Video games for your toolbox

It is recognised that no one games-based-approach, or indeed any coaching method will cover all the needs for player development. Therefore, the challenge for any coach is to work out which method will work most effectively in each circumstance.

Even in that one statement there are a number of further challenges. Different players and teams, naturally, will respond differently. Furthermore, an individual may be more responsive to different methods in different training sessions, which, in turn, might lead to a different team response.

TEACHING (AND COACHING) STYLES

According to Mosston & Ashworth (2002) spectrum of teaching styles (see the table on the next page), there is a non-versus approach where no one style is better than another. The coach and player work together to decide which are best for what outcomes they want to achieve. That doesn’t mean every session is a discussion of how the session is going to happen. It’s probably more the case that the coach decides but based on feedback from previous sessions.

For example, if you are introducing a new law or an explicit change to a skill, you might need to use a command or practice style of teaching. If you are exploring tactical decision-making, then you might use guided discovery. Finally, if you want to develop some plays, then it might be over to the players to come up with some plans.

Teaching styles can be used alongside coaching approaches. Having a range of tools in the coaching ‘toolbox’ can help achieve the goals and desired outcomes for players.

However, having a range of tools and knowing how to use them is not enough.

Importantly, it’s about knowing when and why to use these tools, aligned with the goals and intended outcomes for the players. 

This is the basis of Professional Judgment Decision Making (PJDM). 

ANOTHER COACHING TOOL

More recently, a Digital Video Games Approach (DVGA) (Price et al. 2017) has become part of the coaching toolbox, working on players’ strategic understanding of how to play games.

Let’s unpack this coaching approach a little to see how you can implement the concepts in your coaching.

WHAT A DVGA IS NOT

First, let’s check what it’s not. It is not gamification. Gamification is a way of making a game out of a non-game like activity. For example, scoring points for achieving different skills or completing different tasks.

Gamification has some good short-term gains. It’s engaging and gives immediate feedback. Physical Education students have also reported they felt a greater sense of enjoyment after experiencing gamification compared to more traditional teaching methods. (Fernandez-Rio et al. 2020).

This must be balanced with ‘pointsification’ problems, where just adding up points can become meaningless.

Also, making something you must do into a game reduces the meaning of the game. Games should be voluntary for the best impact (McGonigal, 2011).

Finally, engagement can be temporary. Research in Physical Education has shown that gamification boosts intrinsic motivation in the shorter term (Fernandez-Rio et al. 2021). This is in contrast to a DVGA which focuses on developing game understanding.