Nicola Hodges

In this episode I welcome back Professor Nicola Hodges. This time Nikki is joined by Dr Keith Lohse. Nikki is a Professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver in the School of Kinesiology. She runs the Motor Skills Laboratory at UBC where she studies the mechanisms of motor skill learning. Her research focuses on processes involved in watching, learning and predicting from others, and how practice should be best structured to bring about long-term enhancement of motor skills and high-level performance. She has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and chapters and has consulted at a number of leading sporting organisations and governing bodies. Keith is Associate Professor of Physical Therapy and Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis. He received his PhD in cognitive psychology from the University of Colorado, before undertaking post doctoral studies in Nikki’s lab at UBC. Keith focuses on measurement, design, and analysis as they pertain to rehabilitation science and clinical practice. With rehabilitation being a complex, dynamic process with many interacting factors at physiological, psychological, and sociological levels, Keith specialises in analytical and predictive modelling techniques to help disentangle these problems and mechanistically explore the rehabilitation process. In this episode, we discuss a paper Nikki and Keith have co-authored titled: “An extended challenge-based framework for practice design in sports coaching” found here https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357785323_An_extended_challenge-based_framework_for_practice_design_in_sports_coaching which builds on the original challenge-point work published 20 years ago. Specifically, they emphasise the importance of the challenge-point framework as a model of motor learning, and expand this framework to apply to sports coaching (giving practical suggestions for coaches to use in their practice).

Today’s guest is Professor Nicola Hodges, she is the Director of the Motor Skills Laboratory, within the School of Kinesiology at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Nicola’s field of research is in Behavioural Science, Motor control and Learning, and Sport Psychology. She has over 150 published journal articles, book chapters and edited books and has been cited over 7000 times by other academics including myself. She is considered an expert in the field of skill acquisition and examines practice variables, such as demonstrations, instructions, feedback and practice organization, and investigates their impact on motor learning and transfer. She also studies expert athletes, particularly to do with deliberate practice and talent development pathways and processes underpinning perceptual skills. Her most recent publication “An extended challenge-based framework for practice design in sports coaching” is the basis of our discussion today and I am really looking forward to getting down to the nuts and bolts of what challenge based coaching looks like.For more information on Professor Hodges research you can follow her on twitter @kin_msl_ubc or check the Motor Skills Lab website: https://msl.kin.educ.ubc.ca/homeBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-coach-doctor-podcast--5032805/support.