Applying an ecological approach to practice design in American football: some case examples on best practice

Abstract

In this paper, we outline an ecological approach to practice design in American football to support coaches in helping players to coordinate skilled movement behaviours in dynamic performance environments. This approach may require moving away from some long-held practice approaches traditionally employed by some coaches across all performance levels. To guide this progression, we present two novel case examples to support coaches interested in moving towards more contemporary pedagogical frameworks that support the notion of their role as a practice designer, centralising athlete-environment interactions. Distinctively, through the utilisation of a constraints-led methodology, coaches could design practice tasks to offer opportunities for players to interact with challenging performance problems. Our case examples range from high school players to National Football League standouts to support the implementation of alternative approaches to practice design, exploring what an ecological dynamics rationale could look, feel and sound like in the context of American football.