Dr.Ed Coughlan: how sequencing practice tasks effectively can lead to greater transfer to the game

Practice | Sessions | Peter Glynn | 29.04.22

How practice activities are sequenced has a significant impact on how learning transfers to the game, says Dr.Ed Coughlan. Image: Eddie Keogh - The FA/Getty/FA collection

Learning: 

-       The importance of realistic practice task sequencing

-       Designing practices so the ‘likelihood’ of the action you are looking for happens more often

-       Allowing different solutions to a practice scenario to emerge

How practice activities are sequenced has a significant impact on how learning transfers to the game, says Dr.Ed Coughlan, skill acquisition expert and Senior Lecturer at Munster Technological University.

“If there’s 12 corners in a row during training, as a defender, am I resetting the same way as if it was a fresh corner live in a game environment?” asks Coughlan, who works as a coach, coach educator and mentor across a number of different sports, including football.

“The answer is no, because if the defenders know another corner is coming, they will just stay where they are and go again. Why? Because we're habitual in our behaviours.”