Showing items 1 - 6 of 6

Embedding of psycho-perceptual-motor skills can improve athlete assessment and training programs

- Müller, Sean, van Rens, Fleur, Brenton, John, Morris-Binelli, Khaya, Piggott, Benjamin, Rosalie, Simon, Burgin, Matthew

  • Authors: Müller, Sean , van Rens, Fleur , Brenton, John , Morris-Binelli, Khaya , Piggott, Benjamin , Rosalie, Simon , Burgin, Matthew
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Expertise, 2 (1), 14-22. Vol. 2, no. 1 (2019), p. 14-22
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  • Description: Practitioners in a variety of sports seek unique ways to train athletes to better prepare them for competition. In this position paper, we argue that inclusion of psycho-perceptual-motor skills, from the fields of sport psychology and sport expertise, is crucial, but underutilized in the assessment and training of athletes. First, a brief introduction is provided as to why psycho-perceptual-motor skill is vital for training athletes. Second, examples are discussed relating to key concepts. These include the following: assessment of expertise discriminators such as visual anticipation under pressure contexts, incorporation of sports analytics and performance analysis to aid reflection upon previous experiences of good anticipation and coping with pressure, use of qualitative and quantitative measures to understand processes underlying performance and learning, as well as design of representative tasks for assessment and training anticipation under pressure contexts. Third, some recommendations are made to practitioners of sports teams to assist them in taking advantage of psycho-perceptual-motor skill to better prepare athletes for competition. Collectively, we hope this paper stimulates collaboration between practitioners of sports teams and scientists to create a greater focus upon integrated sport psychology and sport expertise in the training of athletes.

Implementing skill acquisition research in high-performance sport : reflecting on the importance of autonomy-support for successful collaboration

- Morris-Binelli, Khaya, Müller, Sean, van Rens, Fleur, Staniforth, Dave, Appleby, Brendyn, Rosalie, Simon

  • Authors: Morris-Binelli, Khaya , Müller, Sean , van Rens, Fleur , Staniforth, Dave , Appleby, Brendyn , Rosalie, Simon
  • Date: 2022
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Sport Psychology in Action Vol. 13, no. 3 (2022), p. 143-154
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  • Description: Perceptual-cognitive-motor skills, such as visual anticipation, are pivotal for superior performance in sport. However, there are only a limited number of skill acquisition specialists working with coaches to develop these skills in athletes. The purpose of this paper is to present a brief reflection on the use of psychological strategies to create an autonomy-supportive environment to embed a skill acquisition research project in high-performance sport. The research project was conducted with the Australian national field hockey high-performance unit and investigated individual differences in expert goalkeepers’ visual anticipation. The paper first discusses the role of a skill acquisition specialist, how they collaborate with coaches and athletes, and barriers to collaboration. The paper then outlines how psychological strategies can be used to create an autonomy-supportive environment to build a relationship and establish a research collaboration with a team. Further, the paper discusses the importance of continually involving coaches and athletes in the research process to facilitate their engagement and self-determined motivation to complete the project. By applying psychological strategies to create an autonomy-supportive environment, sports scientists may have greater success in overcoming the many barriers to conduct research in an elite sport setting, with the outcomes highly valuable for athlete development. © 2021 Association for Applied Sport Psychology.

Individual differences and transfer of visual anticipation in expert female field hockey goalkeepers

- Morris-Binelli, Khaya, Müller, Sean, Van Rens, Fleur, Harbaugh, Allen, Rosalie, Simon

  • Authors: Morris-Binelli, Khaya , Müller, Sean , Van Rens, Fleur , Harbaugh, Allen , Rosalie, Simon
  • Date: 2022
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Optometry and Vision Science Vol. 99, no. 2 (2022), p. 150-158
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  • Description: SIGNIFICANCE Visual anticipation is vital for performance in several domains such as driving, military, and high-speed interceptive sports, as it enables performers to handle severe time constraints. There has been little investigation into individual differences of anticipation skill transfer within a domain, which can guide training of anticipation to improve performance. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to investigate individual differences in the transfer of anticipation within a domain, specifically anticipation of the field hockey penalty corner drag-flick across different opponents. METHODS Eight female Australian international and national field hockey goalkeepers participated. Goalkeepers completed female and male opponent penalty corner drag-flick temporal occlusion tests that presented contextual defensive runner positioning relative to the penalty spot, drag-flicker kinematics, and ball flight. RESULTS Drag-flick movement time and ball velocity were significantly different across female and male opponents confirming that a transfer continuum existed. Five goalkeepers could transfer integration of runner contextual and drag-flicker kinematic information to anticipate loose runs above chance from female to male opponent tests. None of the goalkeepers could transfer integration of contextual and kinematic information for the tight runs across female to male opponents. CONCLUSIONS An individual differences approach with truly expert performers provided unique insights into the mechanism of anticipation transfer within a domain. The findings of this study contribute to theoretical and applied knowledge, which can guide the training of anticipation skill to prepare individuals for superior performance. © Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Psycho-perceptual-motor skills are deemed critical to save the penalty corner in international field hockey

