Theory to Practice: Performance Preparation Models in Contemporary High-Level Sport Guided by an Ecological Dynamics Framework.

A fundamental challenge for practitioners in high-level sporting environments concerns how to support athletes in adapting behaviours to solve emergent problems during competitive performance. Guided by an ecological dynamics framework, the design and integration of competitive performance preparation models that place athlete-environment interactions at the heart of the learning process may address this challenge. This ecological conceptualisation of performance preparation signifies a shift in a coach's role; evolving from a consistent solution provider to a learning environment designer who fosters local athlete-environment interactions.

Sport Practitioners as Sport Ecology Designers: How Ecological Dynamics Has Progressively Changed Perceptions of Skill "Acquisition" in the Sporting Habitat.

Over two decades ago, Davids et al. (1994) and Handford et al. (1997) raised theoretical concerns associated with traditional, reductionist, and mechanistic perspectives of movement coordination and skill acquisition for sport scientists interested in practical applications for training designs.

Effect of Biological Maturation on Performance of the Athletic Ability Assessment in Australian Rules Football Players.

Purpose: To determine the effect of biological maturation on athletic movement competency as measured using the Athletic Ability Assessment-6.

Methods: Fifty-two junior Australian Rules football players were split into 3 groups based on proximity to peak height velocity, while 46 senior players were split into 2 groups based on playing status. The subjects completed the Athletic Ability Assessment-6 (inclusive of the overhead squat, double lunge, single-leg Romanian dead lift, push-up, and chin-up).

Differences between Elite and Semi-Elite Australian Football Conceptualised through the Lens of Ecological Dynamics.

This study explored the differences in match play between elite and semi-elite Australian football (AF) conceptualised through the lens of ecological dynamics. We sampled naturalistic constraints from match play across two AF competitions (elite and semi-elite) and heuristically classified them into , and classes. Data was extracted from 22 Australian Football League (AFL) games, and 18 semi-elite AF games, with a total of six constraints being sampled from each game.

Training programme designs in professional team sport: An ecological dynamics exemplar.

Ecological dynamics is a contemporary theory of skill acquisition, advocating the mutuality of the performer-environment system, with clear implications for the design of innovative training environments in elite sport. It contends that performance behaviours emerge, and are adapted, by athletes satisfying a confluence of constraints impacting on their structural and functional capacities, the physics of a performance environment and the intended task goals. This framework implicates contemporary models of coaching, training design and sport science support, to stimulate continuous interactions between an individual and performance environment, predicated on representative learning designs (RLD).

Inter- and Intra-rater Reliability of the Athletic Ability Assessment in Subelite Australian Rules Football Players.

Rogers, DK, McKeown, I, Parfitt, G, Burgess, D, and Eston, RG. Inter- and intra-rater reliability of the athletic ability assessment in subelite Australian rules football players. J Strength Cond Res 33(1): 125-138, 2019-The aim of this study was to determine the inter- and intra-rater rater reliability of the Athletic Ability Assessment (AAA) in subelite Australian Rules football (ARF) players.

The association between fundamental athletic movements and physical fitness in elite junior Australian footballers.

This study investigated the associations between fundamental athletic movement and physical fitness in junior Australian football (AF). Forty-four under 18 players performed a fundamental athletic movement assessment consisting of an overhead squat, double lunge, single leg Romanian deadlift and a push up. Movements were scored on three assessment criterions using a three-point scale.

Discriminating Talent Identified Junior Australian Footballers Using a Fundamental Gross Athletic Movement Assessment.

Talent identification (TID) is a pertinent component of the sports sciences, affording practitioners the opportunity to target developmental interventions to a select few; optimising financial investments. However, TID is multi-componential, requiring the recognition of immediate and prospective performance. The measurement of athletic movement skill may afford practitioners insight into the latter component given its augmented relationship with functional sport specific qualities.

A Comparison of Athletic Movement Among Talent-Identified Juniors From Different Football Codes in Australia: Implications for Talent Development.

Woods, CT, Keller, BS, McKeown, I, and Robertson, S. A comparison of athletic movement among talent-identified juniors from different football codes in Australia: implications for talent development. J Strength Cond Res 30(9): 2440-2445, 2016-This study aimed to compare the athletic movement skill of talent-identified (TID) junior Australian Rules football (ARF) and soccer players.

Reliability and Association with Injury of Movement Screens: A Critical Review.

Subjective assessment of athletes' movement quality is widely used by physiotherapists and other applied practitioners within many sports. One of the beliefs driving this practice is that individuals who display 'poor' movement patterns are more likely to suffer an injury than those who do not. The aim of this review was to summarize the reliability of the movement screens currently documented within the scientific literature and explore the evidence surrounding their association with injury risk.

Comparison of athletic movement between elite junior and senior Australian football players.

This study compared the athletic movement skill between elite Under-18 (U18) Australian football (AF) and senior Australian Football League (AFL) players. The U18 sample (n = 13; 17.7 ± 0.

Time Course of Improvements in Power Characteristics in Elite Development Netball Players Entering a Full-Time Training Program.

We describe the time course of adaptation to structured resistance training on entering a full-time high-performance sport program. Twelve international caliber female netballers (aged 19.9 ± 0.

Athletic ability assessment: a movement assessment protocol for athletes.

Background/purpose: Movement ability is an often-overlooked component of sports science and sports medicine research and needs to be considered alongside the appraisal of physical fitness and performance characteristics. To achieve this, a standardised assessment tool is required. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new method for assessing movement ability and present results for intra- and inter-rater reliability.

Assessment of conditioning-specific movement tasks and physical fitness measures in talent identified under 16-year-old rugby union players.

Preparedness to train was assessed using a battery of conditioning-specific movement tasks (CSMTs) on a group of talent identified rugby union players (n = 156; age = 15 ± 7 years; stature = 176 ± 7 cm; and mass = 74 ± 14 kg). In addition to explore the link between movement competency and performance, a series of standard fitness tests was conducted. Overall the group's CSMTs competency ratings were low, but task dependent.