Keep the Door Open I noticed my 7yo son do something unusual at a recent game, something he has never been ‘taught.’ This thread will attempt to highlight why viewing skill from a lens of emergence can keep the door open for stronger skill acquisition. 🧵

Incorporating opposition as quickly as possible doesn’t narrow options, it expands them, not just for the player on the ball, but for teammates and opponents. In this simple 2v2, attackers are set up with two options: go vertical, or horizontal. How will the opposition respond?

6v4: Spatial vs Numerical Superiority Team A has more players, but their movement is limited. Team B has fewer players, but has the freedom of the pitch. Which challenge would you prefer?

It was an honor to be on the P&A podcast and I really enjoyed this conversation with Rob. We dive into the empirical evidence on some of the most commonly discussed questions in skill acquisition. Do you need to assemble the parts (techniques) before putting them together?

Why do we want to create environments where our players can explore? Because it’s where skill emerges.🧠👇🔥

A little story about my 8 year old son & a moment of improvisation A moment that stopped me in my tracks & left me wondering where it had come from 🧵

“Rather than training for a consistency of form, we begin to coach functionally for consistency of outcome”(Carson, 21). Finally digging into this great new book from @coachsabre. Fascinating seeing the way CLA can be applied to fencing. Highly recommend!

Nick only writes bangers

A great read 👇

This is really interesting!

Principles of play and concepts like the one discussed in this post serve as intentions that act as long-term constraints. This shapes what players 'look for' (attention) and play improves in quality over time (process)

Intentions “are sources of constraints that persist over time… (they) limit the degrees of freedom for interactions among the processes of the human body”(Van Orden, 333). (From Self-Organization of Cognitive Performance, Van Orden et al, 2003)

Simplest metaphor is to think about river. On a short timescale the river flows where it does because the banks of the river. On a longer timescale the river also carves the banks.

Intentions “exemplify a form of circular causality in which longer timescales of behaviour constrain system degrees of freedom at shorter timescales in a continually evolving hierarchy”(Farrokh, 4). (From Towards an ecological dynamics theory of flow in sport. Farrokh et al) @bigpicsoccer

“Components of a complex system are interdependent; they change each other's dynamics as they interact with each other. This results in non-additive, strongly nonlinear effects and emergent properties that cannot be explained by causal relationships between parts of the system”(Gray, 177). How does the contrast between components and interactions impact how we approach skill and development? (From Emergent Cognition, @ShakeyWaits)

**1/** How should we deal with behaviour challenges in grassroots football? Shouting? Running laps? Punishments? I've come up with a behaviour plan for our U9s that takes a different approach. Inspired by FA Coach Merfyn Roberts. 🧵

“Intentions contribute to self-control by limiting behavioral options to suit the immediate requirements of the task”(Gray, 152). The chicken and the egg- the end AND the beginning? Intentions as “Strange Loops” (From Emergent Cognition, @ShakeyWaits)

Brilliant list of questions for players to develop game understanding based on clear principles of play. ⬇️⬇️⬇️

So this is a list I’ve come up with to put each game idea into practice The solutions the players use or find will be different But I use this to explore each idea further I’m not looking for perfect execution or form