Skill acquisition is growing. Despite this, it remains relatively unclear what a skill acquisition specialist does. A recent paper by Otte et al. (2024) sought to offer some clarity on where a skill acquisition specialist can fit within a high-performance department. Specifically, three benefits were highlighted:
Assist coaches with effective training design.
Support athletes with individualised movement solutions.
Build bridges between staff within a high-performance department, or a department of methodology (Rothwell et al., 2020)
Also included in the paper was a potential job specification for sporting organisations which they could use or adapt if they were to hire for a skill acquisition specialist. Considering the recommendation “to better identify what the role of a skill acquisition practitioner in high-performance sport could be” to increase awareness and facilitate greater uptake of the role (Williams & Hodges, 2023), the position paper is a welcome one to try and achieve this aim.
However, in line with other pieces I have written over the last 12 months, specifically around skill acquisition for coach development, supporting reflective practice, and skill acquisition PJDM, my perspective on where a skill acquisition specialist fits into the puzzle is a bit different. I would be skeptical of the notion that coaches need a skill acquisition specialist for three reasons:
1) Skill acquisition is just a single aspect that a coach needs to take into account. Ideally, all coaches would be, but the best are likely evidence informed (Taylor et al, 2023). Which allows them to demonstrate adaptive expertise (Ashford et al, 2024). Consider this small extract from Nevo and Nevo (2011) on evidence informed practice:
"the wise practitioner, while taking account of evidence, will also rely on other factors, including her own judgement, as well as on her client’s perspectives, regarding the appropriate goal to reach, the acceptable means to employ and the ways these could be adjusted as intervention proceeds."
2) Coaching has been around longer than skill acquisition and coaches have coped just fine, the benefits highlighted above are all roles that a coach already does. Regarding the building of bridges among various support staff, high-performance managers already do this. Quite often these roles are filled by strength and conditioning coaches or physiotherapists, presumably because they are the best at managing and leading large groups of people. Assuming that skill acquisition specialists are well placed to do this because they understand complexity science is also flawed in my view. Complexity science is not unique to skill acquisition.
3) We really know very little of skill acquisition at this point, and we are making many assumptions (Choo et al., 2024). A read of Barbara Knapp’s book skill in sport would indicate that many questions remain unanswered.
The skill acquisition specialist who has skill acquisition figured out is a mythical character! (Maybe I am just saying that to make myself feel better. Of course, there are many ahead of me in skill acquisition, but I think it's too complex to have certainty. However, I am reasonably comfortable in the uncertainty, and that there are no clear answers.)
Coaching and the relevant bodies of knowledge
I have written about this several times. To support my sensemaking of where skill acquisition fits into the coaching equation, the coaching schematic by Abraham et al. (2006) played a big part. Viewing coaching as a decision-making process (Abraham, 2015), coaches are informed by different bodies of knowledge – knowledge of the individual (psychology, physiology, biomechanics etc.), knowledge of the sport (technical and tactical), and knowledge of creating learning environments. Coaches having an underpinning knowledge of skill acquisition is important for their practice. The issue is, however, coach education in skill acquisition has failed to make the same progress as other elements, like strength and conditioning, planning, nutrition, mental skills etc. (Abraham & Collins, 2011). While this may be changing slowly, it is still deemed to be an issue for skill acquisition (Williams & Hodges, 2023).
Furthermore, knowledge of designing learning environments has been recommended to be a strong body of knowledge for a coach to base their coaching philosophy on (Partington & Cushion, 2024). It was found that many coaches based their coaching philosophy on technical and tactical knowledge of the sport. More of an emphasis on learning and pedagogy could allow a coach greater flexibility to achieve their technical and tactical goals and desires.
So, it is clear that skill acquisition is a key aspect of coaching, but far from the only aspect, as I have said in a previous post on being a pragmatic skill acquisition specialist:
“further research has identified the cognitive challenges that coaches face (J. Taylor et al., 2023). These challenges include making sense of the individual context, planning for priorities, stress management for the athlete, when to push or pull, and managing the coach-athlete relationship. There are also additional practical considerations for coaches, such as training venues, equipment and technology suitability and relying on external support to ensure that a session runs smoothly (S. Taylor et al., 2023). When viewing skill acquisition from a wider coaching lens, clearly there is much more to designing a suitable training/practice environment than considering how representative it is. A pragmatic approach to skill acquisition support will ensure that the scientist will take necessary steps to understand the context they are supporting.”
Therefore, with coaching entailing more than just skill acquisition, a coach developer’s role should cover more than that of a skill acquisition specialist. A skill acquisition specialist is not a coach developer, and the terms should not be used interchangeably, but skill acquisition can play a key role in a coach's development. Perhaps by aligning more to the role and principles of a coach developer rather than a performance scientist (strength and conditioning coach, sports psychologist, physiologist, physiotherapist; Bruce et al, 2022), a skill acquisition specialist can find their place and have a greater impact.
How coaches learn
This could be multiple PhD theses in itself, but a coach-specific learning theory developed by Stodter and Cushion (2017) has again really supported my sensemaking. This theory illustrates how a coach may incorporate new knowledge into their practice. Specifically, any new knowledge, derived from a formal, non-formal, or informal learning experience passes through two filters – individual and contextual. How does new knowledge fit in with their existing beliefs, knowledge and coaching practice. If new knowledge passes this stage of the filter process, coaches then consider how new concepts would fit within their own context. From here, they either reject, adopt or adapt the knowledge concept. See below for a rather complex diagram, but a useful one.
