tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/effective-coaching-31882/articleseffective coaching – The Conversation2015-09-04T10:35:16Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/469162015-09-04T10:35:16Z2015-09-04T10:35:16ZThe secret to a college football coach’s success<p>With the new college football season upon us, fans across the country are hoping their team could be the one crowned national champion on January 11 2016 in <a href="http://www.collegefootballplayoff.com/university-of-phoenix-stadium">Glendale, Arizona’s University of Phoenix Stadium</a>. Of course, who is ultimately successful will depend a lot on the talents of their players – and a healthy dose of luck. </p>
<p>Oh, and let’s not forget about the coach. </p>
<p>There are just a handful of coaches who have excelled at creating successful, sustainable programs over the course of many years. Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Mark Dantonio and Gary Patterson come to mind. </p>
<p>How do they do it?</p>
<p>While all have their specific plans, I believe the most successful coaches emphasize success beyond the playing field. That may sound like a cliché, but it has to be more than just a platitude. There has to be a system.</p>
<p>After all, the stakes are too high for colleges and universities to employ coaches that are not dialed into their players’ developmental needs. We need only recall the <a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaab--why-don-t-college-athletes-call-out-abusive-coaches--222535612.html?nf=1">recent scandal</a> involving former Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice, who was fired after administrators discovered a pattern of abusive behaviors displayed toward his student athletes.</p>
<p>Ultimately, it’s coaches who are closely attuned to their players’ social and emotional development that seem to have higher degrees of sustainable, on-field success. </p>
<h2>Rites of passage: turning boys into men</h2>
<p>In an <a href="http://journals.humankinetics.com/iscj-current-issue/iscj-volume-2-issue-3-september/turning-boys-into-men-the-incentive-based-system-in-urban-meyerrsquos-plan-to-win">article</a> for the International Sport Coaching Journal, I present a case study with Urban Meyer, coach of The Ohio State University Buckeyes. The hope is to show how his particular system bears striking resemblance to a modern-day rite of passage. </p>
<p>The literature on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rite_of_passage">rites of passage</a> (also known as rituals of initiation) identifies three main phases through which children become adults: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>it begins with a separation phase, one that marks the beginning movement out of the individual’s childhood status</p></li>
<li><p>next, the transformation phase involves a “betwixt and between” period of uncertainty, characterized by wavering back and forth from less mature to more mature behaviors </p></li>
<li><p>finally, the reincorporation phase represents the individual’s integration of the attitudes, values and behaviors required of prosocial adults.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>There is overwhelming acceptance of the historical importance of <a href="http://rope.org/">rites of passage</a>, especially in terms of their use to foster cohesiveness within social groups. </p>
<p>Additionally, the absence of separation, transformation and reincorporation experiences in contemporary society is thought to be <a href="http://ncsu.edu/ffci/publications/2007/v12-n2-2007-summer-fall/scheer.php">significantly related</a> to youth violence, drug and alcohol use, gang involvement, bullying and delinquency. </p>
<p>These dysfunctional behaviors are believed to be the misguided attempts of young people to create rites of passage for themselves, in the absence of mentors or positive influences.</p>
<h2>Urban Meyer: the quintessential coach</h2>
<p>Why choose Urban Meyer as a case study? </p>
<p>Well, I have to admit that ease of access plays a part for me, since we both work at the same university. But Meyer is a worthy subject. After fielding two national football championship teams at the University of Florida during the 2006 and 2008 seasons, he led the 2014 Ohio State University Buckeyes to the first-ever <a href="http://www.collegefootballplayoff.com/">College Football Playoff National Championship</a>. </p>
<p>Throughout his 13-year career as a head coach, his teams have won five conference championships and twice (2004 at Utah and 2012 at Ohio State) have registered undefeated seasons. It’s hard to argue with those kinds of triumphs on the field.</p>
<p>But I believe his efforts to create <em>off-the-field</em> success for his players are closely tied to his teams’ on-the-field accomplishments. </p>
<p>Underlying these efforts is what Urban Meyer has dubbed his “Plan to Win,” a competitiveness doctrine based on a set of core values for players that includes behavioral commandments (honesty, respect for women, no drugs, no stealing and no weapons) and a strong emphasis on classroom success.</p>
