Contrasting Learning Psychology Theories Applied to the Teaching-Learning-Training Process of Tactics in Soccer

Abstract

Research in sport pedagogy and its applied recommendations are still characterized by a contrast between the different learning theories from psychology. Traditional theories and their corresponding approaches to the specific case of teaching and learning “how to play [team sports like soccer]” are subject to compatibilities and incompatibilities. We discuss how behaviorism as an approach to teaching the game shows more incompatibilities with the nature of tactical actions when compared to constructivism. As coaches strive to teach the game and make their players and team perform, we argue that teaching the game requires teaching approaches that will help develop their way to play (i.e., tactical behavior) without taking away their autonomy and adaptiveness. The teaching-learning-training process for playing the game should then be conducted to harmonize the characteristics of the contents, the context, and the individual(s) at hand. We provide two illustrated examples and portray how the recommended approaches fit key contents of the game that are observed in the tactical behavior. We finally argue that the coherent design of games provides minimal conditions to teaching approaches, and that such a design should be a priority when elaborating the learning activities along the player development process. As a conclusion, the interactionist theory is the one that best serves the teaching of the game and the development of tactical behavior. We therefore defend that its principles can help coaches tailor their own strategy to teach the game with the many tools.

Designing small-sided games for counter-attack training in youth soccer

“…However, the hypothesis related to the positional analysis was not confirmed, as there were no significant differences between the experimental conditions in all collective variables. The task complexity can be increased by modifying the rules during the execution, amplifying the decisional possibilities presented to the players 23 and requiring adjustments in the motor actions. 27 At this point, it might be assumed that the time pressure rule reduces performance due to the increased complexity it brings to the players.…”

“…Besides this, additional rules during games might increase the task complexity, improving the demand for players' cooperation to solve the problems. 23 Therefore, it seems worth investigating whether the time pressure rule applied to SSGs in soccer could be used as a task to nurture players' exploration during counter-attack games in soccer.…”

“…Based on the literature, it is hypothesised that including the time pressure will momentarily reduce the quality of the decision-making and technical efficacy of the players as it might increase the complexity of the task – which is expected to impair the performance acutely. 23,27 Also, it is expected that the time pressure will increase the teams’ length during the game, as this constraint is supposed to lead to a more vertical playing strategy, which is in line with counter-attack actions in soccer. 10 Finally, defending teams are expected to adopt a zonal defensive strategy when in numerical inferiority, which would require the offensive team to increase their width.…”

Naturalistic Decision-Making in Sport: How Current Advances Into Recognition Primed Decision Model Offer Insights for Future Research in Sport Settings?

“…Taken together, these outcomes suggest that decision-making in a sport setting may take place on a continuum between intuitive and analytical processes (Kahneman and Klein, 2009 ). In this sense, integrated theoretical models of decision-making have recently been proposed for athletes (Ashford et al, 2021a , b ; Hallé Petiot et al, 2021 ), referees (Kittel et al, 2021a ; Samuel et al, 2021 ) and coaches (Collins et al, 2016 ; Richards et al, 2017 ). There is a lack of consistent empirical evidence in a sport setting for establishing the continuum from intuitive to analytical decision-making.…”

“…The Naturalistic Decision-Making (NDM) approach (Klein, 2008 , 2015 ; Hallé Petiot et al, 2021 ) is an alternative to the cognitivist approach (i.e., decision-making viewed as a rationalistic linear information process) and to the ecological-dynamic approach (i.e., decision-making viewed as behavioral adaptation to environmental constraints). NDM researchers have discovered that decision makers in natural settings rely heavily on intuition.…”