For Coaches

For athletes & players

Got a player/athlete with an ingrained technique fault or other performance problem? Have you repeatedly shown them the right way? Can they do the right thing during coaching/training but they fall back to their old, wrong, way during competition? Does the correct way feel strange to them, having done it the other way for so long? Do they still have to concentrate hard every time? Does it slow them down? Are they making more mistakes? Is the problem resistant to correction? Is it threatening their sporting career? Are you getting frustrated? Are you looking for a clear, constructive, helpful explanation for this predicament? Would you like a practical solution?

Got an ingrained technique fault or other performance problem? Have you repeatedly been shown the new, right, way? Can you do the right thing during coaching/training but you fall back to your old way during competition? Does it feel strange, having done it the other way for so long? Do you still have to concentrate hard every time? Does it slow you down? Are you making more mistakes? Is the problem resistant to correction? Is it threatening your sports career? Are you getting frustrated? Are you looking for a clear, constructive and helpful explanation for your predicament? Would you like a practical solution?

Sports Coaching Protocols Explained

A Sports Coaching Protocol is a coaching tool that makes sports coaching more cost- and time-effective.

Typically, after one successful skill correction/conversion/transition training session using Sports Coaching Protocols (Old Way/New Way Learning^®), an individual, group or team has an 80% or higher probability of immediately performing in the new way; a 20% or lower probability of performing in the old way for a while; and a 90% probability of self-detecting an old way if and when it occurs and then self-correcting it (Figure 1).

It is this large and immediate effect and the elimination of the customary adaptation period that sets Sports Coaching Protocols apart from all other coaching tools. Sports Coaching Protocols have been applied just three days before an elite athlete competed successfully in national championships.

Unprecedented training effects of this magnitude are achievable by skilled practitioners in all kinds of sports and at any level from beginner to Olympic.

Sports Coaching Protocols have this universal training impact because they empower the sports coach to directly tackle the transfer of training problem by:

• overcoming habit pattern interference, a common cause of training failure and reversion to old ways
• greatly reducing or eliminating negative transfer typically encountered by more conventional coaching methods
• eliminating the typically prolonged and risky adaptation period during which the athlete or player struggles to adapt to the new way of thinking and performing.

A Sports Coaching Protocol consists of a set of verbal instructions given by a coach to an athlete or player during a coaching session. The verbal instructions that make up a Sports Coaching Protocol are an adaptation of Old Way/New Way^®, an innovative learning method developed in Australia by a cognitive psychologist.

Sports Coaching Protocols are flexible coaching tools because they can be applied in any recreational or competitive sport; with individuals, groups or whole teams; at any level from beginner to Olympic; and with any age level.

Sports Coaching Protocols are developed on the spot, in real time, as required, by the coach either during or before a training session. A coach skilled in using Sports Coaching Protocols can easily develop and apply a fresh protocol at any time during a coaching session, which makes for a seamless insertion of the protocol into the normal coaching process.

The verbal instructions that form part of the protocol are tailored to achieve the primary coaching goals that form the basis of all kinds of coaching, namely:

Skill or Technique Correction/Development

Sports Coaching Protocols can correct habit pattern errors, a common and persistent error that resists normal skill correction. This error, fault or imperfection in the athlete's or player's performance may become apparent during competition or in a training session or it may already be known. The error could be a persistent technique fault in elite sport or a common fault found in beginners.

Conversion/Transition Training

Sports Coaching Protocols enable the athlete or player to transition or convert, e.g, a player changing codes from rugby league to rugby union; or an Olympic athlete having to change to a different throwing technique following the introduction of a new javelin.

For each of these training goals, there are two aspects of the athlete's performance that can be converted or corrected by a Sports Coaching Protocol, namely:

The physical component of the skilled performance or action sequence

This is the athlete's actual physical performance that can be observed, e g., batting technique, tennis racquet grip, golf swing, and so on.

The mental component

This is the mental component that directs action, e.g., the athlete's "wrong idea", misconception, incomplete or incorrect understanding or the mental map that underpins his or her actions.

A successful Sports Coaching Protocol skill correction or conversion coaching session is preceded by careful preparation. This preparation is crucial to achieving the desired performance improvement and includes a thorough diagnosis of the technique fault, action or mental model that has to change (the athlete's "old way"); a determination of the correct substitute technique, action or mental model (the "new way") for that particular athlete; and a clear description of the key differences between the old and new ways.

The numerous case studies, user feedback and published experimental data on this website show that Sports Coaching Protocols and Old Way/New Way^®, the learning method employed in protocols, can be applied to a wide range of sports performance and behaviour.

Sports Coaching Protocols are very user-friendly and easy to learn. Coaches readily adopt the protocols as part of their professional toolkit. Athletes and players not only learn and improve faster and appreciate the learning method but they also retain what they have learned, even in highly demanding peak performance situations. Transfer of learning from training and coaching sessions to competition is excellent.

Coaches, athletes and players can choose from three types of Sports Coaching Protocol products.

Purpose-built, made-to-order Sports Coaching Protocols

Personal Best Academy can prepare tailor made Sports Coaching Protocols for specific coaching purposes, e.g., code changes, sport transitions, conversions, technique correction, slump recovery, team communication. More.

Online training modules for DIY users

Online modules equip trainers, instructors, teachers and coaches to develop Sports Coaching Protocols for their own specific purposes. An online module consists of a Flash-based, self-paced, interactive training module that runs in your web browser and:

1. Teaches you the Old Way/New Way^® Learning method.
2. Shows how to design your own Sports Coaching Protocols, using Old Way/New Way^®.
3. Gives a step by step explanation, often with video footage, of one or more specific applications of the protocol. More.

