How Athletes Learn Skills Faster

Introduction

Do your athletes ever get frustrated or lose confidence when they don’t pick up on skills as quickly as other athletes?

Practice doesn’t always make perfect, but how you practice does.

Athletic skills aren’t developed through mindless repetition, complicated drills, or ineffective instructions.

A key to accelerating the learning curve is tailoring your coaching to fit the athlete’s learning process and the individual qualities they bring to the sport.

In this post, I’ll share science-based coaching tips to help your athletes pick up skills faster at each stage of learning.

The Athlete’s 3 Learning Steps

When athletes learn a skill, they:

 1.   Gather information about the skill.

• See, listen, feel, and interpret instructions.

• Get a mental picture.

• Relate to previous skills stored in memory.

• Decide what to focus on.

2. Practice the skill.

3. Get (internal) feedback about:

• What it felt like.

• The outcome. 

The Athlete 3-Step Skill Learning Process shows how the athlete takes in and uses information to perform skills. Cues and external feedback from the coach are included.

Repeating the cycle throughout the stages of learning permanently stores the skill in the athlete’s long-term motor memory. (D. Wood Illustration)

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3 Coaching Steps

Without a coach, athletes may not know what to focus on or how to improve on their own. Worse, they could develop errors that are far harder to correct later. So, help them get it right, right from the start!

Before you start, make sure you have their attention. Generation Z athletes (ages 12-27) are notorious for being distracted. Motivate, engage, and keep them focused.

These 3 coaching steps line up with the athlete’s 3-step learning process.

Be sure to:

 1.   Clearly describe and demonstrate how to perform the skill.

• Use a good model.

• Point out the main features.

• Relate it to other skills stored in memory.

• Narrow the athlete’s attention to one important cue.

2.   Watch the athlete perform so you can:

• Identify and correct the causes of errors.

• Plan how to provide meaningful feedback and cues.

3.   Give (external) feedback about:

• Technique, form, or execution of the movement itself.

• The outcome of their performance (e.g., sprint time, distance jumped).

After that, the takeaway from feedback is more targeted instruction and cueing on the next attempt, and the learning cycle repeats.

Coaching to the Athlete’s Stage of Learning

As athletes learn skills, they develop certain characteristics as they advance through three stages of learning. These stages are just a guide. There’s no specific point where they move from one stage to the next.

What’s important is that you coach so athletes can continue to improve. At each stage, be sure to tell them where to focus their attention. And take advantage of building on past experiences they have stored in memory.

Beginners

A beginner does lots of thinking to learn basics. That’s why it’s the mental (cognitive) stage. They have questions, like “How do I grip the bar?” or “Where should I place my feet?”.  Movements are choppy. They are not usually aware of what they did wrong or how to correct errors.

Don’t make the mistake of giving athletes too many steps or complicated instructions for their age and skill level. Instead, break down more complex skills into simpler digestible phases that allow them to succeed.

These coaching tips help beginners speed up the learning process:

• Tap into their past experiences stored in motor memory. A beginning pole vaulter, for example, can transfer previous experience from similar gymnastics skills to speed up the learning process.

• Give simple, basic instructions. There is no need to work on precision when they have not yet learned basic movements.

• Be brief. Just give bullet points and avoid lengthy instructions that they’re not ready to process.

• Use one cue at a time with action words like “explode” or “drive through” here and throughout the stages.

• Give positive feedback frequently to motivate athletes and reinforce correct movements.

• Look for consistent movement patterns before adding variation.

• Limit manual guidance. Manual guidance is when you (or a device) move the athlete through the skill, which prevents them from feeling movements on their own. Examples include guiding the athlete’s swing in golf or controlling the path of bar when spotting in the bench press.

  Manual guidance may temporarily improve performance, but not retention, so it’s advisable to introduce unassisted practice as soon as possible.

Manual guidance can interfere with the skill learning process.

Intermediate Athletes

Athletes in the associative stage understand the fundamentals and are in the process of developing smoother, more coordinated movements. At this stage they are getting better at detecting errors and figuring out how to correct them on their own. 

Coaches should:

• Give more specific feedback to help the athlete develop movement mechanics and precision. Use sandwich feedback (positive-negative-positive) to identify what was correct, what needs improvement, and encourage them with a final positive comment.

Keep in mind that too much feedback can interfere with the learning process or cause athletes to become overly dependent on you (called the guidance hypothesis).

• Assist with error detection. As the athlete becomes more aware of errors, help them identify the causes and how to self-correct them.

• Refocus attention. The athlete’s attention can be shifted from the stance and basic movements to linking movements together in the whole skill. Allow brief times for independent practice to let them discover what to focus on to improve coordination.

• Add variation. As athletes become more consistent, add more variation. For example, vary the weight loads, the number and types of drills in practice situations, use slightly heavier and lighter implements, and play small games.

• Identify and avoid errors that may emerge with practice. Athletes can be coordinated yet mechanically incorrect. Guide and reinforce correct movements so they’re programmed into motor memory.

Experienced Athletes

Athletes who can perform skills automatically are in the autonomous stage. They are much more coordinated, make few errors and know how to correct them, and are better able to execute game tactics and strategies.  

At this stage you should:

• Enhance precision. Even when athletes are skilled, they still need refinements in coordination and technique. Give more specific feedback and meaningful cues to promote greater accuracy and consistency.

• Rely more on the athlete’s feedback. Incorporate how the athlete feels, their perception of their own performance, and help them decide on strategies to overcome challenges.

• Provide feedback less frequently. For example, summarize their performances on a series of attempts, rather than on each attempt. Or give bandwidth feedback only when the athlete performs outside the limits of a designated range.

• Vary practice conditions to match competitive conditions, such as stress levels, breaks between attempts, or practicing under lights. Help them anticipate and mentally prepare for different scenarios they could face during competition.

Takeaways

These are just a few ways you can help athletes learn skills faster at their stage of learning.

Use the athlete’s learning process as a guide. It’s really your framework for creating meaningful cues and effective feedback for each athlete at their level.

And get to know your athlete’s background so you can tap into their individual skills and experiences stored in memory to help them progress faster and build confidence.

For more on Information processing theory, stages of learning, cueing,  and feedback check out:

Motor Learning and Control for Practitioners by Coker

The Language of Coaching: The Art and Science of Teaching Movement by Winkleman book and mini-course.