Tyler

For years, I thought I was training agility. I spent plenty of time using hurdles, ladders & change-of-direction drills to try and improve my movement on the tennis court. The problem was that I was only developing one side of agility. One of the first skill acquisition papers that really shaped my thinking was a paper by Warren Young & colleagues (image attached below). I remember seeing the perceptual & decision-making side of agility and having a bit of an "aha" moment. Agility isn't just about changing direction quickly. It's about perceiving information & using that information to guide action. In competition, players don't know exactly where they're going before they move. They have to pick up information from opponents, teammates, the ball & the environment before making a decision. That's why the question for coaches becomes: What information is available in the practice task? If players already know where they're going before they move, we're developing something very different from the agility they need in competition. The more representative the information available to the player, the more likely the learning will transfer to the game. When designing agility tasks, don't just think about the movement. Think about what is driving the movement.