Effectiveness and efficiency of virtual reality designs to enhance athlete development: an ecological dynamics perspective

Abstract

A rapidly developing area of research is focused on the use of virtual reality (VR) systems to enhance athlete performance in sport. The assumption is that, implementation of such technologies will enhance skill acquisition and expedite athlete development. However, application of such technologies for enriching athlete development and performance preparation needs to be efficiently and effectively used by coaches and athletes to save time, energy and other resources in practice and training. Here, we argue that implementation of VR systems needs to be grounded in theory, with learning designs informed by a clear scientific rationale. We discuss how the full potential of VR systems can be utilised through implementing a theoretical framework, like ecological dynamics, to shape their application. We outline how an ecological dynamics framework can underpin research and applications of VR in athlete development through: (i) individualised training and assessment programmes; (ii) supporting exploration of variable and creative practice environments; (iii) ensuring context-dependent perception and decision making, and actions, where technology permits. An ecological dynamics rationale proposes how VR systems, when carefully implemented, can enrich and enhance learning designs, but can never replace coaching support for learning during physical practice.

Physical Literacy - A Journey of Individual Enrichment: An Ecological Dynamics Rationale for Enhancing Performance and Physical Activity in All

“…Furthermore, an ecological dynamics rationale can provides a framework to support physical literacy program design using NLP ( Chow, 2013 ) and the ASM ( Wormhoudt et al, 2018 ) as well as highlighting the benefits of assessments such as the divergent movement assessment in measuring physical literacy compared to more controlled assessments such as the test of gross motor development ( Cleland, 1990 ). Combining these enrichment experiences from an early age and throughout the lifespan, utilizing contemporary theory of skill acquisition, offers real hope to engage and maintain childrens’ and adults’ involvement in sports and physical activities across the lifecourse ( Seifert et al, 2019 ; Stone et al, 2018 ; Strafford et al, 2018 ) with the ensuing health benefits.…”

“…In the next sections, we suggest how enrichment in physical activity has been operationalized through an ecological dynamics rationale and has led to innovation of two contemporary learner-centered pedagogies, that employ non-linear principles of learning: Non-linear Pedagogy (NLP) and Athletic Skills Model (ASM), each of which reflects the inherent complexity involved in the learning process. Both pedagogical approaches emphasize the importance of enrichment experiences from an early age, and throughout the lifespan, to facilitate a generality, and later specificity of skill adaptation needed to engage in and maintain involvement in high performance sports through to recreational physical activities ( Seifert et al, 2019 ; Stone et al, 2018 ; Strafford et al, 2018 ). As was the case for the learning of functional movement skills, “Enrichment” can be understood as an embedded approach to motor development and learning, emphasizing the importance of rich and varied possibilities to achieve task goals through interactions constrained by the body, task and environment ( Renshaw and Chow, 2019 ).…”

Developing a two-dimensional landscape model of opportunities for penetrative passing in association football – Stage I

“…Moreover, the data also revealed the time window (between the 19 th and the 24 th mins) in which the highest number of penetrative passing opportunities occurred, perhaps an indicator of a time period where the defence had become more vulnerable to attack. Defensive vulnerability may have emerged due to several factors such as: limitations in visual scanning behaviours (Stone, Strafford, North, Toner, & Davids, 2019), physical fatigue (Barte, Nieuwenhuys, Geurts, & Kompier, 2020) or tactical changes (Vilar et al, 2014).…”

Eye-Hand Coordination Training for Sports with Mid-air VR

“…In the work reported here, we are not aiming to improve user performance for a specific sports task, such as football or soccer. Instead, one of our aims is to provide a theoretical conceptualization of how VE dynamics affect user performance for reaction test systems in a specific performance environment in VR [49]. The purpose of EHCTSs is to improve perceptual and visual-motor skills of the athletes, but not to train them for a specific sport.…”