Alfonso Montuori and Ronald Purser The Big Idea Get ready for a dust-up! The authors of this paper published a lengthy literature review and discussion on the social dimensions of creativity in an earlier paper we previously summarised for the Player Development Project. Its title was “Deconstructing the Lone Genius Myth: Toward a Contextual View of Creativity.” Their primary intent in that paper was to argue that the idea of the lone genius theory of creativity needs revisiting. It wasn’t long before Carl Hale took…
Creativity
Often considered the most valuable attribute in sport, how do we foster creativity in our players?
When we picture a proactive approach to player development, many people see structure and methodical organisation as a sign of effectiveness. Stuart English, Birmingham City’s Assistant Academy Manager, outlines the importance of allowing players to take initiative and solve problems on their own if they are going to become truly unique and creative on the field. Chaos is the monster we seek to contain within our structured lives. Chaos is adversity in ordered environments and can be defined in the dictionary as: ‘complete disorder and confusion’. How…
Alfonso Montuori and Ronald E. Purser The Big Idea The topic is creativity. The problem is the stubborn persistence in popular culture of believing creative artists of all sorts—musicians, scientists, inventors, athletes, writers—are lone geniuses. These authors ask the question: Just how autonomous is the creative individual? They answer: Not very. Takeaways This paper exhibits what it explains: that creative ideas (in this case on the subject of creativity itself) depend heavily on social contexts, dimensions, and histories. The authors attempt to demystify the idea…
PDP Video Session Plans are adaptable sessions designed by academy coach, Dave Wright. All sessions show key focus points, set up, and progressions so you can use them in your next practice.
Aidan Moran The Big Idea When it comes to research in cognitive psychology, until fairly recently there had been little interest in studying sport-related mentality. In its early history, the typical cognitive psychology researcher was quite comfortable interpreting human mental activity as information processing, as something computer-like. By implication, motor behaviour (the body) was considered to be independent of thinking. The consequence was to reduce motor skills such as sports to a rather uninteresting research status. And which in turn helped to trivialise sport actions and…
PDP Video Session Plans are adaptable sessions designed by academy coach, Dave Wright. All sessions show key focus points, set up, and progressions so you can use them in your next practice.
PDP Lead Researcher, James Vaughan examines the simplicity vs. complexity debate using one of the great quotes from Johan Cruyff and asks if we have misinterpreted its true meaning. “Football is simple, but the hardest thing is to play simple football.” Consider how this famous quote influences your training session design when the emphasis is placed here: “Football is simple, but the hardest thing is to play simple football.” Or here: “Football is simple, but the hardest thing is to play simple football.” I think this…
PDP Video Session Plans are adaptable sessions designed by academy coach, Dave Wright. All sessions show key focus points, set up, and progressions so you can use them in your next practice.
Dan Micciche has a reputation as an innovator and someone who encourages creativity in player development. Player Development Project, Editor Dave Wright was lucky enough to have 90 minutes with Dan to discuss his own story and pick his brains around session design, creativity, positive learning environments and more. In part one of this two-part feature interview we went on a journey inside the mind of one of The FA’s most talented young coaches. Micciche’s Evolution as a Coach After a number of years working…
How can play impact performance? PDP Lead Researcher & International Futsal player, James Vaughan examines how important play is when it comes to finding solutions in a high performance setting. Last month New Zealand played against the Solomon Islands in the FIFA Futsal World Cup qualifiers in Fiji. Tied at the top of the table this game was the tournament decider, the game that determined Oceania’s representative for the upcoming World Cup in Colombia. Four years of preparation and sacrifice on the line during 40…
PDP Lead Researcher, James Vaughan recently attended a seminar by Joan Vila Bosch – Head of Methodology at FC Barcelona. Speaking in Christchurch, New Zealand – Joan described how and why FC Barcelona are breaking down the coaching language of war surrounding football. Moving away from what he called ‘the language of war’, Joan’s department is using scientific principles to define FC Barcelona’s game and crucially the language they use. Joan explained: “As people we are defined by our words” The language of football transmits the ideas, beliefs and values…
PDP Video Session Plans are adaptable sessions designed by academy coach, Dave Wright. All sessions show key focus points, set up, and progressions so you can use them in your next practice.
Simone M. Ritter, Rodica Ioana Damian, Dean Keith Simonton, Rick B. van Baaren, Madelijn Strick, Jeroen Derks, Ap Dijksterhuis This study discusses human creativity in relation to diversifying life experiences – the kind of experiences which shape character – early parental loss, having immigrant status, or even living abroad. A fascinating look into the adaptability of the human mind, and especially how the brain reacts to these often extremely stressful and life changing conditions. Can creativity be a bi-product of these experiences? How does sport play…
Kenneth Aggerholm, Ejgil Jespersen, Lars Tore Ronglan The Big Idea In the 2010 Champions League football final, Diego Milito fooled Daniel van Buyten for his second goal, leading Internationale to defeat Bayern Munich 2-0. A writer for The Guardian described Milito’s second goal this way: “The Argentinian feinted as he twisted Daniel van Buyten this way and that before turning back inside, opening his body and guiding a shot with his right instep past Butt’s left hand.” The writer went on to sum up the meaning of Milito’s two goals: “Vision,…
Dave Wright discusses the power of play and how a learning environment that allows play and creativity but challenges players to grow through adversity and failure is key to long term success. In issue 1 of Player Development Project Magazine, I wrote an article called Fighting the Fear Factor, challenging the environments that many coaches still create despite the knowledge we have in modern football and coach education. It’s an absolute passion of mine to develop environments for players where they can be free, to learn,…
Talent: a dangerous word for players and a highly infectious idea for coaches. This article by PDP Lead Researcher, James Vaughan explores the possibility that talent is a ‘meme’. Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins coined the term meme to explain an infectious idea that spreads from person to person: the cultural equivalent of a gene. Incorporating theories from motor learning and psychology, this article discusses talent as a meme and highlights its potential influence as a socio-cultural constraint – inhibiting the development of skill and creativity….
The Pschology of Coaching Are you a scientist or more of an artist? Is coaching an art or science? These were questions asked of UQ’s coaching and sports psychology research group last week and this post explores the possibility that science and accounting are hijacking football and slowly killing the art of coaching. The simple answer to the art vs. science question is that coaching is an ever-changing mixture of both, but after a little digging some additional and pretty fundamental questions emerge. Precisely, what…
The domain of sports expertise is a much-discussed topic, with many researchers searching to find the one ‘golden thread’ that provides the answer to all coaches’ requirements. However, this research suggests there is no remedy that solves all and that the uniqueness of each individual athlete’s journey towards excellence is clear. In this article, the Football Association’s Talent Identification Manager, Nick Levett, discusses the research behind talent identification. In a recent study, four interviews were conducted with current England U21 football players to see…