How do we best provide our athletes with valuable

play/practice opportunities?

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Informal Practice

Formal Practice

FormalPlay

Informal Play

When and how do our players learn

most?

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Primary school children who achieved60 mins of moderate to vigorousphysical activity (MVPA) during theschool day had significantly higherintensity (3x higher) activity duringbreak time than they did duringstructured physical activity in classtime.

(Rush, et al., 2012)

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• What did you notice about the playing area/size?

• What did you notice about the equipment being used?

• How actively involved were the participants in each video?

• Would the young baseballer ever hit a “homerun”? Would the young cricketer ever hit a “6”?

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>>UNITEC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Are you still separating skill learning from game learning?

Are you providing too much game play and losing some skill development?

Are you providing too much skill development and not enough game play?

>>DEPARTMENT OF SPORT

>>UNITEC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY >>DEPARTMENT OF SPORT

?

?

Elite Participate

Excel

Perform

Learn

Explore

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Would we make every kid learn their strokes before they got in the pool?

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Either/Or approaches to athlete/team development:

TGfU vs skill drills

Fundamental Movement Skills vs Fundamental Games Skills

Technical learning vs Tactical learning

Can limit our thinking and the way in which we coach.

(Smith, 2014)

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>>UNITEC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

In Conclusion:

• What needs to be priority learning for young athletes?

• As a coach, how can I develop more formal and informal play opportunities that will lead to valuable development?

- and think about what barriers might prevent you from allowing more informal play in your training sessions

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Any Questions?