<h2>Color-coordinating a ‘Plan to Win’</h2>
<p>The key component of the Plan to Win is what he has named his Blue-Red-Gold (BRG) incentive system. Three color-coded stages – Blue, Red, and Gold – represent a ladder of privileges climbed by players as they display mature behavior both on the field and off. </p>
<p>As Meyer explained in a 2012 Columbus Dispatch <a href="http://buckeyextra.dispatch.com/content/stories/2012/03/11/gold-diggers.html">article</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Blue stands for child, which means ill-equipped, defiant, disinterested. So if you’re in blue, we don’t think very highly of you, and we make that very clear. And every freshman who comes into the program is blue, for example… Guys who are red get nicer gear. If they want to change numbers, if they want to get a visor, if they want to move off campus, the answer for them then is maybe. You get up to gold, you do what you’ve got to do because gold means you’re a grown man. We don’t tell you when to study, things like that. Gold means you deserve to be treated like a man.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The BRG system is a comprehensive player motivation method that contains a variety of inputs and outcomes. Meyer and his coaches closely monitor player adherence to academic demands and behavioral expectations across all status levels, with meaningful rewards bestowed for appropriate behavior – alongside swift consequences for infractions. </p>
<p>Transitions in status (up or down) are handled by the entire coaching staff, who meet as a group every week to discuss player progress and deliberate possible transitions. When the coaches decide to promote a player, an announcement is made to the entire team in the form of a “graduation ceremony” that recognizes the player’s newfound “status.”</p>
<h2>Transforming performance on – and off – the field</h2>
<p>The BRG incentive-based system mirrors the rites of passage conceptual framework discussed earlier. </p>
<p>Blue can be equated with the status of a young child and, as such, beginning movement out of this status parallels the “separation” component of the rite of passage. </p>
<p>In turn, red is equated with a middle stage, similar to the “betwixt and between” state of adolescence that is marked by a “transformative” stage of development. </p>
<p>Finally, gold status represents the adult stage of development and all of the privileges and responsibilities associated with this marker of full maturity.</p>
<p>Meyer’s BRG system is so successful because the expectations are clear about what it means to grow up in the eyes of the coaching staff, and the behaviors that players must enact in order to achieve that status are well-defined.</p>
<p>When everyone’s on the same page off the field, it makes it easier to work as a cohesive unit – and win – on the field.</p>
<h2>A recipe for success in sports – and all walks of life</h2>
<p>Simultaneously, there is an explicit recognition that coaches serve as powerful male role models for their players. </p>
<p>For example, Meyer regularly hosts Family Night dinners so that players are exposed to the coaches and how they act around their loved ones. </p>
<p>There is a more spiritual component to this work as well, with various community engagement activities centered on “setting the table” for players to understand the importance of living a life in service to things greater than themselves. </p>
<p>Coaches who use ceremonies to mark player transitions mine a tradition that honors and recognizes accomplishment. For generations, various forms of promotions and recognition have been used to inspire athletes, soldiers and students alike.</p>
<p>Simply put, it’s a formula that works, and these rituals and rewards carry great psychological meaning for individuals.</p>
<p>While the details of Meyer’s Plan to Win may be unique, I believe the overall aims and basic structure are shared by many of the most successful coaches. </p>
<p>Case studies of other highly successful men’s coaches bears this out. For example, Pete Carroll’s success at both the college and professional football levels has been <a href="http://www.multi-science.co.uk/sports-science&coaching.htm">discussed</a> as being based on factors related to self-knowledge, self-confidence and optimism. </p>
<p>The same can be said of coaches in high-performance women’s sports. Take, for example, legendary University of Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt, whose coaching style was <a href="http://journals.humankinetics.com/TSP">reported</a> to have involved high degrees of instructional behavior and praise offered to her players within a high-intensity environment.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Urbans-Way-Urban-Florida-Gators/dp/B005B1JPVI">2008 book</a>, Meyer stated his desire to remain in contact with his players long after graduation, noting that if they “become the best husbands and fathers they can be, then we have won at the game of life.” </p>
