https://padlet.com/bryandomitrz/9fit1x2ekn7w en-us 2017-12-14 03:49:23 UTC 2024-10-04 19:52:42 UTC hello@padlet.com bryandomitrz https://padlet.com/bryandomitrz/9fit1x2ekn7w/wish/216037932 Some aspects to sports really don't have much point to the actual game itself. Whether it be celebrations, or tricks and skills that never get used in games like spinning a basketball on your finger or catching a soccer ball on a neck not all "tricks" can really be applied to a real game scenario.  None the less being able to do unnecessary tricks and skills certainly does show great body control and skill work (and certainly impresses others). That is why when I was younger playing soccer I made it a goal to master some of these tricks with the ball. One of them being catching the ball on the back of my neck. And sure enough now I can do it on command. All I have to do is flick the ball up squat down, straighten my back out and catch it on my neck. As simple as it may sound it took weeks of practice to get it down and a lot of my capability to perform this task I owe to proprioception. Our proprioceptors specialize to provide knowledge about the general position of the body in space prior to and after movements. When you are flicking a soccer ball over your head to land on the back of your neck your eyes no longer serve a purpose because no one can turn their head around to see the back of their neck. Instead it is proprioception that tells me where my neck is and how straight my back is so that I can get into the position to catch the ball. By kicking or tossing the ball in the air I am able to control the height and weight of the ball coming down. This is similar to the feedforward control because my kicking the ball better readies myself for the receiving of the ball. The following video to the right shows myself performing the task and you see the movement and positioning of my body required to catch the ball on my neck through proprioception.]]> 2017-12-14 04:21:07 UTC https://padlet.com/bryandomitrz/9fit1x2ekn7w/wish/216037932 bryandomitrz https://padlet.com/bryandomitrz/9fit1x2ekn7w/wish/216042978 2017-12-14 05:42:36 UTC https://padlet.com/bryandomitrz/9fit1x2ekn7w/wish/216042978 bryandomitrz https://padlet.com/bryandomitrz/9fit1x2ekn7w/wish/216043593 One aspect that soccer coaches really had to nag me about was dribbling with my eyes up. As a player, I was so focused on ball control and not loosing the ball that I wouldn't look up and if I didn't look up I couldn't effectively get rid of ball whether it be a pass, shot or clearance. I was too busy worrying about the immediate people around me, the ball or what my coach is yelling at me to do that it became very difficult for me to take in that information and also have the time to look up down the field. According to the central-resource theories we talked about this semester, when an individual is multi-tasking they have multiple stimuli coming in at once. These stimuli can compete with each other for one's attention. Because of this competition for my attention it was hard for me look up and be aware of my surroundings while also focusing my attention down at the ball. If one task is performed less well or both are done less well then they are thought to require some of my limited attention capacity. This is also partially due to structural interference because my eyes are not capable to look down at the ground and up down the field at the same time. So I started to practice dribbling to the point that it was almost automatic to me. I began dribbling everywhere all the time and it got to the point where it came so natural I could walk around my house and have a conversation with my family, play video games and do homework while all having the ball at my feet. Eventually dribbling became so natural and simple that I could begin to dribble past players while keeping an eye out for my teammates. This helped to lessen some of the competition for my attention while increasing my awareness on the field. The kid in the video below me definitely took this to another level. He's able to juggle a soccer while solving a rubix cube and playing the saxophone.]]> 2017-12-14 05:51:42 UTC https://padlet.com/bryandomitrz/9fit1x2ekn7w/wish/216043593 bryandomitrz https://padlet.com/bryandomitrz/9fit1x2ekn7w/wish/216046175 Even though I played soccer I always enjoyed football. I never played it competitively because of soccer and football both being in the fall but I always enjoyed playing with friends. So one day in high school after playing a pick up game at our middle school field we starting wondering how difficult kicking a field goal would be. None of my friends in this group played as much soccer as I did and they struggled hitting from the 20 yard line. So I decided to start trying and was capable of hitting much more accurate and longer kicks. I was hitting them from 35yrds pretty consistently even got a few 40yrd field goals between the posts. I definitely feel my previous experience of soccer heavily influenced my ability to kick farther and more accurate. I didn't have stronger legs than them or was any bigger than them but my form was better due to the positive transfer of kicking a soccer ball to kicking a field goal. The identical element theory supports this because of the similar aspects between kicking a field goal and a soccer ball. The balls are relatively similar in size, the mechanics of kicking such as landing on your kicking leg is similar and the distance required to kick a field goal is similar to that of a clearance in soccer. 
