shared deliberate practice

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218Ole Lund, Peter Musaeus and Mette Krogh ChristensenInstead she passed the ball as dictated by the coach’s tactics and the team did not score.So if the player is too aware of the tactics she might become constrained and incapable ofacting according to the dynamic situation of the game. Mette reflects on this problem thatrenders the player a bit like a “machine” who follows tactical rules without knowing when toapply them by staying alert to what happens in the specific situation:You become a bit paralyzed [by the tactics] instead of seeing what actually happensor thinking: How will she [the opponent] respond if I do like that [and not as planned]?That is, to feel one’s way. (Mette)As argued by Ericsson (2006, p. 694), coaches and playershave to concentrate on thecritical aspects that need improvement. But, as the case study shows, the explicit tacticalgoals might lead players to narrow their focus of attention. This has detrimental effects on theadaption of the specific game context of the next match. In this way this strategy ofconcentrating on a specific and critical aspect unintentionally teaches the players to neglectwhat has been called situation awareness defined by Mohammed, Tesler and Hamilton (2012)as the team members’ reflection on the dynamic demands of a concrete situation and theextent to which individual team members’ reflection overlap with that of others.Match TrainingMatch training forms a continuum from simulated games (for instance 4 versus 4) to fullfledgedtraining matches against other teams. Half of the team’s training was focused ongame-like situations in which the players work to refine and adjust their interplay in theteam’s defensive and offensive lines, rather than training in basic throwing techniques.During match training the coach forms two opposing teams of 4-7 players. The coach alsofrequently substitutes players and thereby changes the formations of the teams. Furthermore,talented young male players are sometimes invited to participate in the training in order toadd variety to the possible team constellations. Mette explains that variety helps the team todeal with unfamiliar challenges and develop team adaptability. Mette and Katrine say that themale players are “stronger and faster” and “make better feints” than their ordinary teammates. When playing against the male players:[…] you can’t just stay on the crease [the marking line in front of the goal]andbelieve you can block the guy who comes pounding against you [...].You have to moveforward and tackle him hard. (Katrine)Playing in a variety of demanding match situations stimulates the team members to adjusttheir style of playing by playing not only “harder” but also “smarter” given that the teammembers constantly are facing a wide variety of opponentsdue to the frequent substitutionsthe coach makes during match training.Taking the example of golf, Ericsson Prietula and Cokely (2007) argue that once thebeginner has learned the basics of the game she does not improve substantially by merelygoing more rounds, but only by taking multiple shots from the same location and bydeliberating on what goes on when playing these shots. Similarly, deliberate practice consistsin spending time and space to think and re-think, evaluate and re-evaluate, keep trying the
Shared Deliberate Practice 219same difficult shots and correct mistakes repeatedly. Thus, whole game training is not adeliberate practice because this often encourages players to“rely on well-entrenched methodsrather than exploring alternative methods” (Ericsson, 1993, p. 368). In summary, for matchtraining to be effective, time and space for shared deliberate practice is necessary.The players in this study emphasize that match training actually offers opportunities forexploring alternative ways of handling a game situation. For instance, Sofie says that matchtraining teaches the players something that cannot be completely learned in highly structuredtraining situations.It is in these situations [match training] you are allowed to think for yourself,because a lot of opportunities turn up from players being dragged. And we make gaps foreach other, which means that there are more opportunities than if you are just glued infront of one defender [constrained by structured training activities]. (Sofie)Although Sofie acknowledges the importance of repeating shared movement patterns andteam coordinate response during structured tactical training, she tells that players encountersituations during match training that cannot be replicated in the structured training. Katrineemphasizes the importance of match-play without being restricted to following pre-arrangedtactics, because these less restricted game-situations force the players to develop sharedpatterns of movement “out of nothing”. This is based on the players’ “feel for each other”,which can be interpreted as a demanding type of team situation awareness where team playersneed to make up shared understandings on the spot. This way match training teaches theplayers to become responsive to the unpredictability of the game.In summary, studying deliberate practice in a team context reminds us that it is not onlythe individual player’s flexibility and decision-making-skills that are developed during matchtraining, but also the team situation awareness and dynamic decision-making skills.What Characterizes Shared Deliberate Practice?As might be glimpsed in the foregoing, the players found that the quality of the training,whether structured tactical training or match training depends on shared deliberate practice.The analysis found that two key elements in shared deliberate practice are (1) concentrationand (2) feedback from coach and role-models. These elements constitute a shared enterprisethat supports the following team cognitive skills: team coordination, team situation awarenessand shared understanding. First we analyze concentration and feedback as shared deliberatepractices. Second we delineate the above team cognitive skills.The argument is that deliberatepractice is shared between team players as individuals and at team level, and that teamcognitive skills are socially negotiated skills in the sense that they are developed within aspecific sport context of team training.ConcentrationFull concentration is one of the characteristics of deliberate practice (Ericsson 2006, p.696). The point is that the quality of team training rests on the extent to which all teamplayers are performing in a concentrated way. Katrine and Mette voiced their concerns that
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