<p>By tapping into the deep historical traditions of “rites of passage,” coaches can help get the most out of their players, both on and off the field. And along the way, a lot of boys can be turned into fine, upstanding men.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46916/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen M. Gavazzi works for The Ohio State University</span></em></p>For coaches like Ohio State’s Urban Meyer, it’s not just about X’s and O’s.Stephen M Gavazzi, Professor, Human Development and Family Science & Dean/Director, Ohio State Mansfield Campus, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/385302015-06-10T10:17:40Z2015-06-10T10:17:40ZTo excel in youth sports, kids need couch time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84012/original/image-20150604-3387-ncq2s6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Does training relentlessly and regularly lead to greatness?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=143344159121521050000&search_tracking_id=eu_LRgBcADdY4V0kBpuO2w&searchterm=young%20athletes&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=282272846">"Nine" via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…</em></p>
<p>Charles Dickens could easily have been writing about the present state of sports. The speed, strength and explosiveness of the modern athlete is mind-blowing. </p>
<p>Accordingly, there’s a growing enthusiasm (and a huge market) for training, teaching and supporting young athletes. Elite sports performance and medicine services are available to all with a credit card, and if a family desires, a passionate and competent coach and advisor can be hired.</p>
<p>This may not be a good thing. Forget the popular (yet very real) concern that pushing a young athlete toward athletic excellence can lead to burnout, dropout and even mistreatment or abuse. </p>
<p>Surprisingly, research has shown that encouraging youth to achieve athletic excellence can also lead to young athletes <em>not</em> fulfilling their athletic potential. </p>
<h2>Out-of-balance bodies and minds</h2>
<p>Many are now familiar with <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=Ym0clGUAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">Anders Ericsson’s findings</a> that ten years or 10,000 hours of deliberate practice are key to achieving mastery. Likewise, Angela Duckworth’s <a href="https://sites.sas.upenn.edu/duckworth/pages/research">concept of “grit”</a> as a predictor of success in classroom settings has begun to seep into discussions outside of the walls of academia. </p>
<p>In both cases, the message is loud and clear: train relentlessly and regularly and greatness is within grasp. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, this is an example of society and sports being deaf to nuance.</p>
<p>Failure to understand Ericsson’s entire conception of deliberate practice can make much athletic striving time ill-spent. Even if one is fortunate enough to have found excellent coaches and a sufficient number of competitive opportunities, striving toward excellence requires regular rest. </p>
<p>Physical and mental breaks during practice sessions, throughout seasons, and over the course of the year are necessary for an athlete to rebuild and return to play stronger and stronger. In the realm of physical conditioning, <a href="http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2008/05000/Recovery_From_Training__A_Brief_Review__Brief.49.aspx">the science of recovery is well documented</a> and continues to be studied; in many regards, it’s seen as something that can be managed and monitored by teams of sport scientists. </p>
<p>In terms of mental rest in sport, the science is less robust, but its importance has been <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10413200290103473">noted in examination of elite athletes</a> for quite some time. Neuroscientist Vincent Walsh has been outspoken about the growing body of evidence showing mental breaks in our days are key to performance and creativity. </p>
<p>Failure to sufficiently recover from bouts of training can turn into <a href="http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/23247672">overtraining syndrome</a>, a state of physical and mental exhaustion that persists even after periods of rest. Poor performance and depressed mood states can be exhibited because the entire body has been jarred so significantly out of homeostasis. </p>
<p>Yet despite a wealth of evidence showing the consequences of overtraining, warning signs go relatively unheeded. It’s quite rare for an athlete to hear, “Great job sitting on the couch today, getting away from the playing field, and thinking about something other than sports.” </p>
<p>In competitive sports, rest doesn’t seem gritty and it’s rarely praised, making the wisdom behind it slow to gain traction.</p>
<h2>Messages sent versus messages received</h2>
