Play Practice Research Articles

College Students’ Development of Badminton Skills and Tactical Competencies Following Play Practice

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Play Practice (PP) instruction on badminton performance in college students. Method: A total of 66 students from the United States and China participated in units following either the principles of PP or skill-focused instruction. A nonequivalent control/comparison group experimental design with premeasure and postmeasure was used in this study. Separate analyses of variance with repeated measures (Time × Group) were conducted to examine the effects of PP and skill-focused instruction for each of the four dependent variables: (a) forehand clear, (b) wall volley, (c) game performance, and (d) tactical understanding. Results: Both PP and skill-focused instruction conditions were effective in improving participants’ skills from pretest to posttest. However, PP was also effective in improving participants’ game performance. Conclusion: PP effectively developed both fundamental skills and tactical aspects of badminton without diminishing the transfer effect from practice to games.

Exploring key competencies sought to potentialize tactical behavior in soccer players.

BACKGROUND: Soccer is part of the team sports games category and is characterized by the cooperation and opposition interactions between players in the same space of play and time. Thus, players must adequately decide what action to perform despite the unpredictable, random, and varying nature of the environment of play. AIM: This paper explores tactical competencies that can be appreciated in the way players play and their functioning. METHOD: The argumentation is structured over a review of sixty articles in five languages, selected from the results in an online university library with topic-related keywords. The selected papers were analyzed to identify the most frequently reported concepts related to (i) tactics and action in the play; (ii) decision-making and associated cognitive mechanisms and skills; and (iii) the teaching-learning-training process. RESULTS: The results of this review sum the three following competencies: tactical intelligence, creativity, and co-adaptability. We argue that these competencies can be built through the play's practice and that coaches should seek to use them to the advantage of player’s development. Small-sided and conditioned games reflect a compatible opportunity to nurture the competencies as long as they are configured to solicit the competencies in an environment that promotes them. CONCLUSION: Tactical intelligence, creativity, and co-adaptability can be appreciated in the tactical behavior shown by performing players. For the same reason, those also should constitute more of the player’s development curriculum, therefore leading to players who have a competitive advantage.

A review of the game-centred approaches to teaching and coaching literature since 2006

Background: In 2006, Oslin and Mitchell published a review of the game-centred approaches (GCAs) to teaching and coaching literature highlighting a number of core concepts thought to provide justification for the use of GCAs including (a) its potential to enhance participant motivation, (b) potential for tactical transfer, and (c) development of decision-making skills and effective decision-makers. Oslin and Mitchell also suggested recommendations for future GCA research.Purpose: The purpose of this paper was threefold: (a) to present a review of Anglophone research into GCAs building on the previous review of Oslin and Mitchell published in 2006; (b) to identify new trends in research since 2006; and (c) to investigate the extent to which the initial suggestions and future research directions suggested by Oslin and Mitchell have been addressed.Data collection: GCA literature since 2006 was searched systematically using a three-phase approach. Phase 1 included initial searches of the EBSCO database using terms associated with GCAs and their acronyms (e.g. TGfU (teaching games for understanding), GS (Game Sense), etc.). Phase 2 expanded the search adopting more generic terms from keywords located in the recent literature (e.g. teaching games, tactical development, game performance, etc.). Multiple searches through the EBSCO database were conducted, whereby key terms were cross-referenced until a saturation point was reached. Phase 3 involved removing those publications that were not empirical, peer reviewed, intervention studies or published in English.Findings: Forty-four studies on GCA implementation were identified and the methodological and substantive nature of these studies was examined. The review noted two positive trends: (a) the expansion of research which included the growth of research on GCAs in Europe and Southeast Asia and (b) an increased amount of research in the affective domain. The review found, however, that a number of key challenges remain within GCA research, which include (a) the need for improved articulation of GCA verification procedures; (b) further assessment of tactical awareness development; (c) extended inquiry about GCAs in coaching contexts; (d) more research into ‘newer’ GCAs (i.e. PP (play practice), IGCM (invasion game competence model) and TDLM (tactical decision learning model)); (e) use of longitudinal research designs; (f) inadequate length of GCA induction and training for teachers and coaches, and (g) examination of GCAs in terms of fitness and special populations.Conclusions: GCA pedagogies are of significant importance as they have the potential to promote change within current adult-centric cultures of youth sport and encourage engagement in physical activity over the life course. To meet these needs, it is recommended that GCA research undergo continued expansion with the use of research designs and data collection techniques that aid the examination of different philosophical understandings of GCAs (e.g. ethnographic, phenomenological and psycho-phenomenological). These are paramount to the exploration of ‘who the individual is’ and ‘how the learner is motivated to continue to participate’ and further permit the in-depth, contextual and ecological analysis of GCA interventions that Oslin and Mitchell recommended in their previous review.

