Training in young athletes: Ecological dynamics approach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14198/jhse.2021.16.Proc4.02Keywords:
Didactic approach, Learning, Sports skills, Training, CoachesAbstract
Background: Ecological dynamics theories provides a multidisciplinary analysis of the processes involved in skill acquisition, suggesting that the relevant scale of analysis for the comprehension of the learning process is the constrain athlete–environment interactions. Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate the experimental experiences of implementation of the ecological dynamics approach in the training of young athletes. Methods: A comprehensive search of three databases of literature (PubMed, EBESCO (Sportdiscuss), Web of Science, BASE, Scopus and SpringerLink) from 2010 through 2020 was undertaken. A standard data extraction template was developed to extract the main details for every eligible study. Results: In this study were included 17 articles, 16 of which were experimental and 1 quasi-experimental. All studies were conducted with a sample composed on average of 32 (M = 31.72) subjects aged between 6 and 21.02 years (mean age 12.2 years). The ecological dynamics approach has been tested in 10 sports. Discussions and conclusions: An area in which it is possible to draw conclusions about the didactic effectiveness in the manipulation of specific constraints is in the training of young tennis players. As for the trial carried out in other sports it is not possible to draw conclusions but only suggestions relating to different didactics variations of the implementation of this pedagogical-didactic methodology. Longitudinal studies, with baseline assessment, training and post-training assessment are needed to improve examine the causal relationship between constraint manipulation, learning and motor performances in different sports.
Funding
University of SalernoDownloads
References
Alivernini, F., Cavicchiolo, E., Girelli, L., Lucidi, F., Biasi, V., Leone, L., Cozzolino, M., Manganelli, S. (2019). Relationships between sociocultural factors (gender, immigrant and socioeconomic background), peer relatedness and positive affect in adolescents. Journal of adolescence, 76, 99-108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2019.08.011
Battuello, M., Roma, P., & Celia, G. (2012). Group psychotherapy for HIV patients. A different approach. Retrovirology, 9(1), 1-1. https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-4690-9-S1-P92
Behzadnia, B., Mohammadzadeh, H., & Ahmadi, M. (2019). Autonomy-supportive behaviors promote autonomous motivation, knowledge structures, motor skills learning and performance in physical education. Current Psychology, 38(6), 1692-1705. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-017-9727-0
Brocken, J. E. A., van der Kamp, J., Lenoir, M., & Savelsbergh, G. J. P. (2020). Equipment modification can enhance skill learning in young field hockey players. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 15(3), 382-389. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747954120918964
Brymer, E., & Davids, K. (2014). Experiential learning as a constraint-led process: An ecological dynamics perspective. Journal of Adventure Education & Outdoor Learning, 14(2), 103-117. https://doi.org/10.1080/14729679.2013.789353
Buszard, T., Farrow, D., Reid, M., & Masters, R. S. (2014). Modifying equipment in early skill development: A tennis perspective. Research quarterly for exercise and sport, 85(2), 218-225. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2014.893054
Buszard, T., Garofolini, A., Reid, M., Farrow, D., Oppici, L., & Whiteside, D. (2020). Scaling sports equipment for children promotes functional movement variability. Scientific reports, 10(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-59475-5
Buszard, T., Reid, M., Masters, R., & Farrow, D. (2016). Scaling the equipment and play area in children's sport to improve motor skill acquisition: A systematic review. Sports medicine, 46(6), 829-843. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-015-0452-2
Button, C., Seifert, L., Chow, J. Y., Davids, K., & Araujo, D. (2020). Dynamics of skill acquisition: An ecological dynamics approach. United States of America: Human Kinetics Publishers.
Celia, G. (2020). Les styles narratifs du groupe comme indicateurs de changement. Revue de psychotherapie psychanalytique de groupe, (1), 157-168. https://doi.org/10.3917/rppg.074.0157
Connor, J. D., Renshaw, I., Farrow, D., & Abernethy, B. (2016). Evaluating a 12-week games-based training program to improve cricket batting skill. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 87, S30-S31.
Cozzolino, M., Girelli, L., Vivo, D. R., Limone, P., & Celia, G. (2020). A mind-body intervention for stress reduction as an adjunct to an information session on stress management in university students. Brain and behavior, 10(6), e01651. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.1651
Cozzolino, M., Guarino, F., Castiglione, S., Cicatelli, A., & Celia, G. (2017). Pilot study on epigenetic response to a mind-body treatment. Translational Medicine@ UniSa, 17, 37.
