Tyler Yearby | Enhancing and Expanding Movement Skills for American Football

This episode takes a deep dive into improving movement skills, particularly in American football. Joining the show is Tyler Yearby who brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table, having held multiple roles in the world of performance such as a football strength and conditioning coach, a football position coach, and a skill acquisition coach. He is also pursuing his doctorate in sport and exercise with an emphasis on skill acquisition and coach development.

We examine the nuances of movement skills for American football and the potential advantages of adopting an ecological approach over more traditional approaches. Tyler discusses identifying athletes' needs, analyzing the emergence of movement in context, as well as the pros and cons of implementing the approach with a large number of athletes in a practice setting. 

Tyler shares valuable tips on how to assess whether your athletes' movement toolbox is expanding and if your coaching methods are producing the desired effect. He also gives examples of how to create a practice environment that is not only representative and authentic but that incrementally increases the complexity of training activities to match an athlete's evolving skills. These examples include changing the size of the training space, adjusting the number of players within the space, and introducing new equipment.

Time Stamps:

[5:55] The challenges of doing research on skill acquisition

[15:32] How coaches can assess the movement needs of athletes

[26:59] The role of the performance coach in improving movement skills

[35:12] Applying the principles in large groups

[38:35] How to design effective activities

[49:37] How to assess the impact of training

[57:08] Information about Emergence's new podcast, The Adaptable Athlete Podcast

Tyler Yearby is the co-founder and co-director of education for Emergence and is currently pursuing his doctorate in sport and exercise at the University of Gloucestershire (UK). He is exploring the perceived impact on the professional work of sports coaches and practitioners after interacting with online coaching education underpinned by an ecological dynamics rationale. He has nearly 20 years of experience in the field of sports performance and has coached a wide range of athletes from youth to professional. Additionally, he has delivered over 250 domestic & international continuing education courses, workshops, and conference presentations in 15 countries.

To follow Tyler, you can find him on Instagram and Twitter. You can also follow the Emergence Instagram account.

To read the papers mentioned in the episode, visit Tyler's ResearchGate page. You can also see Emergence's courses and educational offerings here.

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