Training workshops

Training workshop for small groups provide hands-on instruction, demonstrations and follow-up implementation support for coaches, athletes and players. The workshop objective is to equip participants with the necessary knowledge and skills to design and implement their own Sports Coaching Protocols. Workshop participants will be able to prepare Sports Coaching Protocols during the workshop and can then implement those protocols afterwards. More.

Feedback from Sports Coaching Protocol users

Professor Yuri Hanin from the Research Institute for Olympic Sports, Jyväskylä, (Finland) relates his experiences with the application of Sports Coaching Protocols (Old Way/New Way^®) in his work with elite Finnish Olympic athletes and coaches.

Some of this ground breaking work with coaches and their athletes was published in The Sport Psychologist, 2002, 16, 1, 79-99. This published coaching science project won second prize in the 4th EAA [Coaching] Science Awards, out of a record entry of 28 projects from 13 European countries.

"I heard about the system two years ago when I was in Australia as an invited visiting international scholar. The idea of rapid correction of technique was very appealing since my practical work with athletes and coaches focuses on performance enhancement, optimal performance states, and preparation for important international competitions.

Persistent errors in technique, especially under competitive stress, are very common among elite athletes and are perhaps among the major factors that can cause underperformance. Moreover, the major problem with a conventional approach to error correction is that it takes a long time and the change is often not permanent.

Therefore, I started over a year ago by taking the Personal Best Academy online sports coaching skills course conducted by Dr Paul Baxter who uses and teaches Old Way/New Way^® in Brisbane, Australia.

As part of this practical course, Paul and I communicated via email on specific performance enhancement problems I wanted to work on. I've been using Old Way/New Way^® for rapid correction of consistent errors in technique with track and field athletes (javelin, hammer throwing and sprinting), with a pro-tour female golfer, and also with a soccer team. All nine interventions were very successful. At the same time, we collaborated with Paul to advance our research into skill development and correction with elite athletes and still do.

There are several benefits that I have experienced using Old Way/New Way. It is very practical; the technical problem is solved quickly and completely in just one single session; the results are immediate, there is no adaptation period as with conventional skill development and correction.

Moreover, the observed technique improvement is permanent and extends into psychological benefits such as feelings of empowerment, enhanced self-confidence, satisfaction with the elimination of errors, better understanding, higher motivation and a desire to engage in more high quality training of this kind. A single learning trial lasting from one to two hours, including an half hour warm up, usually results in 80% or better improvement in performance. The new way (corrected skill) is consistently performed and spontaneous recovery of errors, if any, is easily handled. Skill improvement also directly transfers to competitive performance, as shown in our case studies. Under conventional skill correction methods, technique difficulties still resisted correction after months and, in some cases, years of effort. Without Old Way/New Way, as one coach said, it would have required up to 2000 repetitions or four years of practicing the correct starting technique before the performance would have improved.

I think Old Way/New Way^® greatly extends the sport psychologist's potential area of applied work with athletes and coaches. Up till now applied sports psychologists worked almost exclusively in the domain of mental skills training as a means to performance enhancement. Now they can work in both domains.

Perhaps, the greatest benefit for me professionally is that I can see how I can extend my own work - the Individual Zones of Optimal Functioning (IZOF) model. For instance, from a general focus on optimal (or dysfunctional) emotional subjective experiences I have moved further to kinaesthetic awareness and now can appreciate more the role of individually relevant technique. Thus to enhance performance I can focus not only on optimal emotional states but on optimal technique which, if not developed, can be a serious barrier to performance improvement.

Finally, Old Way/New Way^® is based on a sound theoretical and methodological framework. It has been empirically validated in non-sports settings (educational). The underpinning theory offers a high degree of predictability of performance errors and their likely resolution. The 4-step correction procedure itself is well structured and provides an opportunity for a well-planned intervention with a very clear focus. But what's more, the whole thing is a real cooperative effort between the athlete, the coach and the sport psychologist and this is a mutually beneficial experience usually resulting in the development of high quality working (partnership) relationships.

The program can be used solely or in conjunction with another. For instance, I incorporated it into my own IZOF model as skill correction with movement patterns was missing from my applied perspective.

Finally, team consulting with Paul via Internet in working with athletes and coaches was professionally and personally an outstanding and exceptionally enriching experience. Thanks Paul!"

A list of Sports Coaching Protocol users can be seen here.

Sports Coaching Protocols—why you need them

Sports Coaching Protocols make sports coaching more effective because athletes and players learn and improve faster, errors (and associated risks) are reduced and negative transfer is virtually eliminated. With Sports Coaching Protocols you can:

1. Speed up sport transitions and sport conversion training, e.g., code changes.

2. Improve transfer of learning and reduce negative transfer.

3. Reduce performance errors and decrease risk.

4. Make more efficient use of coaching time, freeing up resources.

5. Increase athlete and player flexibility and adaptability to change.

6. Provide professional development for coaches so they can readily adopt these coaching tools as part of their professional toolkit.

Sports Coaching Protocols and Old Way/New Way^® can make a real difference to coaching effectiveness for coaches, athletes, players and your organisation.

Typically, after one successful correction session with Old Way/New Way^®, an individual, group or team has an 80% or higher probability of immediately performing in the new way (Figure 1); a 20% or lower probability of performing in the old way for a while; and a 90% probability of self-detecting an old way if and when it occurs and then self-correcting it.