Cozzolino, M., Vivo, D. R., Girelli, L., Limone, P., & Celia, G. (2020). The Evaluation of a Mind-Body Intervention (MBT-T) for Stress Reduction in Academic Settings: A Pilot Study. Behavioral Sciences, 10(8), 124. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs10080124
Davids, K., Araújo, D., Seifert, L., & Orth, D. (2015). An ecological dynamics perspective. New York: Routledge, 130-135. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315776675-12
Davids, K., Araújo, D., Vilar, L., Renshaw, I., & Pinder, R. (2013). An ecological dynamics approach to skill acquisition: Implications for development of talent in sport. Talent Development and Excellence, 5(1), 21-34.
Farrow, D., & Reid, M. (2010). The effect of equipment scaling on the skill acquisition of beginning tennis players. Journal of Sports Sciences, 28(7), 723-732. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640411003770238
Girelli, L., Alivernini, F., Lucidi, F., Cozzolino, M., Savarese, G., Sibilio, M., & Salvatore, S. (2018). Autonomy supportive contexts, autonomous motivation, and self-efficacy predict academic adjustment of first-year university students. Frontiers in Education 3, 95. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2018.00095
Girelli, L., Alivernini, F., Salvatore, S., Cozzolino, M., Sibilio, M., & Lucidi, F. (2018). Affrontare i primi esami: motivazione, supporto all'autonomia e percezione di controllo predicono il rendimento degli studenti universitari del primo anno. Journal of Educational, Cultural and Psychological Studies (ECPS Journal), (18), 165-185. https://doi.org/10.7358/ecps-2018-018-gire
Girelli, L., Cavicchiolo, E., Alivernini, F., Manganelli, S., Chirico, A., Galli, F., Cozzolino, M., Lucidi, F. (2020). Doping use in high-school students: Measuring attitudes, self-efficacy, and moral disengagement across genders and countries. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 663. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00663
Girelli, L., Cavicchiolo, E., Lucidi, F., Cozzolino, M., Alivernini, F., & Manganelli, S. (2019). Psychometric properties and validity of a brief scale measuring basic psychological needs satisfaction in adolescents. Journal of Educational, Cultural and Psychological Studies (ECPS Journal), (20), 215-229. https://doi.org/10.7358/ecps-2019-020-gire
Gorman, A. D., Headrick, J., Renshaw, I., McCormack, C. J., & Topp, K. M. (2021). A principled approach to equipment scaling for children's sport: A case study in basketball. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 16(1), 158-165. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747954120954569
Gray, R. (2020). Comparing the constraints led approach, differential learning and prescriptive instruction for training opposite-field hitting in baseball. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 51, 101797. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2020.101797
Hernández-Davo, H., Urbán, T., Sarabia, J. M., Juan-Recio, C., & Javier Moreno, F. (2014). Variable training: effects on velocity and accuracy in the tennis serve. Journal of sports sciences, 32(14), 1383-1388. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2014.891290
Kachel, K., Buszard, T., & Reid, M. (2015). The effect of ball compression on the match-play characteristics of elite junior tennis players. Journal of sports sciences, 33(3), 320-326. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2014.942683
Komar, J., Potdevin, F., Chollet, D., & Seifert, L. (2019). Between exploitation and exploration of motor behaviours: unpacking the constraints-led approach to foster nonlinear learning in physical education. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 24(2), 133-145. https://doi.org/10.1080/17408989.2018.1557133
Machado, J. C., Alcântara, C., Palheta, C., Santos, J. O. L. D., Barreira, D., & Scaglia, A. J. (2016). The influence of rules manipulation on offensive patterns during small-sided and conditioned games in football. Motriz: Revista de Educação Física, 22(4), 290-298. https://doi.org/10.1590/s1980-6574201600040012
Nunes, N. A., Gonçalves, B., Davids, K., Esteves, P., & Travassos, B. (2021). How manipulation of playing area dimensions in ball possession games constrains physical effort and technical actions in under-11, under-15 and under-23 soccer players. Research in Sports Medicine, 29(2), 170-184. https://doi.org/10.1080/15438627.2020.1770760
Oppici, L., Panchuk, D., Serpiello, F. R., & Farrow, D. (2017). Long-term practice with domain-specific task constraints influences perceptual skills. Frontiers in psychology, 8, 1387. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01387
Ramos, A., Coutinho, P., Leitão, J. C., Cortinhas, A., Davids, K., & Mesquita, I. (2020). The constraint-led approach to enhancing team synergies in sport-What do we currently know and how can we move forward? A systematic review and meta-analyses. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 50, 101754. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2020.101754
Ramos, A., Coutinho, P., Ribeiro, J., Fernandes, O., Davids, K., & Mesquita, I. (2020). Increasing tactical complexity to enhance the synchronisation of collective behaviours: An action-research study throughout a competitive volleyball season. Journal of Sports Sciences, 38(22), 2611-2619. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2020.1794265
