As with most of my articles, I sat down to write on one topic, and have ended up with something very different.

My intent was to write an in-depth skill laden article on coaching, performing, and programming agility ladder drills.

However, after discussing multiple performance fundamentals, I started to realize that I was "getting the cart before the horse!"

I realized that it just may be more beneficial to cover the learning process behind skill acquisition and how to address the learning process in training, before covering ladder technique and a boat load of ladder drills.

Once you see the fairly predictable stages that a skill progresses through as it's internalized, and how to address this process during programming, I think the process of drill selection, sequencing, and conditioning will become much clearer. And then…it makes sense to talk drills!



Stages of Acquisition

In the realm of motor learning, there are three stages athletes progress through when learning a new skill. These stages form a continuum from highly cognitive to completely instinctive skill performance.

Recognizing the unique developmental characteristics and coaching priorities of each stage will make your short term and long term programming much more specific and effective.



The Cognitive Stage:
As the name suggests, this phase involves a significant amount of "mental effort" on the part of the athlete.

First the athlete must collect perceptual input related to the skill and/or subtasks of the skill. The information must then be processed, compared to what is already known, and used to develop goal oriented "motor strategies."

The neuromuscular system is activated to carry out the "behaviors" planned to complete the tasks. Finally, internal and external feedback is collected, analyzed and used to improve performance. These steps repeat in a refining process as the athlete rehearses the skill.

As this process is highly cognitive, the overall performance of the skill is typically slow, segmented, and arrhythmic.

From a coaching perspective, the main priority of this stage is to nurture the development of a procedural understanding of the skills tasks. This is best done through demonstrations, mental rehearsal (to help conceptualize each task and the overall skill), "part" rehearsal through breaking the skill down into its task components, and the discussing of important key points.

During this stage, ample time should be dedicated to allowing the athlete to "problem solve" through the process of guided exploration and discovery of the skill.

This process allows the athlete to not only develop/process internal feedback and reflect as they experiment with the different task strategies, but to become more proficient at the problem solving process.

A good coaching technique to use during this stage is "think out loud" rehearsal. During think out loud rehearsal, the athletes talks (out loud) their way through the problem solving process as they work through the tasks of the skill. Think out loud rehearsal not only helps the athletes solidify their thought processes, but also helps the coach monitor the athletes thought processes in real time.

Occasional verbal feedback from the coach is important to help shape the athlete's internal representation of the tasks.

However, feedback should be short, concise, specific, and minimal so as not to become disruptive to the athletes internal processing of information.



The Associative Stage:
This stage involves "behavioral linking" as the athlete begins to internalize and combine strategies. It tends to be a less cognitive stage as the athlete is moving from problem solving to strategy retrieval. Task performance becomes more fluent but is still segmented as the athlete is learning to coordinate behaviors.

The main emphasis during this stage is skill rehearsal. It is important to allow the athlete to practice the overall skill at a comfortable pace while providing feedback. Since the athlete is still actively processing information, it is critical to allow the athlete ample time to internalize coordination of task strategies before progressing performance tempo. This is typically best done through repetitive practice.



Autonomous Stage:
Once a skill reaches the autonomous stage, it is accomplished through motor programming rather than cognitive control. It becomes a part of procedural memory which allows for subconscious perceptual processing. During this stage, skills become instinctive and are performed fluently and much faster than any other stage.

Ultimately, we want all skills we introduce to reach this stage. However, careful consideration and ample effort must be given to the previous stages to ensure that skills are learned properly.



Integration Stage:
As I previously stated, the motor learning literature suggests skill acquisition typically progresses through three stages.

However, I feel there is one more stage that must be considered to truly make an acquired skill functional.

Even though a skill has reached the Autonomous Stage and has become part of procedural memory, it does not mean that the skill has become adaptable. In other words, the athlete may be able to perform the skill quite fluently by itself, yet lack proficiency when dynamically applied to an unpredictable environment.

During this stage, skills should be serially linked together into skill sequences. It is important to randomize the order of the skills, and to build upon the number of skills within the sequence as adaptability and "the performance attention span" improve.



What's Up Next?

In my next article, I will discuss how to address these learning stages during practice.

Until then…

Stay strong