BENEFITS FOR ATHLETES AND PLAYERS
Without Sports Coaching Protocols	With Sports Coaching Protocols
Conversion/transition training takes time and effort.	Faster conversion/transition training.
Extended and risky adaptation/adjustment period during which athletes and players keep falling back to old ways (negative transfer).	Adaptation period greatly reduced or eliminated.
Athlete or player performs correctly during training while under instruction but reverts to their old incorrect way when performing solo or while under performance stress (poor transfer).	Athlete or player performs correctly when performing solo or when under performance stress. Minimal or no falling back to old erroneous ways, even under stress.
Negative transfer increases risk.	Negligible or no negative transfer.
Sub-optimal transfer of training.	Excellent transfer of training.
Errors in understanding and performance often develop that require later correction (re-training).	Fewer errors and any errors are corrected rapidly and permanently. Little or no retraining because the athlete or layer gets it right the first time.
Faulty mental models (misunderstandings) pose a risk.	Fewer faults in mental models. Misunderstandings are corrected quickly; risk averted.
Old habits from prior training (or lack of training) die hard.	Bad or unsafe habits corrected quickly and permanently.

 

BENEFITS FOR SPORTS COACHES
Without Sports Coaching Protocols	With Sports Coaching Protocols
Coaches undergoing professional development have to adapt to new skills, procedures, equipment.	Sports Coaching Protocols are readily integrated into existing coaching routines.
Ongoing performance monitoring by the coach is required.	Minimal performance monitoring. Athletes or players become self monitoring and self correcting.

 

BENEFITS FOR THE ORGANISATION
Without Sports Coaching Protocols	With Sports Coaching Protocols
High demand for coaching time (initial coaching takes longer and remedial coaching may be required).	More cost-effective use of coaching time (faster initial training and less remediation).
Negative transfer increases risk.	Negative transfer greatly reduced or eliminated altogether.
Ongoing performance monitoring by the coach is required.	Minimal performance monitoring. Athletes or players become self monitoring and self correcting.

Sports Coaching Protocol Applications

All kinds of sports coaching situations can employ Sports Coaching Protocols. During a coaching session, the coach applies the Sports Coaching Protocols, as required, to:

1. Accelerate conversion and transition training.
2. Reduce negative transfer.
3. Correct persistent and resistant habit pattern errors.
4. Speed up skill development.

Here are some typical sports coaching situations that illustrate the wide application of Sports Coaching Protocols. This list is illustrative but not exhaustive. Actual case histories accompany many of these applications. Linked documents will open in a new page so when that page is closed you will be returned to this home page.

Sports Coaching Protocols for Technique Correction and Sport Conversions

Olympic sports technique correction

Coaching Olympic javelin and sprinting

The Sport Psychologist

Rapid technique correction using Old Way/New Way: Two case studies with Olympic athletes. Yuri Hanin, Research Institute for Olympic Sports, Finland. Tapio Korjus and Petteri Jouste, Finnish Sports Association, Finland; Paul Baxter, personalbest.com.au, Brisbane. Published in The Sport Psychologist, 2002, 16, 79-99.

This research won second prize in the 4th European Athletics Association [Coaching] Science Awards, out of a record entry of 28 projects from 13 European countries.

Journal Abstract:

Exploratory studies examine the effectiveness of Old Way/New Way^®, an innovative metacognitive learning strategy initially developed in education settings, in the rapid and permanent correction of established technique difficulties experienced by two Olympic athletes in javelin and sprinting. Individualized interventions included video-assisted error analysis, step-wise enhancement of kinaesthetic awareness, re-activation of the error memory, discrimination and generalization of the correct movement pattern. Self-reports, coach's ratings and video recordings were used as measures of technique improvement. A single learning trial produced immediate and permanent technique improvement (80% or higher correct action) and full transfer of learning, without the need for the customary adaptation period. Findings are consistent with the performance enhancement effects of Old Way/New Way^® demonstrated experimentally in non-sport settings.

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Coaching Olympic swimming

Research Institute for Olympic Sports, Finland

Rapid correction of start technique in an Olympic-level swimmer—a case study using Old Way/New Way^®. Hanin, Y., Malvela, M., & Hanina, M. Journal of Swimming Research, 2004, Vol. 16, 11-17.

Journal Abstract: This study examined the effectiveness of Old Way/New Way^®, an innovative meta-cognitive learning strategy initially developed in education settings, in the rapid and permanent correction of consistent errors in starting technique experienced by an Olympic-level swimmer. Individualized intervention three days prior to the [national championships] included a detailed error analysis, step-wise enhancement of an athlete's kinesthetic awareness, and re-activation of the error memory, discrimination, and generalization of the individually optimal correct movements pattern. Self-reports, coach's ratings, and video recordings indicated that a single learning trial produced immediate and permanent technique improvement (85-100% correct starts), a full transfer of learning without the need for the customary adaptation period, and improved performance. The findings are consistent with performance enhancement effects of old way/new way demonstrated experimentally in other sports. Read more.

Coaching Olympic hammer throwing

Technique correction

M, a 25 year old female hammer thrower. Personal best of 62.07 (1999). Gold (1996, 1999) and silver (1994, 1997, 1998) medals in national championships. This case illustrates many of the important outcomes of Old Way/New Way^® that have been demonstrated experimentally and in field trials in non-sport learning settings. These outcomes concern skill development, performance improvement, cognitive and affective change and the desire to continue using Old Way/New Way^® for technique development. Read more.

Coaching rowing

Technique correction

Rowing Australia listed Old Way/New Way as a coaching resource and described it as follows:

"www.coachingwins.com (now SimulatorTraining.net) promotes the "old way/new way" method for technique correction. This method, which was developed by a South Australian and is now being picked up by coaches around the world, corrects bad habits in technique in a matter of hours rather than months. As featured in the March 2003 edition of Sports Coach. Read more.