If you look below you can even see the common components that go into this motor between these two pictures of a professional field goal kicker and a soccer goalie.]]> 2017-12-14 06:28:26 UTC https://padlet.com/bryandomitrz/9fit1x2ekn7w/wish/216046175 bryandomitrz https://padlet.com/bryandomitrz/9fit1x2ekn7w/wish/216047569 2017-12-14 06:45:54 UTC https://padlet.com/bryandomitrz/9fit1x2ekn7w/wish/216047569 bryandomitrz https://padlet.com/bryandomitrz/9fit1x2ekn7w/wish/216047711 2017-12-14 06:47:36 UTC https://padlet.com/bryandomitrz/9fit1x2ekn7w/wish/216047711 bryandomitrz https://padlet.com/bryandomitrz/9fit1x2ekn7w/wish/216229082     You never know when an opportunity like a penalty kick is going to happen in a game. It can be the turning point and set the tone for the rest pf the match. Every team wants to take advantage of a penalty kick and to not come out of a penalty kick with a goal is truly disappointing. It's an aspect of a game that every team has to be ready for. 
     A coach's responsibility is to always have a team prepared to adapt and be ready for any game situation. So growing up one of my coach's really wanted to make sure we had one designated penalty kicker and then another one or two that would be up after him just in case the number one choice was injured or not in the game. But in order to decide who would be this number one option, randomly during practice we would have the individuals competing to take the PK's set up and have one shot. Just like in a game you, there is no redos. You have to get it right the first time. So we would only get one shot and then we would return to drills. This could happen several times during practice and some practices would go with out any. After awhile a few top PK takers were decided but we still continued to practice PK's just is the same format. If one of the top options missed, the coach pulled in another guy to come take one instead of him. By doing this, the coach not only adds the physical environment of only taking one shot at a random time but he also added the pressure by having a punishment associated with missing the PK.
      This coaching strategy is very similar to the Lab 9 of contextual interference. We were working on the purpose of practice to improve performance in a future setting and we established the importance of practice variability being beneficial to finding success in a skill. By the coach setting an environment that is continually random throughout practice it adds to the practice variability. Having them at different times through practice means players are going to be at different levels of fatigue and are going to be able to perform at any given time. This prepares them for the game so that they can take the PK at different levels of fatigue throughout different parts of the game and still sink it in the net on the one attempt they get. The worst thing you could is absolutely shank the ball and sky the shot like this player below.]]> 2017-12-14 16:41:56 UTC https://padlet.com/bryandomitrz/9fit1x2ekn7w/wish/216229082 bryandomitrz https://padlet.com/bryandomitrz/9fit1x2ekn7w/wish/216265033      Having skillful control over the ball in soccer is everything. From being able to trap the ball at your feet, make a 40yrd pass across the field or bend a shot in the back of the net from 30yrds, a players capability to work with the ball at their feet determines their skill level. Being able to do those things with not only your one dominant foot but with both of your feet can be an incredible advantage over your opponent. 
  My own skill on the ball with my right foot was pretty good. Good enough that I was able to get by with rarely ever using my left foot when I was younger. Although this may show promise in my skill on the ball it really was only holding me back. I would excessively use only my right foot so much that my left foot was just absolutely terrible. I could barely pass with and barely even made good connection with the ball. So as I got older and realized the importance of having two good feet instead of just one great one, I began focusing on my left foot. I honestly originally just thought if i just start touching the ball with my left foot more that it would improve. Sadly, all that kept happening was that I'd would just mess up and number of my bad touches were actually increasing because I was trying to use my left foot more but it wasn't getting better. Than one day my coach told me to not worry about using my left foot for one. Instead he told to use my right foot like normal but to really focus in on every the position and movement of my right foot as I shot, passed, and dribbled. At this point this wasn't something I had done in awhile because my right foot had become so natural to me I didn't really have to consciously think about every movement but for this practice I did. Then the next practice he told me think about the movements of my right foot into fine detail and apply them to my left. Now obviously this didn't take instantly but over the course of that season I saw improvement in my left foot that I had never seen before and I took this strategy to continually improve.
  This semester we discussed bilateral transfer which is the ability to learn the same task just with the contralateral limb. So basically in my scenario it is the ability for me to transfer the foot skills of my right to my left. As I said earlier I had a lot of trouble trying to simply go through the motions. It wasn't until I started putting thought into the finer details of my muscles and their movements that I started to see success. The cognitive explanation theory can be attributed to this. It focuses on the cognitive information being learned during the practice. That is exactly what I had to focus on. I had to go back and think about every slight movement and action with my right foot and then apply those thoughts to my left foot. After time and time again of focusing and thinking as oppose to just doing, my left foot began learning the correct way to trap, pass and shoot. 
  Even today years after focusing on my left foot I am still able catch and toss a soccer ball mid air with both feet as you can see in the video to the right. I think it just helps to show the focus and detail that went into not only every touch but the bilateral transfer as well.]]> 2017-12-14 18:00:43 UTC https://padlet.com/bryandomitrz/9fit1x2ekn7w/wish/216265033 bryandomitrz https://padlet.com/bryandomitrz/9fit1x2ekn7w/wish/216287060 2017-12-14 18:49:30 UTC https://padlet.com/bryandomitrz/9fit1x2ekn7w/wish/216287060