- Morris-Binelli, Khaya, van Rens, Fleur, Müller, Sean, Rosalie, Simon

  • Authors: Morris-Binelli, Khaya , van Rens, Fleur , Müller, Sean , Rosalie, Simon
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Psychology of Sport and Exercise Vol. 51, no. (2020), p.
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  • Description: In interceptive sports such as field hockey goalkeeping, the psycho-perceptual-motor skill anticipation is vital for performance due to the extreme time constraints associated with saving a goal. The purpose of this study was to understand the beliefs and attitudes of international field hockey goalkeepers and coaches regarding anticipation of the drag-flick in penalty corners. Seven international goalkeepers and five international coaches were interviewed. Using a constructionist and relativist approach to reflexive thematic data analysis, we identified three overarching themes to anticipate the drag-flick, namely, pre-match video analysis, perception and action, and psychological factors. In the first theme, participants reported that pre-match video analysis allowed goalkeepers and coaches to identify the attacking capabilities of opposing teams. This analysis was used to inform defensive structure and save the drag-flick. In the second theme, participants reported that perception and action, which consisted of the pick-up of visual cues and movement execution, was important to anticipate the drag-flick. Goalkeepers reported that they rely heavily on ball flight, which was central in coaches’ approaches in training drills such as to use a projection machine that presents only ball flight information. The third theme, psychological factors, encompassed, psychological resilience, arousal regulation, leadership and communication, and sports intelligence, which were thought to be vital to facilitate anticipation of the drag-flick. The findings of this study have important implications for how to assess and train visual anticipation in time-constrained interceptive sports skills. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

Transfer of expert visual-perceptual-motor skill in sport

- Müller, Sean, Rosalie, Simon

  • Authors: Müller, Sean , Rosalie, Simon
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Book chapter
  • Relation: Anticipation and Decision Making in Sport p. 375-393
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  • Description: This chapter presents a synopsis of existing knowledge about transfer in sport, with the view that such a synopsis might generate ideas for further scientific inquiry, and helping to guide coach and player development. Transfer is discussed in terms of the following discriminators of expert performance in sport: anticipation pattern recall pattern recognition and decision making. The chapter discusses empirical evidence of transfer within sports relative to performance and learning, encompassing video simulation, virtual reality, or in situ methodologies. It examines empirical evidence of transfer between sports and in regard to the sampling of sports. The chapter describes theories of transfer and studies that have attempted to test theoretical predictions. It suggests that practical applications for practitioners based upon theory and empirical findings. The chapter outlines future research directions that require focused investigation to advance understanding of transfer, which can help advance what is known in the field of sport expertise and skill learning.

Validating an inertial measurement unit for cricket fast bowling : a first step in assessing the feasibility of diagnosing back injury risk in cricket fast bowlers during a tele-sport-and-exercise medicine consultation

- Harnett, Keegan, Plint, Brenda, Chan, Ka, Clark, Benjamin, Netto, Kevin, Davey, Paul, Müller, Sean, Rosalie, Simon

  • Authors: Harnett, Keegan , Plint, Brenda , Chan, Ka , Clark, Benjamin , Netto, Kevin , Davey, Paul , Müller, Sean , Rosalie, Simon
  • Date: 2022
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: PeerJ Vol. 10, no. (2022), p.
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  • Description: This study aimed to validate an array-based inertial measurement unit to measure cricket fast bowling kinematics as a first step in assessing feasibility for tele-sport-and-exercise medicine. We concurrently captured shoulder girdle relative to the pelvis, trunk lateral flexion, and knee flexion angles at front foot contact of eight cricket medium-fast bowlers using inertial measurement unit and optical motion capture. We used one sample t-tests and 95% limits of agreement (LOA) to determine the mean difference between the two systems and Smallest Worth-while Change statistic to determine whether any differences were meaningful. A statistically significant (p < 0.001) but small mean difference of -4.7̊ ± 8.6̊ (95% Confidence Interval (CI) [-3.1̊ to -6.4̊], LOA [-22.2 to 12.7], SWC 3.9̊) in shoulder girdle relative to the pelvis angle was found between the systems. There were no statistically significant differences between the two systems in trunk lateral flexion and knee flexion with the mean differences being 0.1̊ ± 10.8̊ (95% CI [-1.9̊ to 2.2̊], LOA [-22.5 to 22.7], SWC 1.2̊) and 1.6̊ ± 10.1̊ (95% CI [-0.2̊ to 3.3̊], LOA [-19.2 to 22.3], SWC 1.9̊) respectively. The inertial measurement unit-based system tested allows for accurate measurement of specific cricket fast bowling kinematics and could be used in determining injury risk in the context of tele-sport-and-exercise-medicine. Copyright 2022 Harnett et al.
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