Rowing coaching workshop

A coaching clinic for rowing coaches was held in Holland in 2008, as advertised on the Koninklijke Nederlandsche Roeibond website.

De Where organiseert workshop coachen
Geplaatst op: vr 18 apr 2008

De Australische onderzoeker Paul Baxter is een van de geestelijk vaders van de Old Way New Way coaching methode. Hij is een beroemdheid in de Engelssprekende landen. De Old Way New Way coachmethode helpt coaches in korte tijd resultaat te boeken bij ingeslepen ineffectieve bewegingen, vormverlies, en overgang naar een ander technisch concept.

Paul Baxter verzorgt 28 juni een workshop Old Way New Way coaching in Nederland. Roeivereniging De Where is erin geslaagd om de founding-father van het nieuwe coachen uit te nodigen om in Purmerend een workshop te geven.

Doelgroep zijn (sub)topcoaches. Aan de workshop nemen ook coaches uit de schaatssport, atletiek en turnsport deel. Bij veel belangstelling wordt op 29 juni een tweede workshop georganiseerd.

Geef je snel op door te mailen naar vf.nederhof@mindef.nl. Het aantal nog beschikbare plaatsen is beperkt. Meer informatie lees je op www.coachingwins.com. Workshop flyer: http://www.knrb.nl/files/bestanden/CoachWorkshopFlyer.pdf

Coaching surfing

Martin Dunn, National Coaching Director, Surfing Australia, uses and recommends Sports Coaching Protocols and Old Way/New Way^®.

Coaching Running

Technique correction

Pat Henderson, a professional runner, had heard of a new method for quickly overcoming technique faults and agreed to take part in a demonstration of the power of Old Way/New Way^® to change what for him had been a major obstacle to improving his competitive performance, his starting technique. Read more.

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Coaching elite cricket

Jason Gillespie

"... one of the most spectacular examples of Old Way/New Way's^® success [is] cricketer Jason Gillespie [who] needed to change his bowling action .... he was able to change a major part of his bowling action in about 20 minutes...." Sports Coach.

This is how Australian Test Cricket pace bowler Jason Gillespie (real name) overcame technical difficulties, as reported by Neil Cross in The Advertiser, Adelaide, on 13 November 1997 (reproduced here with permission); on 20 November and on 21 November by David Burtenshaw; and on 26 August 1998 by Trevor Marshallsea in Dublin. Full text. Read more.

Australian Sports Commission

Old Way/New Way.^® Sports Coach. 2003, Vol. 25, No. 4. National journal of the Australian Sports Commission. Compares Old Way/New Way^® sports coaching with conventional coaching, and discusses the highly effective use of the technique with Jason Gillespie, first class cricketer, and with Olympic athletes in Finland.

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South Australian Sports Institute

Accelerated skill correction in elite sport

Kylie Baker (South Australian Sports Institute) & Gillian Tan (University of Southern Queensland). Mediational Learning (Old Way/New Way^®) for accelerated skill correction: A new paradigm and technique for elite sport. Paper presented at the Australian Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport, 2001: A Sports Medicine Odyssey. Challenges, Controversies and Change. 23-27 October 2001, Burswood International Resort Casino, Perth, Western Australia. Read more 1. Read more 2.

Extract

Mediational Learning (Old Way/New Way^®) has been applied by the psychologists at the South Australian Sports Institute (SASI) with a variety of different athletes. These athletes include the following:

• baseball players (pitching technique)
• basketball players (shooting technique - 3 point line, and jump shots)
• divers (hurdle technique on spring board, take-off technique on platform, and body posture)
• rowers (catch position)
• soccer players (kicking technique)
• volleyball players (hitting and serving technique, as well as team concepts and beliefs).

Golf swing improvement

PGA AAA Rated Golf Coach

By Chris Graham, PGA AAA Rated Golf Coach.

"Old habits die hard? - Not any more!! Over years of coaching, I have seen countless golfers struggling with an ingrained swing faults that despite hours and hours of practice, just won't go away. Sometimes when it does, it merely reappears when they play in the pressure of a big competition. In the old days, the answer was to have patience and practice-practice-practice! I knew there had to be a better way.

I have been researching the use of science in golf coaching for the past seven years while completing a Masters degree in Sport Psychology. A few years ago, I came across Old Way/New Way^®. It was originally used in education but was starting to be used in other settings including sport. I have been using it with my golf coaching ever since.

So, science has come to the rescue of golfers who have been putting up with a slice, hook or other swing fault, even after years of lessons, practice and frustration. Old Way/New Way^® is an innovative coaching method that can accelerate learning, reduce practice times and overcome old bad swing habits.

Old Way/New Way^® is different from conventional coaching approaches because the process deals directly with subconscious interference that occurs when a player is trying to break long standing "bad" habits.

Old Way/New Way^® lessons start out by raising awareness of a golfer's "old" swing before introducing the "new" correct way. Next comes a switching process between both "old" and "new" ways, before starting practice of the "new way"

With Old Way/New Way^®, practice times are reduced, swing changes come faster and there is no falling back to old ways under pressure of competition.

Old Way/New Way^® is being used with Olympic athletes in Finland and is also being used at the South Australian Sports Institute. It has been featured on the ABC TV New Dimensions program."

Chris Graham is a fully qualified member of the Australian Professional Golfer's Association and has one of the highest coaching qualifications currently available in Australia (AAA). He holds a Level III accreditation with the Australian Coaching Council, has degrees in Business and Psychology and a Masters Degree in Sport Psychology.

