New Research - Skill Execution Errors

Skill execution errors: An ‘it depends’ perspective on their role, type and use when coaching for player development in sport' - Ferguson, Carson & Collins (2023) 

In short: 

A proposal of a non-binary approach towards errors (i.e., not always yes/no) within coaching practice; using different error-based strategies to align with dynamic individuals and present challenges which yield holistic learning and development. 

More detail: 

This article presents a perspective beyond execution errors simply being error avoidance or promotion approaches. Errors can be used by coaches to draw attention to and develop athletes.  Coaches equipped with effective decision-making skills are able to use errors strategically to manipulate their frequency within training sessions and align these with learning and performance in the athlete(s). 

The paper discusses the central topic in detail by presenting the perspective across three sections: biopsychosocial conceptualisation; alternative perspectives; and decision-making as fundamental to expert coaching. 

The first section - biopsychosocial conceptualisation - introduces and discusses biopsychosocial interactions when errors are implemented by focusing on psycho-behavioural, psycho-motor and psycho-social factors in turn. 

The second section - alternative perspectives - enables the authors to contrast their perspective with the first section, discussing serval alternative motor learning approaches to demonstrate how a coaches’ perspective can be used to reinterpret the existing data and adjust recommendations in the field. 

In the third and final section - decision-making as fundamental to expert coaching - the authors present their ‘it depends’ perspective, suggesting a nuanced error-based approach which has the potential to positively impact the quality of applied coaching practice within motor learning and athlete development. 

Find it here: 

Ferguson, C., Carson, H. J., & Collins, D. (2023). Skill execution errors: an ‘it depends’ perspective on their role, type and use when coaching for player development in sport. Sport Coaching Review, 1-18. Find the text here