repetitive Blocked
practice, is that it allows players to challenge themselves by throwing little
challenges/obstacles into the session. You could even get a players input,
asking them ways they think it could be harder and more challenging, and then
introducing those ideas in the session.
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