Renshaw, I., & Chow, J. Y. (2019). A constraint-led approach to sport and physical education pedagogy. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 24(2), 103-116. https://doi.org/10.1080/17408989.2018.1552676
Renshaw, I., Davids, K., & Savelsbergh, G. J. (Eds.). (2010). Motor learning in practice: A constraints-led approach. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203888100
Renshaw, I., Davids, K., Newcombe, D., & Roberts, W. (2019). The constraints-led approach: Principles for sports coaching and practice design. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315102351
Rocco, D., Pastore, M., Gennaro, A., Salvatore, S., Cozzolino, M., & Scorza, M. (2018). Beyond verbal behavior: an empirical analysis of speech rates in psychotherapy sessions. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 978. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00978
Rossi, E. L., Cozzolino, M., Mortimer, J., Atkinson, D., & Rossi, K. L. (2011). A brief protocol for the creative psychosocial genomic healing experience: The 4-stage creative process in therapeutic hypnosis and brief psychotherapy. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 54(2), 133-152. https://doi.org/10.1080/00029157.2011.605967
Tan, C. W. K., Chow, J. Y., & Davids, K. (2012). 'How does TGfU work?': examining the relationship between learning design in TGfU and a nonlinear pedagogy. Physical education and sport pedagogy, 17(4), 331-348. https://doi.org/10.1080/17408989.2011.582486
Timmerman, E. A., Savelsbergh, G. J., & Farrow, D. (2019). Creating appropriate training environments to improve technical, decision-making, and physical skills in field hockey. Research quarterly for exercise and sport, 90(2), 180-189. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2019.1571678
Timmerman, E., De Water, J., Kachel, K., Reid, M., Farrow, D., & Savelsbergh, G. (2015). The effect of equipment scaling on children's sport performance: the case for tennis. Journal of sports sciences, 33(10), 1093-1100. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2014.986498
Venuleo C., Mangeli G., Mossi P., Amico A.F., Cozzolino M., Distante A., Ignone G., Savarese G. and Salvatore S. (2018). The Cardiac Rehabilitation Psychodynamic Group Intervention (CR-PGI): An Explorative Study. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 976. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00976
Downloads
Statistics
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Journal of Human Sport and Exercise

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Each author warrants that his or her submission to the Work is original and that he or she has full power to enter into this agreement. Neither this Work nor a similar work has been published elsewhere in any language nor shall be submitted for publication elsewhere while under consideration by JHSE. Each author also accepts that the JHSE will not be held legally responsible for any claims of compensation.
Authors wishing to include figures or text passages that have already been published elsewhere are required to obtain permission from the copyright holder(s) and to include evidence that such permission has been granted when submitting their papers. Any material received without such evidence will be assumed to originate from the authors.
Please include at the end of the acknowledgements a declaration that the experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed. The editors reserve the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the abovementioned requirements. The author(s) will be held responsible for false statements or failure to fulfill the above-mentioned requirements.
This title is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
You are free to share, copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms under the following terms:
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Notices:
You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation.
No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
Transfer of Copyright
In consideration of JHSE’s publication of the Work, the authors hereby transfer, assign, and otherwise convey all copyright ownership worldwide, in all languages, and in all forms of media now or hereafter known, including electronic media such as CD-ROM, Internet, and Intranet, to JHSE. If JHSE should decide for any reason not to publish an author’s submission to the Work, JHSE shall give prompt notice of its decision to the corresponding author, this agreement shall terminate, and neither the author nor JHSE shall be under any further liability or obligation.
Each author certifies that he or she has no commercial associations (e.g., consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangements, etc.) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article, except as disclosed on a separate attachment. All funding sources supporting the Work and all institutional or corporate affiliations of the authors are acknowledged in a footnote in the Work.
Each author certifies that his or her institution has approved the protocol for any investigation involving humans or animals and that all experimentation was conducted in conformity with ethical and humane principles of research.
Competing Interests
Biomedical journals typically require authors and reviewers to declare if they have any competing interests with regard to their research.
JHSE require authors to agree to Copyright Notice as part of the submission process.