<p>Only a small part of communication is what’s actually said out loud; nonverbal messages carry huge weight. </p>
<p>Parents regularly say, “I want the best for my child” and can be heard musing, “I will give my kid every opportunity possible.” These are loving parental desires, but what are the costs if one is not careful?</p>
<p>Kids are exceptionally adept at reading into the actions of their parents and coaches, who send powerful messages in the decisions they make and the opportunities they offer. </p>
<p>For young athletes, are “opportunities” supportive? Or can they cause undue stress? </p>
<p>The parent regularly says, “Just try your best and I’ll be proud.” But how are kids supposed to react when they notice the multiple team registrations, the checks written to private coaches, the off-field conditioning work, the visits to the sports medicine clinic and the hiring of the sport psychology consultant? </p>
<p>Most likely, they think: “This is a really big deal. I better not blow it.” </p>
<p>“Support,” then, can inadvertently turn into stress, which can stunt the growth of a young athlete on – and sometimes off – the playing field.</p>
<p>There’s another potential pitfall when providing a range of opportunities and support systems: it can actually mitigate challenges. </p>
<p>A young athlete who has the “best” equipment and is always is on the “best” team with the “best” coach fails to develop perhaps the most important athletic skill: the ability to thrive when challenged. Providing everything for a young athlete does not allow the softer skills of perseverance and resilience to thrive. Just as psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470514498.ch12/summary">found</a> in the early 1990s, individuals who are both challenged and supported thrive at the highest levels. Too often in our bountiful sporting society, smothering support does not allow the young athlete to fully experience healthy challenges.</p>
<p>The children of parents who pursue every avenue of athletic training and development are not always primed to reach their athletic potential, nor is likelihood of lifelong physical activity improved.</p>
<p>Hours of practice and participation in hyper-focused sports environments can saddle athletes with unnecessary expectations, where mistakes on the playing field are failures and stumbles feel like letting coaches and families down. At the end of the day, sports is “play.” When adults enthusiastically provide these opportunities but remove “play” from the equation, something is amiss.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article is part of our youth sports series. To read the others in the series, click <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/youth-sports">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38530/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Naylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Parents want to simultaneously support and push their kids. But when it comes to sports, this mentality can backfire in subtle ways.Adam Naylor, Clinical Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology and Applied Human Development, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/299512014-07-31T20:48:41Z2014-07-31T20:48:41ZTrust is a must for coaches and athletes – just ask Sally Pearson<p>Long-running tension between Australian athletics team captain Sally Pearson and head coach Eric Hollingsworth has boiled over after the coach <a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/commonwealth-games-glasgow-2014/commonwealth-games-news/athletics-australia-suspends-coach-eric-hollingsworth-for-criticising-sally-pearson-20140731-zyqz6.html">was suspended</a> for publicly criticising the Olympic gold medallist.</p>
<p>In the high-pressure world of elite sport, coaches play a pivotal role but perhaps the only surprising thing about Pearson’s high profile bust up is that ruptures of this sort don’t occur more frequently. </p>
<p>Coaches have to balance challenging and nurturing their athletes. Too much of either and the relationship can fall apart, or cease to be productive.</p>
<p>Athletes such as Pearson also contend with an additional layer of complexity. A strong relationship with a personal coach that has been a precondition for success is often disrupted when the athlete has to answer to a new, team coach. Patterns of behaviour and interaction formed in one coaching relationship might not be appropriate or applicable to another.</p>
<p>An effective athlete/coach relationship boils down to one thing, trust: </p>
<ul>
<li>trust that each individual believes in and respects the other</li>
<li>trust that commitments are kept and honoured </li>
<li>trust that athlete and coach are pursuing shared objectives</li>
<li>trust that allows hard truths to be shared </li>
</ul>
<p>Some people call this the “tough love” approach and view it as essential to achieving performance results. But it’s important to remember that:</p>
<ol>
<li>it is not what you say but <em>how</em> you say it that is important</li>
