The Basketball Podcast

Episode 192: Rob Gray, How We Learn to Move

Dec 1, 2021

Rob Gray, professor, researcher, podcaster, and author, discusses coaching and practicing sport skills. Topics include improving coaching methods, using constraints in coaching, creating variability in practice, and the revolution in coaching and practicing sports skills.

01:04:32

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Episode guests

Rob Gray

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Quick takeaways

Adopting a game-like coaching approach in practice sessions promotes player-led creativity, introduces variability and decision-making opportunities, and reduces the risk of injuries.

Coaches should balance short-term winning with long-term player development, starting with small changes and gaining buy-in from athletes, parents, and administrators for successful implementation of the game-like coaching approach.

Constraints-led coaching, using limitations or barriers in practice, enhances skill development, promotes adaptability and creativity, and encourages athletes to solve problems in a dynamic game setting while striking a balance between guidance and natural emergence of skills.

Deep dives

Benefits of a Game-like Coaching Approach

The podcast episode discusses the benefits of adopting a game-like coaching approach in practice sessions. The guest, Professor Rob Gray, highlights the shift from a coach-centric, prescriptive style to a more player-led, creative approach. He emphasizes the importance of introducing variability and decision-making opportunities in practice to simulate real game situations. This approach not only makes practice more fun and engaging but also reduces the risk of injuries. By focusing on the development of adaptable and skilled athletes, coaches can enhance long-term player growth.

Introduction

3min

Improving Coaching Methods

12min

Evaluating Coaching Methods and the Importance of Key Features

2min

Using Constraints in Coaching

17min

Exploring Constraints in Basketball Coaching and the Impact on Offense and Defense

3min

The Importance of Creating Variability in Practice

18min

Variability and Adaptation in Basketball

7min

Revolution in Coaching and Practicing Sports Skills

2min

Guest: Rob Gray, Professor, Researcher, Podcaster, and Author

Professor, researcher, podcaster, and author Rob Gray joins the Basketball Podcast to discuss the way we coach and practice sport skills.

Rob Gray is a professor at Arizona State University who has been conducting research on and teaching courses related to perceptual-motor skill for over 25 years. He received his MS and PhD from York University in Canada with a focus on the visual control of movement. An important aspect of his work has been applying basic theory to address real-world challenges which he has done in positions with Nissan Motor Corp, the US Air Force, serving as an expert witness for driving accident cases, and consultant roles with several sports teams and organizations. In 2007 he was awarded the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology from the American Psychological Association.

One of the accomplishments he is most proud of is the baseball batting virtual environment/virtual reality that he developed over the course of several years and which has been used in over 25 published studies. In 2017 (Gray, Frontiers in Psychology) he published the results of a 10-year study using a virtual reality training protocol which led to clear evidence of transfer of training to real performance.

In his career, Gray has strongly emphasized the communication and dissemination of scientific knowledge. In 2015, he started the Perception & Action Podcast (perceptionaction.com) to help bridge the gap between theory and the field. With over 350 episodes and 2 million downloads, it has become a critical resource for individuals working in areas including coaching, talent development, training and rehabilitation.

Breakdown

1:00 - Ways Where Coaches Can Do

6:00 - Player vs Coach Led Development

8:00 - Evidence-Based Ideas

11:00 - Shoot The Lamp

14:00 - Interventions in Games as a Coach

18:00 - Block Practice

21:00 - Progressions

24:00 - Constraint Ladder Approach

28:00 - Googles

31:00 - Individualization

34:00 - Constraints to the Defense