Abstract
In this manuscript, we extend ecological approaches and suggest ideas for enhancing athlete development by utilizing the Skilled Intentionality Framework. A broad aim is to illustrate the extent to which social, cultural and historical aspects of life are embodied in the way football is played and the skills young footballers develop during learning. Here, we contend that certain aspects of the world (i.e., environmental properties) are “weighted” with social and cultural significance, “standing out” to be more readily perceived and simultaneously acted upon when playing football. To comprehend how patterns of team coordination and athletic skill embody aspects of culture and context we outline the value-directedness of player-environment intentionality. We demonstrate that the values an individual can express are constrained by the character of the social institutions (i.e., football clubs) and the social order (i.e., form of life) in which people live. In particular, we illuminate the extent to which value-directedness can act as a constraint on the skill development of football players “for good or ill.” We achieve this goal by outlining key ecological and relational concepts that help illustrate the extent to which affordances are value-realizing and intentionality is value-directed (exemplified, by footballers performing in a rondo). To enhance coaching practice, we offer: (a) insights into markers of skilled intentionality, and (b), the language of skilled intentions, as well as highlighting (c), an additional principle of Non-linear Pedagogy: Shaping skilled intentions, or more precisely shaping the value-directedness of player-environment intentionality. We contend that, if sport practitioners do not skilfully attend to sociocultural constraints and shape the intentions of players within training environments and games, the social, cultural, and historic constraints of their environment will do so: constantly soliciting some affordances over others and directing skill development.
Highlights
Played in over 200 countries around the world, football embodies aspects of the society, and culture in which it is embedded
To conceptually illustrate athletes relations with environments and theoretically discuss their implications for skill development we carefully extend key concepts founded in the Ecological Psychology of J
To exemplify the value-realization of affordances Hodges and Baron (1992) described that: We extend this interdependence to relevant affordances in footballing forms of life and the skills footballers develop over the weeks, months, and years of athlete development
Summary
Played in over 200 countries around the world, football embodies aspects of the society, and culture in which it is embedded. Skill development is the term we use to encompass skilled performance, perceptual learning, and collective behavior in sport (Araújo et al, 2017; López-Felip, 2019; Woods et al, 2020b) These related processes are reliant on players becoming directly attuned to, and adapting with, the dynamic properties of football performance environments. The tendency to copy and paste concepts or practices without sensitivity to the social, cultural or historic context (Stambulova and Ryba, 2014) might explain how coach education amasses collections of disparate puzzle pieces with little, or no, relation to one another This does not explain why these concepts are decoupled from, and unrelated to, key environmental properties in football. In football, limited ways of knowing amplify the reductive, overly analytical and decontextualized approaches to coach education and on field coaching practice
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
