Teaching Chris A Skill

Using various information, techniques and theories I have learnt I am going to use them to effectively teach Chris how to perform a new skill in a sport he is not very experienced in.

 

Lesson 1

The skill I’m going to perform and teach to Chris is a drag and step over within football. The muscles that are going to be used within the skill are the quadriceps, gastrocnemius, hamstrings, the rectus abdominus and the obliques. This skill can be used to confuse the defending player creating a ‘dummy’ step over move then quickly changing direction to create space.

Activity – introduce the skill to Chris and let him have a go of the skill enabling him to understand why it is used, how it can benefit his game and knowing the breakdown of the skill.

Video

 

 

 

 

 

I explained to Chris that his ‘game’ can benefited through this skill as when playing it enables him create space and move the ball quickly away from opposition. After watching back the video it is easy to see that Chris is struggling with the skill and I explained to him the breakdown of the skill; this being the dragging of the ball, the step over and the movement away with the ball into space. As it takes an equal effort through each stage of the skill to make it effective, each area needs to be understood and practiced.

As you can see Chris is trying to take in as much stimuli as possible which leads to him struggling to perform the skill as he is trying to process everything around him and what he is doing which confuses his body and he doesn’t concentrate on the information necessary to the skill.

 

Lesson 2

Building on lesson 1 I am going to introduce 2 activities to replicate the movement of the dragging of the ball to let Chris get used to the movement improving on his technique and approach to the skill. Through the repetition of the movement and continuously performing the same action the muscle memory increases; through this the natural reaction becomes more subconsciously performed and the body doesn’t have to think about the skill it just reacts without thought.

Activity 1 of lesson 2 – in this activity I want Chris to move his was down a line 1 legged hurdling whilst side stepping; this activity will replicate the movement of dragging the ball along before the actual step over.

Activity 2 of lesson 2 – in the second activity I want Chris to ‘Karaoke’ down a line; this creating the confusion with the opposition.

Video

 

 

Through the video you can see how the movement within the activities replicates the movements of the skill; with repetition and practice Chris’ body and muscles get ‘used’ to this movement and it becomes second nature to the body which makes the learning of the skill when the ball is at his feet easier. It becomes easier as you learn like this because the repetition creates muscle memory and the muscles act in them specific movements with little thought as it becomes ‘natural’ to act in this mannor.

Lesson 3

Following on from the other lessons and activities Chris took part in; I wanted to introduce practicing the movement with a football making the control and the skill movement more comfortable for Chris. As Chris learned more with the ball through practice it would lead to him becoming better at ball control and the movement building up to the skill.

Activity – I will get Chris to follow the outline of the pitch dragging the ball along it and changing direction following the outline of the pitch.

Video

This exercise replicates the dragging of the ball building up to the skill; it shows how Chris is becoming more comfortable at controlling the ball and shows his improvement from when we started. By letting Chris start the exercise at his own pass it created a bassline that he was comfortable with then by pushing him to move at a higher pass it created a challenge for his which created drive to perform the skill better. It shows how as his body and muscles become comfortable with the movement of the skill he uses the drag continuously as he is moving along in one fluent motion; this enables the skill to look more effective and believable as a confusion to the opposition.

Lesson 4

This final lesson is putting everything together that Chris has learnt and allowing him to practice the full skill showing what he has learnt over the weeks and pointing out any other areas that he could work on with the skill.

Activity – I let Chris perform the skill practicing and even stood in front of him giving him a target (opposition) to ‘fool’ with the skill.

Video

After watching the last video you can see how Chris has developed from the lessons I put him through; you can see how his dragging skill of the ball has developed and he is more comfortable at controlling the ball at his feet from what he was on the second video. It is clear to see that Chris has developed muscle memory and his selective attention is more precise at selecting the valuable information that concerns his skill outcome. Even though there is still room for improvement it shows that taking into consideration the thought of how we process information and by breaking down the skill and getting Chris to work on each individual part of the skill it abled him to develop each area, blocking out useless stimuli and then put the skill back together creating a successful outcome.