The Perception & Action Podcast 549 – Enhancing Skill in American Football, Shawn Myszka
Sep 16, 2025
Shawn Myszka, a key figure at Emergence and co-author of "Enhancing Skill in American Football," shares insights on revolutionizing football training. He discusses the resistance to change within the sport, contrasting it with more adaptable games like basketball. Myszka emphasizes the benefits of ecological dynamics, advocating for practice designs that boost player autonomy and problem-solving skills. He highlights the importance of adapting coaching methods and fostering environments that enhance skill transfer to game day, ultimately redefining skill acquisition in football.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Culture Blocks Change In Football
- American football is highly conservative due to coaching trees and tradition that resist new approaches.
- Shawn Myszka argues this cultural inertia keeps practices far from contemporary ecological-dynamics methods.
Make Players Problem Solvers
- Shawn describes movement problem solving as the central lens for coaching and learning in football.
- He links perception, cognition, and action and promotes constraints-led practice to develop adaptable players.
Movement Play Of The Week
- Shawn ran a blog 'Football Beyond the Stats' featuring weekly movement plays and highlighted players who solved problems adaptively.
- He noticed elite players display variability, creativity, and tight perception-action coupling in games.
