Practice environments should provide all information that would be present in a game situation… (Perception-Action Coupling)

Throughout our recent book and in our more recent blogs we have dealt with psychological factors that influence how players learn to play their games. For example, we explored these Super Seven Strategies: Primacy, Recency, Repetition, Reinforcement, Awareness, Achievement, and Closure. We have dealt with parental responsibilities and interests in their children's growth and performances.

In the last few blogs we have dealt with some of the different kinds of Perception; e.g. auditory, visual,  and sensory; and have given illustrations of their uses in real sports situations. 

We have always looked at different concepts, strategies, relationships, and interactions related to the growth and interests of coaches, players, and parents of players. 

Recently we have reviewed Perception-Action Coupling and are exploring how that concept agrees with or differs from our psychological beliefs. We have enjoyed our learning of a different mode and are sure that in our exploring we have found ideas and information that will improve our knowledge base. 

This week we will present some of the basic concepts and beliefs we found in various articles on Perception-Action Coupling. We present this information with no judgment or revising on the presentation.

Perception-Action Coupling

From:BJJ Mental Models.

If you’ve been listening to BJJ Mental Models for a while, you’ve probably heard us talk about perception-action coupling. It’s a critical concept for sports coaches, but unfortunately, it’s also really hard to wrap your head around. I must confess I’ve been trying to figure it out for some time.

Today I’m going to do my level best to explain to you exactly what perception-action coupling is, why it’s important, and how you can apply it to your Jiu-Jitsu journey. First, let’s break down exactly what perception-action coupling means.

Perception is the athlete’s understanding of sensory information: what they see,     hear, and experience on the field.

Action is the actual movement made by the athlete.

Coupling means that perception and action aren’t separate - they’re intertwined.

So when you put it all together, perception-action coupling means that an athlete’s perception, and the actions they take, create a feedback loop. Or as was said by the pioneering ecological psychologist James J. Gibson, “We must perceive in order to move, but we must also move in order to perceive.”

The lesson here is: no move or technique exists in a vacuum. It’s totally dependent on the context, and in a real match, the context is always changing. This is why the “perception” part is so important: an athlete must be constantly perceiving the field and adapting their actions to the changing reality of the match.

So the goal of training is not to “learn how to do the technique perfectly.” Rather, the goal of training is to “learn how to adapt to a changing environment and make the technique work anyway.”

This is why drilling without resistance is suboptimal. It gets the “action” part right, but not the “perception” part. When drilling without resistance, the information and feedback an athlete is receiving will be totally different from what they’d encounter in a real roll.  This is also why there’s limited utility to drilling with grappling dummies. And if you’re not training with that perception, you’re not getting a complete understanding of how to do a technique.

So what to do? Ben Galloway from Opposite Direction has a great suggestion: “When designing practice environments for players, it is important to provide all information that would be present in a game situation.” — Ben Galloway

Example: How we Practice Shooting Layups

We do the usual line up and layups with no defensive actions. We have our kids come in from the right side and use their right hands and then come in from the left side  and use their left hands. We teach them to go under the hoop and make a reverse layup when they are ready. We teach them to avoid fouling by charging - to go around their guards on either side with either hand or to shoot or to pass.

Remember: No technique is ever done the same way twice. Everything that you perceive is a new and unique experience - Everything you do is a new and unique action. In other words you never make the same layup twice.

Peter S. Pierro

Our Role in Children Growth in Sports

In our book, Grassroots Coaching, we deal mainly with athletes from kindergarten through high school. We include the parents' roles in their children’s growth in sports. This means that we deal with issues and skills that are in addition to those experienced in the practices and the games.  Repeating from our introduction, we explore learning strategies: Primacy, Recency, Repetition, Reinforcement, Awareness, Achievement, and Closure; we stress teamwork and positive attitudes, setting goals, competing responsibly, and learning about the history of the game. We encourage parental involvement in the process; their responsibilities and interest in their children's growth and performances. We are a full, interacting, caring team.