Enhancing skill in American football: Revolutionizing practice design for transfer to game day

Enhancing skill in American football: Revolutionizing practice design for transfer to game day

In American football, the alive movement problems players interact with in competition are often dynamic and highly complex, containing numerous opportunities for organizing a functional movement solution in a highly adaptable fashion. Despite this, traditional football practices have overemphasized training that looks, feels, and unfolds much differently than what emerges on game day. Many of the tasks and drills prescribed by coaches in training often create a disconnection in the relationship found between the player and the environment and instead focus on the rehearsal of techniques in isolated conditions. Enhancing Skill in American Football: Revolutionizing Practice Design for Transfer to Game Day aims to change the way that those within the sport view the emergence of skillful movement behavior on the field, both in regard to movement performance and in relation to skill acquisition. This book stands to provide football coaches with principles that allow them to design practice environments that are more aligned and consistent with theories and research in contemporary skill acquisition. Through understanding and applying an ecological dynamics framework to practice and training design, it can lead to enhanced transfer to the competitive demands, reduced likelihood of injury, and the adaptation of players’ skills across the timescales of learning.