Coaching Science Award
A published Old Way/New Way® sports coaching research study on technique correction with Olympic athletes won second prize in the 4th European Athletics Association Science Awards, out of a record entry of 28 projects from 13 European countries.
The winning project "Rapid Technique Correction Using Old Way/New Way®: Two case studies with Olympic athletes" by Y. L. Hanin, T. Korjus, P. Jouste and P. Baxter was selected by a Jury chaired by EAA Vice President Agoston Schulek. The other members of the Jury were Dr Peter Tschiene (GER), Dr Jitka Vindušková (CZE) and Mr Peter Thompson (GBR).
According to the Jury, "This project has a high applicability and clear implications for the coaching of techniques and for coach education."
The Jury's selection criteria were:
- scientific rigour and quality, and
- practical application to coaching and/or teaching athletics.
The EAA Science Awards were initiated in 1998 and are given every second year.
Summary of this Award Winning Project
This study examined the effectiveness of 'old way/new way', an innovative meta-cognitive learning strategy [developed in education settings] (Lyndon, E.H. 1989, 2000) in the rapid and permanent correction of established technique difficulties experienced by Olympic athletes. Two case studies were presented which indicated that extraordinary progress could be made in skill correction in a very short time scale, provided that the interventions were carried out by an individual skilled in the techniques of this learning strategy.
The two Olympic athletes who participated in this study received individualised interventions including video assisted error analysis, step-wise enhancement of kinaesthetic awareness, re-activation of the error memory, discrimination and generalisation of the correct movement pattern. Self-reports, ratings by the coach and video recordings were used as measures for technique improvement. A single learning trial produced immediate and permanent technique improvement, with an 80% or higher correct action in training and competition. This indicated a full transfer of learning without the need for the customary adaptation.
The summary proposed that this method for correcting well established techniques functioned successfully because the athlete 'knew' how to do the technique in a 'wrong' way - the 'old way'. Rather than trying to modify the existing learned pattern of movement, a 'new' skill is learned - the 'correct' way. With this approach the athlete appears to be able to discriminate between the two skills, with practice of [differences],i.e., the 'old way' followed by the 'new way', establishing the new way, rather than being 'a step backwards to past faults'. This project has a high applicability and clear implications for the coaching of techniques and fot coach education.
The study was published in The Sport Psychologist, 2002, 16, 79-99. Findings were consistent with the performance enhancement effects of Old Way/New Way® demonstrated in other skill development settings, e.g., flight training and workplace training.
Description of the European Athletics Association
The European Athletic Association (EAA), is one of the six Continental groups of the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF), a European non-governmental non-profit organisation of unlimited duration in the form of a constituent area association of the IAAF registered in Switzerland (since 1 January 2004, before Germany).
The domicile of the EAA is located in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The objectives of the EAA are:
- To maintain and develop friendly and loyal co-operation between all the Members for the benefit of athletics, peace and understanding in Europe.
- To direct all technical, administrative and financial matters of the European region in conformity with the rules of the IAAF and with any special agreement to this aim which may be concluded between the IAAF and the EAA.
- To promote ethical values in sport and fight against all forms of doping as well as racial, religious, political or other kind of discrimination in athletics.
Sports Coach review
Sports Coach is Australia's national sports coaching journal, aimed at the practicing sports coach. Produced quarterly, Sports Coach presents up-to-date sports coaching articles on a variety of topics, ranging from interviews, sports coaching drills and nutrition to research results in a wide range of sports.
Old Way/New Way®—by Graham Cook (extracts from Sports Coach, 2003, Vol. 25, No. 4)
It is one of the most perplexing and frustrating obstacles any coach has to face; without warning and often without apparent reason, the athlete they are coaching goes into a form slump.
Hitherto excellent techniques, often carefully refined over years of hard work are lost, to be replaced by persistent and stubborn errors that refuse to respond to correction.
In the past, this has usually resulted in a long and destructive regime of constant repetition of skill drills aimed at driving the offending error from the athlete's repertoire.... [However] the correct technique, apparently recovered after constant practice, disappears under the pressure of competition ....
A different approach ... enthusiastically endorsed by a growing number of coaches and sporting professionals, is Old Way/New Way®, which aims to put the athlete back on the right path, not within months or weeks, but possibly after one intensive session ....
... 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 ....
... Olympic [athletes], a javelin thrower and a sprinter, were in a form slump associated with technique problems .... both problems were corrected ....
While an experienced [Old Way/New Way® practitioner is needed initially, there is no reason why coaches should not quickly learn the subtleties of the method and introduce it when required.
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