Golf Australia

Baxter, P and Graham, C. 10 Steps To Kicking Your Bad Habit. Golf Australia, 2006, June issue. Full text.

Golf pro corrects his own technique problem

Roger Stephens, the golf pro at South Lakes Golf Club, Goolwa, South Australia, used Old Way/New Way^® to quickly eradicate a flaw in his downswing that had resisted correction for 15 years. Read more.

Anger management in golf

Eddie, aged 15 with a handicap of 5 after two years playing golf, is a rising star but things look bleak because he finds he cannot control his angry outbursts when he plays a bad shot, so he loses both his concentration and the game. Read more.

Coaching basketball

Mario improves his free throwing technique

"I have been wrestling with my shooting for the past two years. As indicated, I sought to compensate for a tendency to shoot off to the right by positioning myself to the left of the dot on the foul line that is aligned with the basket. Since making this adjustment and then later changing the way in which I grasped the ball, my error pattern changed. Now, I'm inclined to shoot just as many shots off to the left as I do to the right. As for range errors, again, I am quite consistent in that just as many are long as fall short. The exception here is when I'm tired. When this is the case, my shots tend to fall short." Read more.

Coaching tennis

Changing racquet grip

"Top Spin Forehand Grip. I do not consistently change my grip from a hammer grip (v's of finger/thumb running along the top of the racket - like a handshake) to a western grip (v's of finger/thumb running along back bevel of racket grip, index finger extended up and across the grip, fingers not in too tight), which is important in allowing the racket to brush up against the back of the ball, creating the required top spin. This sliding back of the hand in preparation gives greater flexibility and control. In my old way, when trying for topspin, I grip the racket using the hammer grip , but in my new way I change to a western grip when I want topspin." "The difference between my old and new way is that in my old way I grip the racket using the hammer grip.... and in my new way I change to a western grip when I want topspin .... The new way is better because it allows me to get better control over the ball and exert more natural spin."

Swimming technique correction

Triathlon Department of the Hong Kong Sports Development Board

Rapid swimming technique correction program. Triathlon Department of the Hong Kong Sports Development Board. Correct swimming technique is major contributing factor to enhanced performance in swimming. Rapid Technique Correction using Old Way/New Way^® was the main guideline of our program, with adaptations to fit the athletes' needs and the Hong Kong situation. At the Triathlon Department of the Hong Kong Sports Development Board, we have designed and implemented a program which aims at correcting faulty swimming techniques of our triathletes. In addition to Hanin, Korjus, Jouste and Baxter's (2002) study on rapid technique correction, other factors which are crucial to enhanced performance in swimming are added to the program and they include the training of flexibility, muscular strength and balance.

Coaching lawn bowls

Queensland Bowler

This article first appeared in seven monthly parts in the Queensland Bowler from December 1998 to June 1999, inclusive and was featured in the coaching section of the Royal Queensland Bowls Association web site.

Old Way/New Way^® applied to sport coaching involving physical and mental skills. These articles explain the theoretical background of Old Way/New Way^® and how this innovative learning system can be used to accelerate skill development and correction in lawn bowls. Mental as well as physical skills are dealt with in detail. The examples can readily be transferred to performance enhancement and technique correction situations in other sports. Competitive players and athletes as well as sports coaches will find this material useful. Full text.

Coaching football

Ball handling skills

Football coach Neil Mackay (real name) runs the Palm Beach Currumbin High School Sports Excellence - Australian Football program. In this program talented students spend a lot of time learning about and playing Australian football, a game that has been described by some as the fastest football game on earth.

Neil had spent several months during 1996 working with two of his prize players to correct technique errors they were experiencing with hand ball and marking, two of the key skills of the game. What appeared to be well established faults were still resistant to correction after all this time. Read more.

Kicking technique

Mark Woolnough corrects his kicking technique and makes the All Australian Team.

Mark Woolnough (real name) lives and breathes Australian football. He was a star player in the State under-18 team and has a bright future in the game. One evening in early May 1997 Personal Best Academy was called in to help correct a resistant technique problem Mark was having with his kicking. Despite being highly motivated to improve and with all the encouragement from his coach, Mark was unable to make much progress with this habitual problem with his kicking. Read more.

Coaching soccer

South Australian National Women's Soccer League

Unsolicited comments on Old Way/New Way^® from a member of the South Australian National Women's Soccer League

"Old Way/New Way^® has been great because I practice kicking less often and it improves significantly more that it used to!! That is, it helps me work smart instead of just hard. The "return" from Old Way/New Way^®, i.e., the benefit gained for the time put in, is excellent. Read more.

Conversion and Transition Training: Habit Patterns and Negative Transfer

Habit Pattern Demonstration

Prior training and experience (established knowledge and skills) that over time have become well learned, automated and instinctive, can interfere with and slow down the learning of new knowledge and skills or even completely disable new learning. This is known as habit pattern interference or proactive inhibition. It is a force to be reckoned with because it is a powerful and universal obstacle to learning.

This brief but intriguing activity, known as the Stroop Test, is a demonstration of the powerful interference effect caused by prior learning.

Exactly what it means for you personally will become clearer after you have done the two short tasks and you interpret your scores.

Proceed to the Stroop Test. When you have done the test and interpreted the results, close that page in order to return to this page.

The Transfer Problem

Here is an extract from a revised version of the site author's discussion paper listed on the CRM-DEVEL web site.

Neil Krey's CRM Developer's Forum serves to identify needs, coordinate processes and facilitate development of Crew Resource Management (CRM) and Human Factors (HF) resources and products for aviation and other applications. The human factors approach presents concepts that are relevant not just to aviation but to all skill development training, including performance in sport.

