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A couple of summers ago,  a group of friends and I decided to join a slow-pitch softball league.  After a couple minutes of game planning before one of our games, we determined what positions everybody would play.  I was placed in the outfield, because of my arm strength.

In one of our games, there were two line drives hit toward my direction.  On the first hit, when the ball reached me, the base runner was just approaching second, and he was going to go for a triple.  Although I was fairly deep in the outfield, I took my time gathering the softball, and threw the ball to the third baseman.  Despite this leisurely approach, the result was a laser to the baseman, and the runner was tagged out.  A very similar situation occurred shortly after: a low, line drive towards me.  This time, there was a runner booking it home.  Again, my approach to the softball was casual, and when the ball left my hand, it sailed all the way to home plate, and the runner was declared out.  Those two throws were undoubtedly the best tosses I made in my short slow-pitch softball career. I should have retired immediately after.

The following inning, a fly ball flew right towards me, deep into the outfield.  What should have been an easy catch turned into an embarrassing drop.  Flustered, I erratically picked up the ball, and attempted to sling it to our pitcher.  However, this toss landed far away from the pitcher, and an errant throw cost us a run or two.  If only I had known about Fitts' Law.  Fitts' Law claims that in order to maintain accuracy, speed must be reduced.  In the outstanding throws I made earlier, I took my time, and did not rush any movements, which led to an accurate throw.  Meanwhile, when I committed an error, I frantically picked up the ball and heaved it to the infield as fast as I could, and the result was a wildly inaccurate toss.

If I learned anything, it's that slow and steady wins the race.

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In football, there are three facets of the game: offense, defense, and special teams.  On defense, each person focuses in on a player on the offense, otherwise known as their "read key".  The purpose of this is to help them determine whether the play is going to be a run or a pass, and where the ball is going to go.

During my playing days, I played inside line backer (ILB).  As an ILB, I was required to read the offensive guard (OG).  By observing the guard, I could diagnose what kind of play would be run.  When I first began playing ILB my freshman year of high school, I did not know that the guard was my read key.  After some time, I discovered the guard would tell me whether a play was going to be a run or a pass.

An OG typically performs three types of blocks.  The first is a down block, which involves the guard blocking a defensive linemen that is adjacent to him.  A down block indicates that the offense will run the football.  The second block is a "pull".  This is also a run block, but this time the OG flips his hips and runs to the sidelines with the running back close behind him.  The final block is a pass block, and here the lineman shuffles backward in an upright position.

After learning how to identify the kinds of blocks an OG could make, I further learned how to determine what kind of play would be run before the snap.  For instance, on pass plays, some linemen would have little to no pressure on their front hand, and some would not have their hand in the ground at all.  Observing minor details like this, along with analyzing the kind of block an OG makes falls under the stimulus identification stage in the Expanded Information Processing Model.  Reflecting back on this, once I identified the kind of block the OG was going to make, I had a decision to make. For instance, if the guard pulls, I could either drop into coverage or follow the guard.  If the guard is pulling, the running back will be right behind him with the football, so opting to follow the guard is an example of the response selection stage.  The moment I see the guard pull, I needed to shift out of my stance, and sprint to guard's tail.  Putting this movement into action is known as the response programming stage.

The video below is an example of Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Keuchly (59) going through the stages of information processing.  At the 0:40 mark, he notices the guard pulling to the left, and he follows him all the way to the running back.

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When I first began playing hockey, one of the first things I wanted to learn was a slapshot. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to attempt them until the first year of Pee-Wees. Once I became a pee-wee, it felt like Christmas morning. During the first practice of the season, I constantly practiced the slapshot. Unfortunately, each time I tried it, the puck never lifted off the ice, nor did it move very fast. After practice, I was quite discouraged that my slapshot was not very good. I told my dad about it, and he reminded me to be persistent and to keep practicing. Over the course of the season, I took time each week to practice the slapshot. The process of me learning this skill would be considered a form of motor learning. As I continued to practice the slapshot and discovered how to execute it, I showed improvement by being able to lift the puck; and also with the speed which the puck came off the blade of my stick. With more practice, I was also consistently able to project the puck into the air. During my high school years, we would have open hockey before the season. Before and after scrimmages, I would often practice slapshots. Until recently, I did not realize this tested the persistence aspect of motor learning. The slapshots taken before scrimmages embodied the acquisition phase, while the slapshots taken after scrimmages was essentially a retention test. I also know this was a form of motor learning, because even though I only play hockey about once every two months now, I can still go out and perform a fast and accurate slapshot today. Happy Gilmore would be proud.

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Let's put our individual differences aside.

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Let's put our individual differences aside.

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When I played football, our team would do off-season workouts together every season.  These workouts included weightlifting and sprinting.  I attended every workout each summer.  I grew pretty strong and became fairly athletic.  However, my friend Dylan would attend two of the workouts each week, and occasionally he would show up three days a week.  Although I was working my butt off five days a week, Dylan was stronger than me, and was one of the most athletic guys on the team.  This drove me insane; but if only I had known that individual differences existed.  Based on Individual Differences and Abilities, the "all-around athlete" concept showed that Dylan had higher levels in all of his motor abilities than me.  The only possible way I could have matched his talent would have been to find a way to combine all of my motor abilities.  If only I had known.  This picture accurately described how I felt alongside him during training.

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In order to overcome hurdles, you gotta fall over some...

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In order to overcome hurdles, you gotta fall over some...

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In the During my junior year of high school, my football coach mentioned I should join track and field.  Although I was baffled by the notion, my parents convinced me it would make me a better athlete, and ultimately, a better football player.  One of my friends on the track team was also on the track team.  He was a pole vaulter, and he said pole vaulting was great, because you never had to run; and that I should become a pole vaulter too.  I thought this was a fantastic idea, so I did. However, my coach caught wind of this, and instead had me practice with the hurdlers.   He insisted I could excel as a hurdler, so reluctantly, I followed his orders.  About a week later, we practiced leaping over hurdles for the first time.  When my turn came, I approached the hurdle at full-speed, and jumped with confidence.  My left leg made it over with ease, but I cannot say the same for my right leg.  I proceeded to faceplant onto the hardwood floor.  I was deeply embarrassed, however, this moment showed me what I needed to work on.  From that moment on, I focused on improving my jumping and running technique.  Two months later, I competed with some of my teammates in the 110 meter hurdles. In that race, I ended up beating my teammates. In the beginning of the season, my jumping and running abilities were inferior to my teammates'. Therefore, hurdling was a skill I was not good at. After improving and continually refining my jumping and running abilities, by the last race, my skills in hurdling was better than my teammates'.