Reference for paper

Rudd, J. R., Pesce, C., Strafford, B. W., & Davids, K. (2020). Physical literacy-A journey of individual enrichment: An ecological dynamics rationale for enhancing performance and physical activity in all. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 1904.

🚀 Article in 3 Sentences

1. Discusses how an Ecological Dynamics Rationale that focuses on ‘enrichment’ can support the development of functional movement that will enable lifelong participation in physical activity.
2. Two learner centred frameworks NLP and the ASM are introduced. These frameworks appreciate the non-linearity in learning and emphasise the importance of enrichment experiences for learners at all stages
3. The final part of the paper looks at the concept of ‘donor’ sports and gives examples of how to measure physical literacy from an Ecological Dynamics rationale

🤝Impressions

Really enjoyed reading this paper. The ASM is a topic that is definitely worth exploring. The concept of Donor sports is something that I need to look into a bit more.

👨‍🏫Who should read this?

Everybody involved in coaching or teaching should read it. It’s more important for people working with youth athletes but the concepts are applicable at all stages of development.

🎾How Article will influence my coaching

• Practice design needs to be coherent, innovative and challenging in order to get the learners to explore specific patterns of behaviour which will enhance their ability to solve movement problems more effectively.-The importance of planning and adapting activities is really important and also requires innovation from learning designers(coaches). What really important for me is that I’m very flexible with my planning. While there may be an overarching intention that is going to act as a ‘constraint’ I need to be open and creative within this so that the practice tasks will encourage the learner’s to explore movement solutions and problem solve.
• The ASM model emphasises the importance of using a variety of sports, known as donor sports, to enhance the performance of learners. This approach enriches their experience by exposing them to a wide range of activities.-The use of Donor Sports in development is really important as it can expose the learner’s to a wide range of activities. I also like to think of creating ‘donor activities’ as well. These are activities within the target sport which are adaptations of the actual game. I think these are useful because they can provide similar benefits as Donor Sports without the need for completely different equipment.
• The relevant athletic skills can be donated through an affordance landscape that are shared between the target sport and the ‘donor’ sport-This is a crucial point around the real purpose of using Donor Sports. By using ‘Donor Sports’ the learner’s are still getting exposed to similar affordance landscapes while developing the relevant athletic skills.
• Enrichment involves the design of a rich and varied range of experiences for the learners that will require them to adapt their movement behaviours. These experiences can range from ‘general’ to more ‘specific’ activities.-Enrichment means creating diverse and stimulating experiences that push learners to adapt their movement behaviours. The difference between general and specific activities here relates to both the amount of perceptual ‘information’ present and the range of movement solutions that could be used. You can think of this as a continuum. In the general end we would usually see ‘Donor Sports’ and at the specific end of the continuum we’d see highly representative tasks. When then surf along the continuum depending on the needs of the players.
• Enrichment can be understood as an ‘embedded approach’ to learning. It places emphasis on giving learners to opportunities to explore different solutions to achieve task goals in rich and varying environments.-Enrichment is essentially an 'integrated approach' to learning, stressing the importance of allowing learners to discover various solutions to achieve their objectives in dynamic and diverse environments. If you are a regular reader of the newsletter you may recall the Motor Development: Embodied, Embedded, Enculturated, and Enabling paper that I reviewed in December. The embedded ideas fit in nicely here I think where they discuss how no movement will ever be able to be repeated in the same way as the bodies, environment and task are in continual flux. So ‘enrichment’ really focuses on how we can develop the learner’s ability to adapt to the everchanging problems they will have to solve.

📃Takeaways for coaches

• Learning movement skills is about enhancing the learners perceptual regulation-they are more sensitive to the specifying information in the environment. See ‘what exactly is acquired during skill acquisition paper’ and ‘Direct Learning’
• Learning and practice gives lots of chance to search for functional performance solutions that are unique to each individual
• Constraint manipulation is very important to provide boundaries within learners can explore. There should be a focus on simplifying the tasks, making it easier while making sure that they key information is still present