The paper, entitled "CRM training fails because of what trainees already know; not because of what they don't know", makes the point that,

"In many training programs the learner may appear to be able to adopt the desired behaviours during the training session, e.g., "Crew members ask questions regarding crew actions" (one of Helmreich's Crew Performance Markers) but when they get into the air much of what they apparently learned during training sometimes seems to disappear. This is especially noticeable when things get busy or in emergency situations. Under high work load and stressful conditions people invariable revert to their "own way" [i,e., prior training, poor or no training, ingrained error or misconception] and forget their new training. This is known as the, "transfer of training problem".

"The transfer problem plagues most training efforts. For example, research from the University of Texas tells us that it can take up to 1,000 hours for an experienced pilot to become fully competent and comfortable with the flight management system. The transfer problem applies to all training and learning situations; not just flight training - it is universal and hence extremely important."

"The traditional answer to the transfer problem is to make them practice - "just keep practicing and it will come, eventually". While this is true and most will catch on soon and others will take longer, this time honoured remedy is very slow and expensive. The effects associated with the transfer problem, namely frustration, extra training time and cost, dropout rate, increased likelihood of error, incidents or accidents, all take their toll."

"The transfer problem is the real bogey in CRM training (and in any other training) and it has to be addressed." Read more.

Technique Correction, Conversion and Transition Training

Sports coaches try to get it right the first time with their athletes and players but invariably end up spending a lot of time trying to correct errors, misconceptions, noncompliance, technique faults and bad habits that somehow develop.

Because these errors were not corrected early, and were inadvertently repeated over and over (i.e., practised), many error patterns are not just slips or mistakes but are actually learned, habitual and automatic and therefore much harder to eradicate.

For example, Mary always slices her golf swing and Petrova has a high percentage of double faults she has been unable to fix.

We all know that old habits die hard and many habit patterns are resistant to conventional change methods.

These limitations of traditional training and coaching programs are apparent in all settings including sport, workplace training, education, therapy and personal development.

Re-training, the typical solution to these problems, improves things only slowly, if at all.

Although athletes and players may appear to pay attention during training and practice their new, correct, skills and knowledge over and over, the next day when placed under pressure or when unsupervised and left to their own devices, they seem to have forgotten what they’ve learned and the same habit pattern errors (old entrenched attitudes, beliefs, misunderstandings, poor techniques) resurface.

A prolonged adjustment period and poor transfer of learning are the two most typical outcomes of training and coaching efforts worldwide.

All this wastes talent and resources and makes change and transition programs so much less cost-effective. There’s got to be a better way.

The well-documented mental mechanism of negative transfer interferes with the learning process during conversion training, creates mental confusion, increases the error rate and slows down skill acquisition.

Because the disruptive effects of negative transfer often are not apparent during coaching and training sessions, coaches, athletes and players can be misled into believing that the training program has been effective and that the understanding and skills that were taught have transferred fully to normal play or competition.

Unfortunately, the transfer of training problem is a “sleeper” because it only shows up under certain conditions. During normal performance conditions the problem does not surface because the athlete has enough spare mental capacity to be able to concentrate adequately on the task at hand. Under such controlled conditions the athlete is able to apply his training and consequently the training program appears to have worked.

However, during stressful periods of peak competition the athlete is working at or near the limits of his or her mental capacity such that active concentration is disabled in favour of operation at an automated instinctive reflex level. This is when the athlete or player appears to forget their skill correction or conversion training and falls back to faulty mental models and poor skills.

These consistent errors are referred to in the coaching science research literature as habit pattern errors and they are notoriously hard to eradicate. At such potentially critical moments negative transfer suddenly surfaces and training failure becomes evident.

Apart from stressful performance conditions, negative transfer also shows up during periods of prolonged inactivity when concentration lapses and athletes fall back to old automated ways of thinking and acting. The valuable skills acquired during training and coaching sessions then fails to be implemented.

The transfer of training problem makes sports coaching programs less cost- and time-effective and wastes valuable training resources.

Until now, there was no known method of dealing with the transfer problem that meets industry requirements, i.e., is cost- and time-effective, user-friendly and above all, practical for coaches, athletes and players to use.

Sports Coaching Protocol's (Old Way/New Way^® Learning) track record of published research and successful trials show that this coaching tool can quickly and permanently overcome negative transfer, accelerate learning and reduce risk.

Old Way/New Way^® Learning

What is Old Way/New Way^® Learning?

Sports Coaching Protocols employ an adaptation of Old Way/New Way^® Learning for use in sports coaching. Old Way/New Way^® relies on well known learning principles. It is officially endorsed by the South Australian Department of Education as a recognised and approved learning method (The Education Gazette, 1983, Vol. 11, No. 11, week ending 29 April, p. 289. Department of Education, South Australia.)

Basically, Old Way/New Way^® Learning is a special way of practicing that greatly reduces the mental interference from established habit patterns (e.g., prior training) and consequently accelerates learning and improves performance.

Old Way/New Way^® is a novel synthesis and interpretation of existing and newly emerging cognitive science concepts and principles, including automaticity in behaviour (Bargh & Chartrand, 1999); learned errors (Reason, 1990); the influence of prior learning (Ausubel, 1968); metacognition (Flavell, 1987); and proactive inhibition and accelerated forgetting (Underwood, 1957; 1966).

Developed by Dr Harry Lyndon in the 1970's, Old Way/New Way^® consists of a protocol or set of instructions. Much more than just a remedial method, this protocol accelerates cognitive and behavioural change within individuals, greatly reduces the typically prolonged adaptation period to the adoption of change and consequently improves learning transfer.