Stodter and Cushion, 2017
Reflective practice as a key learning tool
With the filter process, and the adoption of new practices to new contexts, skill acquisition specialists need to be well versed in supporting coaches to engage in reflective practice if they aim to effectively support coaches, striving to create reflective practitioners (Schön, 1992). There have been insights provided as to how a coach developer could support coaches engaging in reflective practice (Stodter et al., 2021). A coach developer using an approach of supporting, questioning, and challenge was something that coaches appreciated. Coaches appreciated a coach developer who did not impose his/her ideas onto a coach.
Could a skill acquisition specialist support by aligning to these principles, rather than co-creating practice sessions? Co-creation to me indicates a shared decision-making process, which I don’t think it is – just like the supportive coach developer does not make any decisions for the coach, the supportive skill acquisition specialist does not do that either, and instead aims to support the development of a reflective practitioner.
Looking ahead
Positioning a skill acquisition specialist as a strand of coach development would be a different way to how a skill acquisition specialist has been viewed previously (Otte et al., 2024; Pinder et al., 2020). This is the accumulation of my thoughts over the last 12 months and represents my thoughts as I begin my PhD at the end of this month. This only a blog post (and yes, it is only my personal viewpoint), but I look forward to exploring these ideas in greater detail over the next few years. If anything resonates, or if anyone disagrees, I would love to discuss further! Iron sharpens Iron! As I have tried to make clear, I am heavily leaning on the work of others, standing on their shoulders.
A few questions in particular I have been curious (taken from a previous post):
What are principles that all skill acquisition specialists agree on? What can we be sure about? How robust is the skill acquisition bank of declarative knowledge?
What is the value of a short-term or sporadic engagement with a coach or a program? How can a skill acquisition specialist support a coach or a program without being immersed in the environment? Would this lead to an uncritical application of knowledge?
What is the need for a long-term engagement with a coach or a program? Should a skill acquisition specialist work to make themselves redundant?
What does support regarding the acquisition of knowledge look like? Is this very different to support on the application of knowledge?
PhD soon, but first, a holiday calls in Hong Kong!
Happy Valley, Hong Kong.
References
Abraham, A. (2015). Understanding Coaching as a Judgement and Decision Making Process: Implications for Coach Development Practice University of Central Lancashire].
Abraham, A., & Collins, D. (2011). Effective skill development: how should athletes' skills be developed? In D. Collins, A. Button, & H. Richards (Eds.), Performance Psychology (pp. 207-229). Churchill Livingstone. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-06734-1.00015-8
Abraham, A., Collins, D., & Martindale, R. (2006). The coaching schematic: validation through expert coach consensus. J Sports Sci, 24(6), 549-564. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640410500189173
Ashford, M., Taylor, J., Newcombe, D., MacNamara, Á., Behan, S., Phelan, S., & McNeill, S. (2024). Coaching adaptive skill and expertise in Premier League football academies—paving a way forward for research and practice [Perspective]. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2024.1386380
Bruce, L., Bellesini, K., Aisbett, B., Drinkwater, E. J., & Kremer, P. (2022). A profile of the skills, attributes, development, and employment opportunities for sport scientists in Australia. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 25(5), 419-424. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2021.12.009
Choo, L., Novak, A., Impellizzeri, F. M., Porter, C., & Fransen, J. (2024). Skill acquisition interventions for the learning of sports-related skills: A scoping review of randomised controlled trials. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 72, 102615. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2024.102615
Nevo, I., & Slonim-Nevo, V. (2011). The Myth of Evidence-Based Practice: Towards Evidence-Informed Practice. The British Journal of Social Work, 41(6), 1176-1197. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcq149
Otte, F., Yearby, T., & Myszka, S. (2024). The Role of Skill Acquisition Specialists Within Sports—Why Every High-performance Sports Organization Needs These Experts! Journal of Expertise.
Partington, M., & Cushion, C. J. (2024). A deconstruction of coaching philosophy. Sports Coaching Review, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/21640629.2024.2322838
Pinder, R., Maloney, M., Renshaw, I., & Barris, S. (2020). The Role of Skill Acquisition Specialists in Talent Development. In (pp. 130-144). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003049111-9
Rothwell, M., Davids, K., Stone, J., Sullivan, M., Vaughan, J., Newcombe, D., & Shuttleworth, R. (2020). A Department of Methodology Can Coordinate Transdisciplinary Sport Science Support.
Schön, D. A. (1992). The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315237473
Stodter, A., Cope, E., & Townsend, R. C. (2021). Reflective conversations as a basis for sport coaches’ learning: a theory-informed pedagogic design for educating reflective practitioners. Professional Development in Education, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2021.1902836
Stodter, A., & Cushion, C. J. (2017). What works in coach learning, how, and for whom? A grounded process of soccer coaches’ professional learning. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 9(3), 321-338. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2017.1283358
Taylor, R. D., Taylor, J., Ashford, M., & Collins, R. (2023). Contemporary pedagogy? The use of theory in practice: An evidence-informed perspective [Perspective]. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2023.1113564
Williams, A. M., & Hodges, N. J. (2023). Effective practice and instruction: A skill acquisition framework for excellence. Journal of Sports Sciences, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2023.2240630
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