Application to Theory, not Theory to Application
What school gets wrong when teaching theories
Why is it so maddening when we leave school to try and figure out application of theories?
You need experience. This takes time and we all know that
It’s how its taught in school. School teaches it backwards.
We talk so much about “Theory to Application”, but really, it should be “Application to Theory”. So, what does that mean?
Put the textbook down. Pick a sport and focus on their needs.
Start reflecting. I recommend picking one sport for simplicity sake and reflect on their needs:
Look at the specific position or series of events of that sport. What specific skillsets and strategies do they need to execute well in order to play/compete? What theories/models/strategies help me support those learning needs?
During competition, what are the common demands/challenges they will experience? What theories/models/strategies help me support those attentional and energy demands?
CASE STUDY #1: “The Coach”
I was watching a defensive line drill and noticed that teammates were talking to each other during the drill. The drill was designed to work on techniques to get to the quarterback. What was interesting was how many athletes were telling each other different things they were doing and then giving each other feedback on “multiple” phases of the technique.
My mind immediately went to how our attention works. I started thinking to myself, “that’s too much information” to process and then execute. But, I didn’t want to assume. I pulled a couple guys out of the drill and asked them what the goal was and what they were focusing on. And…it was about what I thought. They were trying to do too much. For older guys on the team, this wasn’t a big deal because they already built habits, so they naturally were able to narrow their attention to “one thing”.
A.K.A. - Focused attention.
For the younger guys, this more difficult because the habits haven’t been built yet. After observing these types of training scenarios for years, clear themes emerged:
Athletes aren’t focused with their attention as fully as we think during drills
Athletes are focusing on a wide range of things that may or may not be helpful for the drill
So, what literature can help me address this dilemma? What do we know about attention? This where we can turn to literature on attention and habit development. Some of my favorites come from cognitive psychology (here is a great book - Cognitive Psychology Textbook). From there, we can then look at strategies to help inform coaches. In this case:
Teaching coaches principles of attention and the importance of “focused-attention” during skills training
Talking about the impact of feedback and the importance of skill-specific feedback
CASE STUDY #2: “The Athlete”
Confidence issues are a never-ending cycle. You just aren’t going to compete or work with a client that hasn’t experienced this. When I am working with individuals confidence is one of the most dominant topics. A common theme that consistently emerges is the following:
They always focus on the negative
They focus on what they can’t control
In the same spirit as above, I found myself looking for what literature could help support this dilemma. What better satisfies these needs in the most direct way? In this case, I happened to reflect on this and tend to lean towards “Attribution Theory” and/or “Explanatory Theory”. When we tend to explain or attribute our successes and setbacks to things that are unchanging (it will always be this way - I’m not talented enough) and things I can’t control (coach doesn’t like me or I’m not being given a fair shake) we tend to develop helplessness and hopelessness. All direct indicators of lowered effort and potential other mental health issues.
In a similar vain, we are naturally hardwired to the negative, quickly negativing any positive aspects of their performance (this comes out in the form of “yeah, but”).
“I did this well, but I need to focus on this”
These common themes helped identify and frame solutions. Recognizing negativity bias and attribution theory and a few others including implicit person theory (a.k.a - fixed vs. growth) we can now start to construct impactful education and interventions. This has led to the development of post-performance reflection guides. Helping athletes reflect in a balanced manner to fight negative bias, as well as help them reflect on what they can control (strategies, self-talk, etc.).
THE PATH AHEAD
The point of today’s dialogue is to help spark creativity to help us break out of the funk of trying to apply every theory we learned in school. Don’t. It’s an impossible task. Instead, put the book down and be a student of your clients - in particular your group clients - but this is certainly applicable to individuals. Focus on what they are telling you. From there, take a step back and think about the theories and frameworks that can support these common needs instead of trying to take a theory and figure out how to apply it.
Application to theory. Not theory to application.
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This is an incredible article!! I’m waiting to take my CMPC test and have been trying to plan application and execution going forward and working with athletes. Your article is so helpful and I look forward to reading everything you write! It’s literally like being in a graduate course to read your content! Keep doing what you’re doing!! KT