The microstructure of practice activities engaged in by elite and recreational youth cricket players

Abstract

Practice plays an important role in skill acquisition, although not all practice is of equal quality. We examined the types of team practice activities in four groups of youth cricket players. The groups were recreational- and elite-children (9 to 12 years of age) and recreational- and elite-adolescent players (13 to 17 years of age). Time motion analysis recorded the duration in two types of practice activities, namely, Training Form and Playing Form. Training Form is mainly drill-type activities, whereas Playing Form is mainly games-based activities. Training Form activity is thought to contain fewer opportunities to develop the perceptual, cognitive and motor skills required for successful performance in competition when compared to Playing Form. Session duration was a mean value of 95, s = 29 min. All players combined spent 69% of session time in Training Form activity and 19% in Playing Form, with the remaining percentage of time spent in transition between activities. Recreational-children spent around half of their time in Playing Form activity, whereas both elite and adolescent groups spent little or no time in this activity. Findings from this research highlight a gap between research and practice that may not be optimal for skill acquisition.

Implementing technical refinement in high-level athletics: exploring the knowledge schemas of coaches

“…For applied coaching research to prove wholly worthwhile, a crucial aspect to consider is its impact within representative settings. Unfortunately, recent attempts to evaluate coaching practice have suggested a consistent discrepancy between current recommendations from the skill acquisition and performance literature and knowledge-bases and/or behaviours of coaches (Cushion, Ford & Williams, 2012;Low, Williams, McRobert & Ford, 2013;Millar, Oldham & Donovan, 2011;Porter, Wu & Partridge, 2010). A notable limitation of these studies, however, has been coaches' assumed intended training outcomes.…”

The microstructure of coaching practice: behaviours and activities of an elite rugby union head coach during preparation and competition

“…Ford et al (2010) found that youth soccer coaches used an average of 65% drill-like training form activities and 35% game-like playing form activities. Similarly, Partington and Cushion (2013) (53% training form; 47% playing form) in male professional youth soccer, and Low et al (2013) (69% training form; 19% playing form) in male youth cricket, found that the greatest proportion of training time was spent in less game-like activities. Finally, Harvey and colleagues' (2013) study of three collegiate field hockey (41% training form; 35% playing form), basketball (41% training form; 36% playing form) and volleyball (45% training form; 39% playing form) coaches also reported a preference for training form activities.…”

“…This includes the Game Sense coaching philosophy, which is espoused by researchers (e.g., Evans & Light, 2007;Light & Evans, 2010;Thomas & Wilson, 2014) and promoted by several governing bodies of rugby union (Harvey & Jarrett, 2014;Light, 2013;Reid, 2003). The Game Sense approach places practical emphasis on developing training activities that reflect the demands of actual matches, providing opportunities for players to develop the skills (perceptual, cognitive and motor) relevant to successful competitive performance (Low et al, 2013). Moreover, gamecentred approaches have been heralded as the contexts in which coach behaviours that support long-term learning will be more likely to occur (Partington & Cushion, 2013).…”

A review of the physical and physiological demands associated with cricket fast and spin bowlers

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