Effective practice design
How to develop a decision-maker
- Martin Dean
- 03 January 2020
Martin Dean, lead Youth Development Phase coach at Reading FC, provides a detailed insight into decision-making in football and how coaches can help develop the next generation of decision-makers.
Analysis increasingly provides evidence that the essence of the modern game is speed. Players run more, the ball is circulating quicker, and decisions need to be made more rapidly than ever before. With players at the highest levels often in possession of the ball for an average of less than one second per contact, decision-making is crucial.
So, what is ‘decision-making’? What role can a coach play in developing it? And how can certain practice experiences help?
Decision-making has been broadly referred to as the art of choosing a particular technique, action, or tactic which is of benefit to the team. So, when we see players successfully score, stop or create a goal, what is it that enables them to do this? If top players actually ‘make the best decisions most often’ (as was articulated by an ex-top player and highly successful ex-youth developer), what underpins these decisions that complementary actions so often follow?
Fitts & Posners (1967) theory of skill development - which has stood the test of time - suggests these players have reached skill levels that might be described as ‘autonomous’ or automatic (without conscious thought or attention), maybe even transcendental and 6th sense like at times. Improvement arises through ‘dipping’ into the previous skill development stage known as the ‘associative’ (linking component parts and using feedback to perfect skill/s).
What does this all mean?It suggests that somewhere along the way, these players arrived at a stage where their senses, amongst other things, began to detect and decode meaning attached to patterns quickly and accurately - which would enable them to do things differently from the majority of the player population. Research suggests (Baker et al. 2003) the very best players are more capable in relation to:
- multi-tasking
- automaticity
- anticipation and recognising patterns
- recalling patterns
- retrieval of critical information related to the task/situation
- decision-making skills
- knowledge of appropriate tactics and procedures
- superior movement adaptability and execution skills.
It’s these skills that contribute to quick, accurate functioning and interaction of perceptual and motor streams (brain and nervous system functions).
There are many players who have sound technical ability (motor) but don’t see what others see regarding putting their team in a position of advantage from their action. Likewise, there are many players who show that they possess the perceptual capability for decision-making but do not possess the appropriate technique or quick enough reactions to turn this into a benefit for their team. These players are harder to judge.
What sets the best out from the rest depends on the two streams, perceptual and motor, aligning instantly and accurately. This is even more important at the top levels of the game where due to similar physiological capabilities, decision-making becomes increasingly more important (Reilly & Williams, 2000).
How can a coach help players acquire the necessary ingredients for advanced decision-making?Coaches should challenge and stretch players perceptual development, alongside the grooving of motor (technical) skills. This is appropriate for players beyond the age/stage of approximately ten/eleven years of age when Ross (1976) found that the brain is more capable of utilising information. Before this, it has been suggested that windows of opportunity should be predominantly filled with other development aspects. Nevertheless, we must not overlook the fact that elite players even as young as eight years old have been separated from novices on the basis of perceptual and cognitive skills (Ward & Williams, 2003), indicating that factors in addition to age should be considered.
How does the coach ensure the perceptual stream is stretched and challenged?Feedback and practice design, as two of the most important aspects of a coach’s role, lead to appropriate stimulation.
Summary, bandwidth and descriptive feedback are thought to be three types (Williams and Hodges, 2005) of feedback most beneficial to long-term memory learning and therefore the development of decision-making. These approaches allow for the practice to flow, replicating the levels of responsibility for decision-making that players experience during match-play.
How much instruction should be given?Every situation is different and the younger the player the more feedback may be needed. High instruction might bring about an improvement in short-term performance, but not necessarily lead to long-term retention of learning. In turn, a problem-solving approach that gives ownership, autonomy and responsibility to the player may not have a significant impact on short-term performance but will increase the likelihood of long-term retention – of both learning and motivation. (Williams and Hodges, 2005).
Are certain styles of questioning more beneficial than others?Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956) - revised in 2001 by Anderson & Krathwhol may help as a guide with this; as the old adage says: ‘if you want good answers, you’d better ask good questions’. Knowing what level of learning each of your players is at, as well as their preferred learning styles, can help the formulation of appropriate questions. Framing these questions within a summary, bandwidth and/or descriptive feedback approach as well as a question and answer style of feedback, might produce an effective tool for encouraging decision-making in action. This approach can stimulate the development of the knowledge and retrieval structures of the brain and nervous system.
What type of practice activity can optimise learning and retention of decision-making?
Assuming that the necessary level of technical ability has been acquired and the players are at a certain mental stage of development, it has been widely documented (see Williams and Hodges, 2005) how important random and variable practice is as opposed to blocked and constant practice methods, regarding the development of skill acquisition. This is based on the increased level of interference and the level of cognitive (mental) simulation (similarity to match-play) thought to be involved. On this subject, playing form activities (Ford et al., 2010) are seen to be of more value than those that come under the category – training form.
A recent study (Ford et al. 2010), focusing on academy football, found that only 35% of ‘playing form’ activities were being delivered, suggesting that this form of practice may be under-represented in England. It may be that orderly, highly structured and even cosmetic practice sessions are the preferred choice at academy level (thought to enhance technique in isolation, short-term performance and motor skills), rather than disorderly, unstructured, genuine, challenging, problem-solving practices (activities thought to best enhance perceptual and cognitive skills, decision-making and tactical expertise). This may indicate a predominantly ‘coach dependence’ culture rather than one of ‘autonomy’ and ought to be carefully considered, if future generations of home-grown performers are to become more sophisticated decision-makers and tactical experts.
Recommendations: 1) Design age-appropriate practice problems based on characteristics that advanced decision-makers evidence on the highest stages.
2) The coach acting as the ‘supplement’/ ‘conductor’/ ‘orchestrator’/ expert communicator in ‘playing form’ practices, with match play as the ultimate test of learning and development.
Of course, all this sounds easy, but as always, the artistic detail lies in the moment.
This article was first published in The Boot Room magazine in August 2011.
