Parkour as a Donor Sport for Athletic Development in Youth Team Sports: Insights Through an Ecological Dynamics Lens

Abstract

Analyses of talent development in sport have identified that skill can be enhanced through early and continued involvement in donor sports which share affordances (opportunities for action) with a performer’s main target sport. Aligning key ideas of the Athletic Skills Model and ecological dynamics theory, we propose how the sport of parkour could provide a representative and adaptive platform for developing athletic skill (e.g. coordination, timing, balance, agility, spatial awareness and muscular strength). We discuss how youth sport development programmes could be (re) designed to include parkour-style activities, in order to develop general athletic skills in affordance-rich environments. It is proposed that team sports development programmes could particularly benefit from parkour-style training since it is exploratory and adaptive nature shapes utilisation of affordances for innovative and autonomous performance by athletes. Early introduction to varied, relevant activities for development of athleticism and skill, in a diversified training programme, would provide impetus for a fundamental shift away from the early specialisation approach favoured by traditional theories of skill acquisition and expertise in sport.

Physical Literacy - A Journey of Individual Enrichment: An Ecological Dynamics Rationale for Enhancing Performance and Physical Activity in All

“…In the next sections, we suggest how enrichment in physical activity has been operationalized through an ecological dynamics rationale and has led to innovation of two contemporary learner-centered pedagogies, that employ non-linear principles of learning: Non-linear Pedagogy (NLP) and Athletic Skills Model (ASM), each of which reflects the inherent complexity involved in the learning process. Both pedagogical approaches emphasize the importance of enrichment experiences from an early age, and throughout the lifespan, to facilitate a generality, and later specificity of skill adaptation needed to engage in and maintain involvement in high performance sports through to recreational physical activities ( Seifert et al, 2019 ; Stone et al, 2018 ; Strafford et al, 2018 ). As was the case for the learning of functional movement skills, “Enrichment” can be understood as an embedded approach to motor development and learning, emphasizing the importance of rich and varied possibilities to achieve task goals through interactions constrained by the body, task and environment ( Renshaw and Chow, 2019 ).…”

“… Overlap of performance-enhancing affordance fields between team sports and parkour as a donor sport ( Strafford et al, 2018 ). …”

“…Integrating the key concepts of the ASM and the Ecological Dynamics approach to motor learning, thereby avoiding the consequences of early specialization, it is proposed that Donor Sports can enrich foundational skill development, relevant for later performance in a target sport ( Savelsbergh and Wormhoudt, 2019 ). Opportunities to acquire relevant, athletic skills and abilities, such as balance, body awareness, coordination, reaction speed, strength and turning ability, can be “ donated ” through an affordance landscape shared between an athlete’s main target sport and donor sport activity ( Strafford et al, 2018 ).…”

“…In team sports, practice designs encourage performers to effectively use dynamic and fluid movement patterns in representative game-based scenarios, with the dynamic (re)organization of body segments at different speeds, relative to movement of the ball and positioning of opponents in the surrounding landscape ( Edwards et al, 2017 ; Seifert et al, 2019 ). Strafford et al (2018) outlined how Parkour could provide an adaptive and affective platform for psychological, perceptual, physical and social development in team sport players. They proposed that Parkour style activities should be integrated into the athlete practice landscape to develop athleticism and skill transfer in youth team sports, such as soccer and rugby, through a shared network of affordances and foundational performance behaviors.…”

Similarities and differences between sports subserving systematic talent transfer and development: The case of paddle sports

“…Diversification in youth development pathways can make an efficient cross-over by transfer of skill possible. 3,8,11 Success in sports can be perceived by different routes of development pathways (e.g. early specialization, early diversification) although, a linear assault of expertise is rare.…”