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A tactical games approach to teaching games
Improve your players understanding of game play and decision-making by using a tactical games approach. Here’s how I would put it into a session with my players. By Alex Beckey, lecturer in PESA, blogger on Drowningintheshallows and @ImSporticus on X
The tactical games approach aims to improve player’s understanding of the game by combining tactical awareness and skill execution.
It does that by placing them in a modified game situation with a tactical problem to solve.
The rationale for a tactical games teaching are:
1. It develops interest and excitement in comparison to traditional technical focused teaching of games.
2. It expands knowledge from how is the technique performed to also include what to do in the game.
3. A tactical focus may help players transfer principles of play from one game to another in the same games category.
HOW TO IMPLEMENT THIS APPROACH
The format of the session is in three stages as represented in the diagram on the right.
Provide a tactical problem through a developmentally appropriate modified game, use of questioning to develop tactical awareness and the identification of skills to practice to bring about success and then the practice of those skills before being put back into the game form.
I would add observation as a key teaching behaviour.
Stand back and watch as this will provide you more information to allow you to ask more informed questions.
- Set the tactical problems and allow the players to try and solve them. Let them play for 10-15 mins.
- Player-led feedback and discussion in their groups with a focus on solving the tactical problems.
- Allow the players to apply their agreed solutions to the tactical problems. Let them play for 10-15 mins.
- Skill session based on the team’s decision on what they need to practise in order to better solve the tactical problems.
- Allow the players to apply their agreed solutions to the tactical problems. Let them play for 10-15 mins.
- Depending on your time, look for a player-led debrief session or go back to number two and repeat.
TEACHING BEHAVIOURS
Mitchell et al (2013) emphasise four key teaching behaviours needed to implement a tactical approach to games teaching effectively:
- Consider the tactical problems to address and decide on the complexity of these problems.
- Practise the skills required to solve the tactical problem after the pupils have experienced the game.
- Explicitly link the game form, tactical problem and skill practice through your questioning and the dialogue generated.
- After the practising of skills, allow time back in the game to apply them.
- Mitchell, S. A., Oslin, J. L., & Griffin, L. L. (2013). Teaching Sport Concepts and Skills: A Tactical Games Approach for Ages 7 to 18. Human Kinetics.
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