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Hi Coach,
Today, we're looking at a new study on how coaches intervene in practice and if it actually helps.
Best,
Luke Gromer, RYG Athletics | NIKE Sports Camps Provider
🎯 Purpose of the Study
The researchers wanted to see how effective coaches are at adapting a drill after they design it.
They focused on two different types of interventions:
Verbal Intervention: The coach gives verbal instructions or feedback.
Physical Intervention: The coach changes the physical task constraints (e.g., changing the field size, the rules, or the number of players).
🧪 What They Did
Participants: 3 U16 soccer coaches with a range of experience (from 5 to 13 years).
Tasks: Each coach had to:
Analyze their team's performance.
Design a 4v4 small-sided game to fix a problem they saw (e.g., Coach A focused on "attacking the goal," while B & C focused on "ball possession").
Run the drill in four different phases:
Condition 1 (No Intervention): The "set it and forget it" phase. The coach just let the players play.
Condition 2 (Verbal Only): The coach could only give verbal instructions, both before and during the drill.
Condition 3 (Physical Only): The coach could only change the physical constraints (rules, space, etc.), with no verbal guidance.
Condition 4 (Free Intervention): The coach could use any tool they wanted (verbal, physical, or both).
Measured things like: Researchers measured team performance, including the "stretch index" (how much the team expands and contracts), the total surface area the team covered, ball possession duration, and number of touches.
📊 Key Results
The study had to be analyzed at the individual level, because all three coaches got different results.
Coach A (Most Experienced):
This coach's team performed best in Condition 1 (No Intervention).
In other words: The drill was so well-designed from the start that the coach's verbal and physical interventions didn't add any value and, in some cases, may have made it worse.
Coach B (Medium Experience):
This coach saw the best results in Condition 3 (Physical Only).
Changing the physical constraints (rules, space) significantly improved his team's performance.
The Verbal-Only intervention "did nothing"; there was no significant change in player behavior.
Coach C (Least Experienced):
This coach was successful with BOTH Condition 2 (Verbal) and Condition 3 (Physical).
Either this coach was highly skilled at both types of intervention, or their initial drill was less effective, meaning any change was an improvement.
🗣️ What Researchers Found
This study shows there is no single "best" way to intervene. The effectiveness of an intervention depends on the coach's individual skill.
The "art of coaching" is a real, measurable skill. The researchers gave it a name: "Pedagogical attunement to task dynamics."
This is the coach's ability to be "attuned and adaptable"—to watch the drill, see what's happening, and know the right lever to pull (or to not pull at all).
📚 Coaching Takeaways
✅ A Great Design Needs No Interference: Like Coach A, if you design a brilliant, representative game, the best coaching is often to step back and let the drill do the teaching.
✅ Know Your Tools: Some problems are best solved by changing the drill (physical constraints). Other problems can be solved by changing the focus (verbal instructions). You need to be skilled at both.
✅ Intervention is a Skill: Being "attuned" is the real skill. You must observe your players and know when to step in and when to stay quiet.
🧠 Final Coaching Tip
Coaching is an art and a skill.
The goal is not to find a "magic" drill, but to develop your own "pedagogical attunement."
Next time you run a practice, don't just follow a script.
Observe and ask yourself…
"What does this drill need right now? A new rule? A different space? Verbal feedback? Or just my silence?"
PODCAST & RESEARCH STUDY
CLOSING
Thanks for reading, I hope this serves you on your journey.
To your growth,
Luke Gromer, RYG Athletics | NIKE Sports Camps Provider
P.S. We added a section below with quick links to our coaching resources — enjoy!
P.P.S. If you’re interested in becoming one of our NIKE Sports Camp directors, reply “NIKE” and we’ll hop on a call! You can see testimonials from over 100 athletes that attended our camps this summer.
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