TPM #264: What If How We Taught Skill Acquisition Was Wrong?
Skill development through mechanical metrics only may be coming at the expense of what drives consistent sport performance.
Welcome to TPM #264 , and this week we challenge commonly held practice of repetitive mechanical drills making up the majority of the sports skill development.
In 2012, Dr. Harald S. Harung at Oslo (Norway) and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences carried out a number of studies examining the functioning of brains of top performers across multiple disciplines (sports, arts and variety of professions) and compared them to average performers. These studies revealed that the brains of top performers function in a way that makes them have peak experiences.
These experiences are characterized by happiness, inner calm, maximum wakefulness, effortlessness and ease of functioning, absence of fear, transcendence of ordinary time and space, and a sense of perfection and even invincibility.
The research also revealed that Norwegian athletes who medaled in the Olympics go to a different place in their brain than other athletes. These athletes who master the brain side, are not necessarily the most gifted or talented, but perform better in competitive situations.
"What we have found, is an astonishing integration of brain functioning in high performers compared to average-performing controls," Dr. Harung states about the results of the research.
This supports a brain-based approach to sport performance that requires more attention in the development of our youth.
Pick a sport of choice, any sport. When our young athlete practices their skills on the field, court or ice they do so with little expectation other than to repeat the skill and look for improvement. From skating to hitting a ball, dribbling and shooting a basketball and soccer ball to passing etc. These are mechanical skills developed traditionally through repetition.
Pitchers in baseball spend tons of time on the mechanics of accurately throwing a ball. How much time is spent on dealing with the distractions that come up in a competitive situation? The opposing team chirping, the coaches yelling instructions, the baserunner dancing off the base, the pressure of having the winning run on 3rd base or having to throw a strike.
Hockey players spend tons of time working on skating, shooting, passing, stick handling, receiving a pass in getting better. How much time is spent on decision making, ignoring the yelling from the coach and other team and focusing on the result?
Many of our athletes take their skills to a competitive environment and will struggle. The result will not match expectation. What happens then? Disappointment, frustration, and self-doubt starts to creep in. Fun goes out the window.
The tendency is to go back to mechanical skills and ignore the role of the brain in performance. The Norwegian studies tell us that the answer may lie in the inner attributes of a top performer’s brain.
This is not to discredit the importance of developing the physical skill. Strong fundamentals physically must be practiced. The athlete must have the capacity to meet the demands of the game. What we are referring to here, is athletes who have similar skills to others and perform at a higher level than others , why?
We documented one coach who practices this brain-based approach in 2021. Doug McKeen specializes in helping young athletes clear their mind, increase focus and concentrate on tracking ball flight as keys to success in hitting in baseball. (A copy of our article with Coach Doug is below).
I have witnessed this with my own son, who has been a student of Coach Doug since 2019. More on that experience in coming weeks, but suffice it to say it opened my eyes to how we are teaching skills and more importantly, what we are NOT teaching.
In baseball, like many sports today, the main focus of coaching and evaluating are the mechanics because that is what we see. Exit velocity and launch angles are measured as keys to success in hitting at the highest levels. So youth coaches mimic this and work on swinging hard and making sure the ball leaves at maximum speed. A higher speed from player A means they are a better hitter than player B. What we don’t see is the mental side of the skill. In the case of hitting a baseball this is the tracking of the baseball from the pitchers hand to the bat. To be able to consistently hit the ball with the barrel of the bat. For that to happen, the hitter must be able to focus exclusively on the ball. No distractions.
Teaching our youth how to calm their mind, to block out anything other than focusing on the ball flight may sound simple, but it is not easy. When you add the expectation of getting a hit to the fray, and the situation of the game …well , you get the idea.
Simple not easy.
Are there drills that can help with brain based approach? Yes, there are. This is what Coaches like Doug McKeen do. They help young hitters from youth level to pro, learn how to take their mind to a different place so they can perform well in any situation.
The result ? Consistency hitting the ball with the barrel of the bat. A very difficult skill to teach with a mechanic only approach.
This is exactly what the Norwegian research found : top performers go to a different place in their brain when they need to. Many athletes would refer this to being in the “zone”. Using our baseball example, hitters describe it as the ball being very big as it approaches the hitter.
Personally, I find this approach fascinating.
As parents and coaches we want our young athletes to have positive experiences and have fun playing the sport they are interested in. Seeing them struggle kills us.
What if we had a way to help them perform consistently?
Are you ok with it taking a different approach?