Experienced Old Way/New Way^® practitioners have adapted the original Old Way/New Way^® protocol to a wide variety of learning and training situations, environments and individuals.

Why is Old Way/New Way^® Necessary?

What's wrong with currently available methods of sports coaching?

Current coaching methods can be quite effective when learning something new but are much less effective when changing something that is already established. Examples are changing sport codes from rugby league to rugby union or changing your faulty golf swing. In such change situations Old Way/New Way^® comes into its own and gets better results than other coaching methods.

Whenever we want or have to change our beliefs, understanding and performance this presents special learning and training problems because old habits of thought and deed die hard. As an old flight instructor once said,

"The problem is not learning the new, it's forgetting [unlearning] the old."

Conventional learning, training and behaviour change methods typically come up against force of habit. This conflict between the old and the new produces a typically extended adaptation period. Even highly skilled and motivated people who diligently practice their new way despair when they find themselves repeatedly falling back to old ways as they struggle to adapt.

During this adaptation period, their performance slows, concentration demands rise, errors increase, risk exposure increases and frustration levels rise. These are all signs of a brain in conflict; an all too familiar but completely unnecessary conflict.

Old Way/New Way^® bypasses the brain mechanisms that preserve prior learning and that make old habits die hard. This learning method greatly accelerates change and improvement.

So, at what point in the sports coaching process should Old Way/New Way^® be used?

1. Conventional training and coaching methods should be used when learning something new and unfamiliar.
2. Old Way/New Way^® should be used when changing over to something that is different from and consequently conflicts with, or is likely to conflict with, what we already know and do, as in the correction of errors (technique/skill correction) and in conversion/transition training.

Old Way/New Way^® is a generic learning method that has been applied successfully to a wide range of skill correction and skill development situations and to the correction of incorrect or incomplete mental models, i.e., the correction of misconceptions and the improvement of understanding.

Published experimental studies incorporating a control group (Figure 1) and workplace trials show that when individuals undergo conversion or transition training or skill/technique correction that incorporates Old Way/New Way^®, they typically experience:

• 80% improvement in the specific skill and its understanding after one training session, i.e., people improve a lot faster
• no reversion or falling back to old ways, even during stressful performance, i.e., people remember what they were taught.

Since 1986, Personal Best Academy has been the sole supplier of customised Old Way/New Way^® training to government and industry trainers, worldwide.

Proof of Concept: Published Research, Workplace Trials, User Case Studies

Old Way/New Way^® is a learning method that is underpinned not just by a theoretical framework. Research published in refereed international journals, case studies, user reports and the results of workplace trials all confirm that Old Way/New Way^® is cost-effective, easy to learn and readily adopted by coaches, athletes and players. Coaches find they can integrate Sports Coaching Protocols seamlessly into their professional toolkit.

Published research, workplace trials and case studies over the last thirty years (see bibliography) indicate that an athlete or player who undergoes Old Way/New Way^® training when trying to change something already established, is able to make the change change after one or two brief coaching sessions, provided that the problem was correctly diagnosed prior to the intervention and he or she follows the prescribed post-intervention self-correction routine.

Typically, after one successful correction session with Old Way/New Way^®, an individual, group or team has an 80% or higher probability of performing in the new way; a 20% or lower probability of still performing in the old way; and a 90% probability of self-detecting an old way if and when it occurs and then self-correcting it.

The success of this change method and subsequent performance improvement or behaviour change depend very much on a correct diagnosis or identification of the "old" and "new" ways, i.e., what is the person doing that has to change and what should they be doing instead?

Although the Old Way/New Way^® protocol itself is not complicated to administer or follow, what comes before the intervention (i.e., the identification of the old and new ways) and what comes after (i.e., self-correction and follow-up) both require experience and expert knowledge of the change area concerned.

For example, correcting poor technique in the javelin throw requires expert input from both the athlete and his or her experienced coach. Athlete and coach have to identify exactly what things are wrong with the athlete's technique. They then have to identify the optimal technique for that particular athlete at his or her stage of development. These preliminary tasks precede the application of the change protocol and require sufficient knowledge and time.

Although the athlete will be enabled by the Old Way/New Way^® protocol to change over to the "new" way, failure to correctly identify the "old" and "new" ways can compromise the entire change session and result in no improvement or, even worse, a drop in performance as measured by accuracy and length of the throw.

An "error" can be a performance error or a misconception or faulty mental model. These physical and mental errors are related because many performance errors start with a "wrong" idea or a faulty or incomplete mental model. In some situations, correcting the misconception is enough to also correct the associated performance error. In other situations, both the performance or action and its underlying wrong idea have to be corrected. This again illustrates the wide usefulness of Old Way/New Way^® but also explains why practitioners need to be experienced interventionists and be mindful of all the possible complications. There are many traps for young players.

Old Way/New Way^® is not only effective but also a flexible change tool because it can be used with individuals, groups or teams. There are important differences in the protocols when working with more than one individual at a time but the results are the same.

Another useful feature of Old Way/New Way^® is that change and improvement can be achieved incrementally. Sometimes, an individual or group cannot make a big change all at once. For example, a young athlete may not have the physical capability or lacks the readiness to adopt the "ideal" technique for his or her sport, so smaller, incremental improvements in technique can be made sequentially over several Old Way/New Way^® sessions.

All this makes Old Way/New Way^® a very useful and effective tool for change in all areas of sports performance.

About Personal Best Academy

We have developed a fresh approach to improving learning and transfer of learning; eradicating bad or unsafe habits; accelerating transition and conversion training; and correcting technique faults, misconceptions and other persistent errors.

We maintain that the main reason why even motivated people have difficulty changing their skilled performance, behaviour, thoughts and beliefs is because they are the prisoners of habit.

