Sport coaching is based on the belief that sport can be taught to anyone. One correct way Perform a skill.
It has been said that this is a technique every athlete should emulate.
Athletes have been taught to mimic their idols’ techniques, whether it be basketball players who want to shoot the ball like Steph or Caitlin or runners trying to sprint faster like Noah Lyles.
This approach is not supported by research on biomechanics or motor learning.
Does there exist a ‘best’ method?
The traditional coaching relies on sports biomechanists for the discovery of the “optimal technique” in different sport disciplines.
Sport coaches use these techniques as a template to measure all athletes against. They are usually developed using “averages” derived from elite athletes.
If we are able to replicate the techniques of an athlete who is performing better, then success will come.
This approach, however, ignores an important reality: No two athletes are the same.
Each athlete is unique. The “movement signature” of an athlete is influenced by many factors, including hand size, leg length, strength, gait, and neuromuscular coordination.
It may not be possible to force athletes to mimic the features and techniques of the top athlete in the entire world.
Curry’s quick-release, high-arc shooting has made him the most prolific three point shooter in NBA History. It is only his own unique style of shooting and expression that has allowed him to get them below the logo.
Steph Curry’s long-range shots have revolutionized the NBA.
Other long-range sharpshooters, such as Luka Durant (Phoenix Suns), and Luka Doncic of the LA Lakers, have developed their own variations in shooting techniques that achieve the same goal: getting the ball into the basket.
The shooting skills of both men would be affected if we made them shoot as Curry.
The importance of flexibility
The myth that there is a “single” optimal technique starts to fall apart when the technique becomes more and more variable at an elite sport level.
Researchers suggest that movement variability, a concept which explains natural changes in techniques, is an important part of skillful performance.
If elite athletes still display natural variations in their performance of the same skill even after many years of training why would we want our future athletes to do that?
Basketball isn’t the only sport that has this kind of variability.
In sprinting for example, Lyles’ top speed technique is based on an aggressive arm and leg drive. This differs from that of Gout Gout who, as a rising Australian sprinter, relies more on fluid stride patterns where it almost looks like he bounces down the track.
Gout’s variation of Lyles’ technique is not a fault, but an innovative solution to the same challenge.
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How Australian sprinter Gout Gout could get faster
A recent systematic review found that movement variability was essential to athletes who needed to adapt to changing environments and physiological conditions, such as fatigue.
Curry recently hit a “buzzer beater”, where he wrapped the basketball behind his back and then swished a fade away basket.
It isn’t a technique that has been designed by looking at what the experts deem optimal. This technique is based on the flexibility of the athletes’ possible solutions.
The highlight reel will never appear if there is only one technique that works in this case.
Coaches and athletes can learn from each other
What is the future of sport coaching?
Encourage your athletes to experiment with different techniques, and find out what suits them best based on the unique features they possess.
It also depends on how the coach places the athletes in situations that allow them to be creative, and increase their range of movement.
It is important to note that this does not mean coaches should just let their athletes do a bunch of random movements, and then expect them to have good technique.
All skills that adhere to the biomechanics of efficient and effective movements have key performance indicators.
These indicators are on a spectrum – not fixed.
The elite sport offers little more than a glimpse into the technique of high-level athletes. It does not define a set of movements that are essential for specific sports skills.
Sport coaches do not want to create athletes who are based solely on rigid models of technique. Instead, they want athletes to find a style that fits their physical and mental characteristics.
Next time you hear someone say “just shoot like Steph and Catilin”, think about it again. Find a way of shooting it the way it feels most comfortable.
Here is the place where real mastery starts.