Effects of Play Practice on Teaching Table Tennis Skills

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Play Practice (PP) instruction on the performance of table tennis skills. Fifty-six college students in four intact classes were taught by two instructors using PP and Skill-focused Instruction (SI). A nonequivalent control/comparison group experimental design with pre and post measures was used. Three separate ANOVAs with a repeated measure (time effect) were conducted to examine the effects of PP and SI for each of the three dependent variables: (a) forehand drive accuracy, (b) forehand attack, and (c) serve. Results demonstrated that both PP and SI conditions were effective in improving participants’ skills in forehand drive, forehand attack, and serving from pre- to posttest. However, PP was more effective in improving participants’ skills in forehand attack and serving from pre to post as compared with SI.

The transfer of learning from play practices to game play in young adult soccer players

Background: Physical educators and coaches face an ongoing problem of presenting fun and enjoyable practices that also provide efficient learning of technical and tactical sports skills. Effective instruction also promotes the transfer of learning from practice tasks to the real game. Play Practice (PP) describes a structure for teaching sports that addresses these problems through the development of closely aligned practice tasks that replicate the demands of the game while maintaining the critical aspect of play. Similarities exist between PP and the widely researched Teaching Games for Understanding approach, but PP proposes teaching technique and tactics simultaneously. This study was the first to examine the assumptions of PP as a holistic approach to sport instruction. Purpose: To examine the transfer of learning from closely aligned practices to game play in soccer. More specifically, one purpose was to measure the learning of specific tactical responses from participation and instruction in play practices. A second purpose was to measure the transfer of learning from practice to game play. Finally, this study measured the effect of the sequence of presentation of two closely aligned practices on learning and performance in soccer. Setting: Two coeducational soccer classes in the Basic Instruction Program at a large University in the Midwest United States. Each class met once or twice a week during the spring term for a total of 14 sessions. Participants: Six participants; one male and two female students were selected from each class on the basis of their low to moderate soccer playing ability. Intervention: An experienced teacher and soccer coach instructed both classes on how to perform effectively in attacking situations with more attackers than defenders (attacking overloads). The same 2v1 and 3v2 play practices were used in both classes to provide opportunities to learn the appropriate tactical responses. In each class session, the 2v1 or 3v2 practice was immediately followed by a 4v4 game to assess the transfer of learning from practice to game. Class One participated in 2v1 practices prior to the 3v2, while Class Two participated in the reverse sequence. Research design: A multiple treatment, single subject design was used to assess the effect of the Play Practices and their sequence on the learning and performance of each participant in the two soccer classes. This design allows sequence effects on the learning of participants to be both demonstrated and explained. A-B-C-A and A-C-B-A designs were used in Class One and Class Two respectively. Data collection and analysis: All overload play practices and 4v4 games were videotaped and each participant's percentage of correct responses was recorded. Baseline (condition A) for both classes consisted of 4v4 games prior to any overload practice and instruction. In Class One, baseline was followed by the 2v1 (B) and then the 3v2 (C) conditions. For Class Two, the baseline was followed by the 3v2 (C) and then the 2v1 (B) conditions. Each condition comprised four sessions. The final A condition consisted of two games in each class, which provided a measure of the maintenance of learning. As a single subject design study, data were analysed from their graphical representation and visual inspection. Findings: Instruction via these play practices was successful for the most able participants, who learnt to perform the appropriate tactical responses consistently in practice, which transferred effectively to the game. While the instructor was confident that all participants knew the appropriate responses, the less able participants were unable to perform these with consistency during practice, hence minimal transfer to the game occurred. Data from three participants indicated that the 3v2 practice tended to produce a greater transfer to the game but the sequence of practice presentation did not appear to impact learning. Conclusions: Findings suggested that practice performance beyond 70% correct was required before learning would transfer to other settings. Launder's notion of alignment was extended to include subtle variations within a practice task to replicate the full range of situations that arise in a game. The need for timely and accurate feedback for the efficient learning of each novice performer was highlighted from video replay. Research to address this common problem of group instruction to prevent the practising of small but significant mistakes is needed.