Emerging research in cognitive psychology indicates that learned habit patterns influence and direct what we think and do, every day of our lives. This includes our performance in sport or at work, our conceptual framework including any misconceptions; our ability to learn; how we interact with others; and the thoughts and beliefs that guide our daily lives. All these learned behaviours, whether right or wrong, safe or unsafe, suitable or unsuitable, effective or ineffective, well adjusted or maladjusted, are under the powerful influence of habit forces.

Habit patterns automatically develop during practice, i.e, repeated conscious recall of a thought, word or deed. Practicing recall soon lays down neural networks in the brain that, when the same situation arises next time, are triggered automatically so that we can respond instinctively and appropriately, doing exactly what we learned or trained to do. The brain is built to work this way; to easily and automatically develop habit patterns.

Habit patterns are useful because they require less mental energy than conscious thought. The brain finds it more efficient to work this way. Good habits, developed from conscious practice and effort, help us function better during our daily lives.

As long as those good habits are suitable reactions to what we encounter, they remain beneficial. But when circumstances change and a different response is required to a familiar situation, that habit we have developed can be a real handicap.

As we all know from bitter experience, habit patterns are notoriously hard to change. Anyone who tries to change an established routine soon comes up against a powerful mental resistance which interferes, slows down, and sometimes even disables the desired change and improvement in performance and behaviour. The better someone has practiced, learned and therefore habituated the thought, performance or behaviour; the harder it is to change.

Currently available coaching, teaching, training and therapeutic methods can be very effective when dealing with a blank slate, i.e., when the person has no prior experience or training and no preconceptions that might get in the way of correct performance. However, coaching, teaching, training and therapeutic methods find it very difficult to deal with maladaptive habit patterns.

Eventually, after much time and effort, change does come and the person improves but there is a typically extended period of adaptation during which coaching, teaching, training and therapeutic efforts have to be re-applied. This problem is known as the transfer of learning/training/therapy problem.

The period of adaptation to change and the associated transfer problems make coaching, teaching, training and therapy less time- and cost-effective. There has to be a better way.

Personal Best Academy uses and teaches Old Way/New Way^® to help free people from the chains of habit and empower them to achieve their personal best. All our Sports Coaching Protocols use Old Way/New Way^® Learning.

From the description below, we can see that Old Way/New Way^® is a powerful, cost- and time-effective yet very user friendly learning method that can change habit patterns quickly and permanently. Old Way/New Way^® greatly reduces the typically extended and often risky adaptation period during which people try to adjust to change.

Since its inception in 1986, Personal Best Academy has provided training courses in Old Way/New Way^® Learning to individuals, groups, organisations and corporations striving to achieve their personal best.

Recipients of Old Way/New Way^® training include Olympic athletes and coaches; players and coaches of elite and recreational sports; pilots and flight instructors; drivers and driving instructors; firearms trainees and instructors; police departments; mining machinery operators and instructors; workplace operators and supervisors; employees and managers; musicians and music teachers; dancers and teachers of dance; school, college and university students and teachers; and children and parents.

Personal Best Academy provides purpose-built Sports Coaching Protocols. We also offer interactive self-paced online courses and customised training workshops in Old Way/New Way^® that prepare sports coaches to develop their own Sports Coaching Protocols.

Personal Best Academy and SimTrain International (our simulator training division) are registered businesses managed by Dr Paul Baxter and operate from Brisbane, Australia. Our customers are mostly from English speaking countries but include individuals, groups and organisations from many other nations around the globe.

Order Sports Coaching Protocols

There are three ways you can obtain Sports Coaching Protocols for use in your sports coaching, namely:

Sports Coaching Protocol Workshops

The one-day training workshop provides hands-on instruction, demonstrations and follow-up implementation support for groups of sports coaches, athletes and players.

The workshop objective is to equip participants with the necessary knowledge and skills to design and implement their own Sports Coaching Protocols. Workshop participants will be able to prepare Sports Coaching Protocols during the workshop and can then implement those protocols afterwards.

To keep costs down, workshops are conducted at the client's own training venue and only a training fee is charged. If applicable, the trainer's travel and accommodation costs are additional to the training fee. Post-training support for implementation, usually via email, is provided for a minimum of three months after the workshop, for each participant.

Contact us to discuss your training requirements and get a workshop quotation.

Made-to-order Sports Coaching Protocols

Personal Best Academy can prepare tailor made Sports Coaching Protocols for specific training or retraining purposes, e.g., transition training, conversion training, skill or technique correction, team development, change management and other training goals. Contact us to discuss your training requirements.

Online Do-It-Yourself Training Module for Sports Coaching Protocols

This online module equips coaches, athletes and players to develop Sports Coaching Protocols for their own specific purposes.

The online module consists of a Flash-based, self-paced, interactive training module that runs in your web browser and:

1. Teaches you the Old Way/New Way^® Learning method.
2. Shows how to design your own Sports Coaching Protocols, using Old Way/New Way^®.
3. Gives a step by step explanation, with four video segments showing specific applications of the protocol.

The online training module can be purchased with ($395) or without ($59) implementation support. Implementation support consists of step-by-step guidance via email and/or other online communication methods so you can develop protocols for your own specific purposes. In other words, you decide what you want to change; you describe this in detail; and then you receive a tailor made protocol to do that. After several instances of this, you should know enough to be able to design and implement your own protocols.

The online training modules without implementation support is more generic, although it contains four video segments showing a Sports Coaching Protocol being used for a specific purpose. The module is flexible and can be adapted by the user for different purposes.

Order form. Contact us for more information.