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Entering high school, I had played the same three sports: baseball, football, and basketball my whole life. They say high school is a time to branch out and try new things, so I decided to give rugby a try. It seemed similar enough to football, so I figured I would be able to catch on quickly. This was not the case. I found the game very confusing at first and was bombarded with so many different rules I had never experienced before in my previous sports. What I needed was an expert on the sport to guide me through it. My coach had been playing for 35 years, so anything he had to say I followed. The augmented feedback, or the information provided about the task that is supplemental to inherent feedback, my coach provided me during my formative years of the sport were crucial to my future success. After a drill or game, he would simply stand and look at me, waiting for me to tell him what I did right or wrong, and then he would add his part, which allowed me to analyze my own intrinsic feedback. Without this additional information, I think I would still be trying to figure out the organized chaos that is rugby.

Below is how I looked watching  my first full speed game from the sidelines, thinking what did I get myself into.

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Practice was an essential part of my skill growth because it seemed to slow this ever moving game down. Since rugby is almost like an exotic sport to the US, let alone a high school in Wisconsin, my coaches understood that many of us have no idea what's going on, but we have the potential to be good players. In order to better understand the skills required and the sport as a whole, the coaches would implement part-task practice strategies which is practicing individual components of the skill independently. Due to the high complexity of the sport, especially to beginners, this strategy was able to reduce that complexity and allowed us to perform each part correctly before attempting the whole skill. Passing was a complex skill in itself as one needed to add a certain spin with correct arm and leg positioning, and did I mention the norm was to now throw the ball underhand? Since passing was a crucial skill for all players on the pitch, the coaches had us in a square formation, simply catching and passing to the guy in the next corner, breaking down the game as a whole and focusing on passing. This ultimately led our team to be very efficient come game time and allowed us to move the ball very quickly, from the forwards to the backs in an instant.

Below is a player from the New Zealand rugby team passing to his teammate, beautifully demonstrating the intricate components needed for such a pass.

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Sophomore year I was playing on the B side, fully content with playing with my friends and fully knowing I was in no shape to be playing on A. I felt I had a better understanding of the game, but was absolutely still learning on the fly. Of course the first scrimmage of the year the fly half on the A side breaks his collarbone and the coaches now turn to me. Giving the coaches a fair warning, I ran onto the pitch and tried not to involve myself too much, which is nearly impossible at the fly half position. The times I did get the ball felt like I was playing hot potato and would quickly send it in my teammate's direction, often resulting in them extending their arms over their heads and completely exposing their whole body to be tackled. Hospital passes as my coach would call it. I was rushing things and in turn sacrificing the accuracy in my passes and kicks. I seemed to have forgotten the inverse relationship between the difficulty of a movement and the speed with which it can be performed, or Fitts' Law. I needed to be reminded that I was not ready to be moving so quickly, and needed to slow my movements down in order to deliver strong accurate passes and the speed will soon come later.

Below is an example of a "hospital pass" where the offensive player is left defenseless, letting the defender lick his chops at a free shot.

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When I became an upperclassman, I felt as if I had a strong understanding of the game and would be prepared and willing to help the new kids who had joined. When I would see some of the guys in the halls at school, they would ask for help on how to properly pass and I would be at a loss for words. I would try telling them things like emphasizing the flick of the wrist or relying on your opposite foot, but that only confused them and even myself. Many times I would leave them saying, "I'm sorry, I'll have to show you at practice." I found that I couldn't state in words how to properly pass to them, but if I had a ball in my hands and could act it out, I had no problem helping them. This skill was stored in my procedural memory, or the non-conscious, automatic part of my memory. I knew how to perform the skill, I just couldn't declare it properly. I had to take action in helping them and often walked them through the steps and controlled their hands as if they were mine.

Below is an example of how I felt when I could not put into words how to properly pass, and ultimately leaving the both of us feeling more confused.

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I was one of three guys on the team that had played for all four years, so we were looked upon as the ones with all the answers to the beginners. Among the three of us, we were always able to have an answer for something. Not only did I recognize the growth I had experienced from my freshman year to senior year through helping others, I found myself relying on my visual search, or process of directing visual attention to locate relevant environmental cues, to always be a step ahead of the opponent. Throughout my four years of experience, I was able to perform more efficient visual searches knowing what to look for and knowing what is not relevant. For example, before the ball came out I would take a peak at the opposing fullback to determine if something like a kick would be successful. The location of their prop was not relevant to the information I needed, so I completely disregarded even looking for that.

Below is a representation of how I would search for something specific and focus on it in order to quickly react and make a decision.