Comments on: What Does Great Practice Feel Like?

By: Wayne Jones

Wayne Jones — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 06:28:14 +0000

Daniel,

Rereadng your book for the second time and enjoying it just as much when I came across your website.

I was impressed with your take on the Tiger Woods golf ball trick and thought ‘here’s a man living his own work’ but would be interested how you apply deliberate practice to your work as a writer?

Where is the immediate feedback loop and the skill or technique you are looking to improve able to be identified as a small target etc..

Thanks

By: Jeremy G.

Jeremy G. — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 02:11:33 +0000

Playing chamber music is the equivalent for musicians.

By: Jay Godse

Jay Godse — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 15:26:14 +0000

That was awesome! I use games like these (SIG or SIGC) with soccer teams I coach when trying to develop character traits such as aggressiveness and tenacity. I have found that handball or bordenball is useful to teach positioning for passes.

Now that you have made me conscious of this, I’ll have to figure out other games to teach other skills.

By: Mark Upton

Mark Upton — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:41:21 +0000

Another important concept for sports coaches to takeaway is what is not seen – that is a coach providing explicit instruction during the activity.

Representing a classic constraints-based model (i.e. size of area, rule that it has to be bounced over net), the environment has been designed to facilitate learning of the skills you mentioned – “the game is the teacher”.

Many coaches still do not understand their main role is to facilitate the creation of this environment rather than being a “wealth of knowledge” to be shared via verbal instruction and guidance.

By: Rob Anderson

Rob Anderson — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 09:00:31 +0000

There’s alot of research to back this up physiologically. Small sided games or Small Intense Games as you have termed it, have been shown to produce an equal or improved training response for Heart rate and energy systems. So what could improve a skill element could also be beneficial physiologically too!

I have seen these used in football, rugby union and rugby league… all to good effect for the physical element…

interesting stuff

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 01:18:21 +0000

The juniors I work with will play that game before and/or after practice. Yes, it’s super intense and very competitive but to them it’s just plain fun. We also play a sick version of mini-tennis along with righties playing left-handed and vice versa- again, super competitive, intense, and a learning tool.

By: djcoyle

djcoyle — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 21:29:08 +0000

Nice, Robin! I love that.

By: djcoyle

djcoyle — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 21:28:27 +0000

Thanks, Terry – I should’ve been clearer – I
meant small in a couple senses: 1) literally — they were
confined to a relatively tiny space, which
gave them more reps in less time; 2) in the sense that
the game contained only a handful of the skill elements present in a full game — no serving, no groundstrokes, no normal volleying.

By: Robin Clarkson

Robin Clarkson — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 19:49:12 +0000

Great clip.

The other word to add is competitive so it becomes SICG – Small, Intense Competitive Games.

You don’t get a reaction like that without it being competitive against your partner or yourself.

The competitive part is developing the mental strength factor

By: Terry form Olympia

Terry form Olympia — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 16:41:17 +0000

Daniel:

Great movie but I’m a little confused when you say that the game was “small” in its focus. I saw a complete, full blown game between two skilled players. I would have thouth a “small” game would have been one player against himself trying to beat his own score at hitting a ball exactly the same every time or at exactly the same spot on the court or… What am I not getting about “small” here?

Terry