<li>tough love is usually most effective in a private conversation. </li>
</ol>
<p>Without a high level of trust as the foundation, an athlete’s self-confidence can often significantly deteriorate, along with their performance.</p>
<h2>Team vs individual sports</h2>
<p>In team environments individual feedback is still an important part of an athlete’s development, but coaching is often geared towards the group. Furthermore, there’s often a range of assistant coaches and support staff that contribute to each athlete’s performance. </p>
<p>With individual sports, the focus of the coach is solely upon the individual athlete’s progress. Significant time is spent one-on-one in this context. Without an effective working relationship, it is highly likely that performance will falter which might result in the athlete might seeking assistance elsewhere, another factor that can cause conflict and erode trust.</p>
<p>An athlete might work exclusively with their own coach for 99% of their training and competition time throughout the year. But when they make the Australian team the athlete might be suddenly faced with having to adapt to the different style of a head coach. In these situations there is often limited time to replicate the type of strong working relationship they might already have with their home coach.</p>
<p>If the athlete turns to their own coach during international competition periods it can cause conflict – particularly if their own coach didn’t get an accreditation to be able to enter the athlete village or competition venues and is trying to coach from a distance. </p>
<p>Some of the most effective athlete/coach relationships documented over time haven’t always been the ones where the individuals involved have necessarily liked each other all the time. But they have been relationships where mutual respect has been present. When it comes to Sally Pearson and Eric Hollingsworth, this might be a question that only they can answer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/29951/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gene Moyle does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Long-running tension between Australian athletics team captain Sally Pearson and head coach Eric Hollingsworth has boiled over after the coach was suspended for publicly criticising the Olympic gold medallist…Gene Moyle, Associate Professor in Creative Industries, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/116452013-01-20T19:36:05Z2013-01-20T19:36:05ZKeep your eye off the ball: the secrets of elite tennis coaching<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/19380/original/zmwcrj94-1358486612.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Andy Murray's coach Ivan Lendl (left) has led the Scot to great success … so what makes a great coach?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Barbara Walton</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every January the Australian Open attracts the world’s best tennis players to Melbourne in a bid to become champion of the Asia-Pacific Grand Slam.</p>
<p>While the players are undoubtedly the main draw card, they also bring with them a team of highly trained individuals to support their goal of being crowned champion. Chief among them is, of course, their coach – a critical ingredient in a player development and success.</p>
<p>Countless hours are devoted to attaining the expertise needed to become a high performance coach, not unlike the investment made by players in reaching the top of their game.</p>
<p>So what exactly sets an expert coach apart?</p>
<h2>Watch and (help others to) learn</h2>
<p>There are many facets to coaching but one of the primary responsibilities is guiding player development through technique analysis and feedback.</p>
<p>Visit the practice courts to watch any of the players and you will no doubt see their coach out on court, scrutinising their player’s performance. It is the coach’s job to view the player’s technique, analyse critical features, detect errors and provide timely and accurate feedback so the player’s performance can be improved.</p>
<p>Even slight changes in ball toss or trunk rotation – which may be imperceptible to the untrained eye – can have a significant effect on speed, accuracy and consistency in a player’s game.</p>
<p>Consequently, the <a href="http://www.cafyd.com/REVISTA/art3n5a06.pdf">skill of observation is critical</a> for coaches and a key to their success. What the coach can or can’t “see” in a player’s technique directly influences the feedback they can provide a player.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/19286/original/xhcnmg8m-1358379087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/19286/original/xhcnmg8m-1358379087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/19286/original/xhcnmg8m-1358379087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/19286/original/xhcnmg8m-1358379087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/19286/original/xhcnmg8m-1358379087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/19286/original/xhcnmg8m-1358379087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/19286/original/xhcnmg8m-1358379087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/19286/original/xhcnmg8m-1358379087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The gaze behaviour of coaches was analysed using a projector system and ASL Mobile Eye glasses.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Georgia Giblin</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Like coach, like player</h2>
