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We are very excited to publish our first podcast with a focus on equestrian sports.

Join Marianne Davies and her wonderful guests Warren Lamperd (MSc Coaching Science, UKCC L4 Coach & 5* Event Rider), and James Stafford PhD (experimental psychologist specialising in perception-action coupling and calibration of movement), to explore the application of ‘Calibrating perception and Action: How we become skilful at timing our movements’ to the equestrian world.

In this podcast we focus on how the horse and human become attuned to each other and to their shared environment. This is a fascinating conversation, not only for anyone involved in the equestrian world, but for any performance partnerships, human or animal.

Calibration: How do horses and riders become attuned to each other and their environments?

Creating an optimal learning environment

Okay, so we know that the satisfaction of basic needs has a positive impact on motivation and will influence whether someone continues to participate. That means we need to make sure that we are able to create an optimal learning environment; what is known as a ‘needs supportive learning environment’⁶. Autonomy is arguably the most important need and is essential for goal-directed behaviour to become self-determined². It is unique among the basic psychological needs because a participant (particularly an athlete) could satisfy their need for competence with externally controlled (by a coach) deliberate practice, and they could satisfy the need for relatedness by being part of a team, but autonomy is not as easily satisfied in a traditional coaching environment. This is because the coach makes most of the decisions, and the rules and regulations of a sport can further limit the options that can be given to individual participants. Continue reading “Motivation Part 2. Supportive coaching behaviours.”

Photo by Lizzie Canoe

 

Motivating others

I think it is safe to assume that those of us who coach, lead or instruct other people would like them to leave each session they have with us feeling happy. Buzzing even. Keen to come back and do more with us. Motivated to go and practice what they have learnt, and enjoy it in their free time. I also think that we would all like to be able to influence our own motivation too. We would like to recognise elements that are supporting or thwarting our motivation and be able to change them or at least understand and accept them.

The statistics available on regular participation in sports make rather sobering reading, and numbers are consistently lower for women and girls, and minority groups. According to a Sport Wales statement from 2017, “Currently 576,000 women in Wales report not participating in any form of activity, while just over half (54%) of women say they’ve done at least one sporting activity in the last four weeks compared to 63% of men. Research shows a lack of confidence, fear of judgement, a perceived inability or no one to go along to something new with are common factors that prevent women and girls from getting more active”¹⁰. Can we, as practitioners, have any influence on the motivation and continued participation of those do come along to our sessions? Are we able to help increase the number of people who will get hooked on our sports and continue to participate long term, including ourselves?

My interest in motivation was particularly influenced by the way my son responded to the learning environments he experienced when he was young. At the age of eight, he asked if he could go to the local canoeing club with his best friend from school. I thought it was a great idea. He had played for years in boats with me and really enjoyed it, surely it would be so much more fun with his friends! I went to pick him up after the club session expecting a happy excited little boy. But he had hated it. When I asked him why, he told me that canoeing was boring; they were not allowed to play like he did with me, they didn’t let him do the things that he was good at, or be with his friend. Not only did he not go back to the club, but he also lost interest in coming to boat with me too. Continue reading “Motivation Part 1. How can we create optimal learning environments?”

Fluid dynamics, weather systems and coaching adventure sports

 

Rolling clouds over a snow-capped Craig Megaidth. Moving skillfully and making decisions on a Winter ML Assessment. Photo by Olly Sanders

Adventure sports coaches typically support individuals to operate confidently and competently in changeable and complex environments. To do this it would help to understand how people learn to interpret their environment, make decisions and move skillfully.

An ecological dynamics (ED) theory approach to coaching and learning views human movement as an interaction between the individual, the activity and the environment in which the activity is taking place. This approach emerged from the application of dynamical systems theory and ecological psychology⁶ to motor learning and is the underpinning theory for the ‘constraints’ led approach to the way we structure practice. All of you who coach or participate in adventure sports will be familiar with aspects of this approach already. You will intuitively recognise and understand it even if you have not used it to understand movement and learning. This is a brief introduction to the concepts and theories behind an ED approach to coaching and learning. In the following articles, armed with this understanding, we can look at the implications that this approach has for coaching adventure sports. Continue reading “Do coaches need to understand coaching and learning theory?”