The dynamics of expertise acquisition in sport: The role of affective learning design
Objectives: The aim of this position paper is to discuss the role of affect in designing learning experiences to enhance expertise acquisition in sport. The design of learning environments and athlete development programmes are predicated on the successful sampling and simulation of competitive performance conditions during practice. This premise is captured by the concept of representative learning design, founded on an ecological dynamics approach to developing skill in sport, and based on the individual-environment relationship. In this paper we discuss how the effective development of expertise in sport could be enhanced by the consideration of affective constraints in the representativ…
Acquisition of expertise in cricket fast bowling: Perceptions of expert players and coaches
Objectives: Experiential knowledge of elite athletes and coaches was investigated to reveal insights on expertise acquisition in cricket fast bowling. Design: Twenty-one past or present elite cricket fast bowlers and coaches of national or international level were interviewed using an in-depth, open-ended, semi-structured approach. Methods: Participants were asked about specific factors which they believed were markers of fast bowling expertise potential. Of specific interest was the relative importance of each potential component of fast bowling expertise and how components interacted or developed over time. Results: The importance of intrinsic motivation early in development was highlight…
Preservice teachers implementing a nonlinear physical education pedagogy
Background\ud In recent years, there has been considerable interest in the evolution of physical education teaching practice from a traditional teacher-centred approach to a student-centred approach. Consequently, research has focused on questions about the changing conceptions of the teaching and learning process, that is, from how ‘we’ teach to how ‘they’ learn. A contemporary theoretical model of the teaching and learning process could underpin learning design and delivery adopted in physical education. The constraints-led approach (CLA) is a viable alternative as its practice design and delivery is grounded in the contemporary motor learning theory of ecological dynamics within a nonlin…
Overcoming acculturation: physical education recruits' experiences of an alternative pedagogical approach to games teaching
Background: Physical education teacher education (PETE) programmes have been identified as a critical platform to encourage the exploration of alternative teaching approaches by pre-service teachers. However, the socio-cultural constraint of acculturation or past physical education and sporting experiences results in the maintenance of the status quo of a teacher-driven, reproductive paradigm. Previous studies have reported successfully overcoming the powerful influence of acculturation, resulting in a change in PETE students' custodial teaching beliefs and receptiveness to alternative teaching approaches. However, to date, limited information has been reported about how PETE students' accu…
Sport arbitration as an emergent process in a complex system: Decision-making variability is a marker of expertise in national-level football referees
This study examined the experiential knowledge of eight Australian national-level football referees (3.2 yrs mean national-level experience) about the notion of consistent decision-making during competitive matches. Using a grounded theory approach, the analysis revealed that participants view “consistency” as context-dependent, rather than a rigid process of uniformly responding to isolated foul-play transgressions with putatively correct responses. Our results present two key conceptual abstractions—”referential and game dependent” and “purpose and context”—as a framework for understanding referee decision-making consistency. Results evidence that in higher level referees, consistent deci…