<p>What a coach “sees” are the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinematics">kinematics of action</a> – how the player’s limbs are positioned and coordinated in space to produce the desired movement outcome (ball speed and direction).</p>
<p>An enhanced understanding or ability to interpret the kinematics of an action allows expert coaches to make informed, accurate and often quick decisions. It is a quality that separates them from other less-skilled coaches.</p>
<p>This same concept of expert interpretation of movement patterns is evident in players as well – when returning serve, for instance. The best receivers in the world appear to have all the time in the world to get a serve back over the net.</p>
<p>This advantage is borne out of superior perceptual skills to interpret an opponent’s serve mechanics, which ultimately gives them more time to react.</p>
<p>Through <a href="http://www.castonline.ilstu.edu/smith/405/readings_pdf/expert_rdngs/shim%20visual%20cues.pdf">research</a> we know that expert tennis players are better at perceiving and interpreting an opponent’s body movements prior to ball impact during the serve, allowing them to accurately anticipate shot direction and produce a successful response.</p>
<p>Like expert players, expert coaches are better equipped to perceive and interpret important kinematic information, and then to use this information to determine whether a change in technique is required. </p>
<h2>What we did</h2>
<p>Through a series of experiments (the results of which haven’t yet been published) analysing the gaze behaviour of coaches we have discovered that when watching a player’s serve, expert coaches tend to focus on proximal areas (those close to the midline) such as the trunk. Novices spend more time viewing the racquet and ball motion.</p>
<p>We analysed the coaches’ gaze using a lightweight pair of glasses with two small cameras, one positioned to capture the scene (what the coach is seeing) and one to capture the coach’s eye.</p>
<p>When combined, the two cameras allow us to see exactly where the coach is looking.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AHAtSjNjJV0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Using the ASL Mobile Eye glasses the researchers were able to track coaches’ eye movements.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is well known that the ability to interpret and use earlier occurring information (“proximal kinematics”) is a key contributor to expertise. Proximal segments (such as the trunk) are critically important as they form the foundation of movement. They also typically move slower so they are easier to see than distal segments such as the racquet.</p>
<h2>Putting it all together</h2>
<p>With a greater understanding of the kinetic chain – a sequence of movements, usually proximal to distal used to create an effective tennis serve – expert coaches are able to identify problems with the player’s game.</p>
<p>For example an expert coach will identify low clearance over the net then use their superior knowledge of kinematics to pinpoint specific segments – poor leg drive perhaps – which are contributing to or causing the particular problem.</p>
<p>Coaches may not always be aware of how they perceive kinematics, or how sensitive they are to seeing changes in technique but, like players, they operate best when performing judgements automatically, or without conscious processing.</p>
<p>An increased understanding of kinematics is also what allows coaches to prescribe exercises or drills aimed at fixing specific technical issues contributing to larger problems in a player’s game. It’s this eye for detail that ultimately leads to the production of champion players.</p>
<p>Reckon all of that sounds easy? Try analysing some thundering serves during this year’s Australian Open and explain why they did or didn’t hit their mark.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/11645/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Georgia Giblin is affiliated with Tennis Australia, investigating where coaches look when evaluating the serve, and how sensitive they are to perceiving changes in technique.</span></em></p>Every January the Australian Open attracts the world’s best tennis players to Melbourne in a bid to become champion of the Asia-Pacific Grand Slam. While the players are undoubtedly the main draw card…Georgia Giblin, PhD Candidate in Biomechanics and Skill Acquisition, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.