Motor Learning- Summary Paper

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Kansas Wesleyan University *

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101

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Mechanical Engineering

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Dec 6, 2023

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docx

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Davenport 1 Summary Paper For the majority of my life, football has been my favorite and most focused on sport out of all of the sports I have participated in. I knew from a young age that I wanted to play football to the highest level of my abilities and consequently, play football at the collegiate level. To make my dream possible, I have spent countless hours practicing, going to camps, training with a quarterback coach, watching film, and committing myself to the sport. Throughout my preparation and in-game experiences, I have faced numerous obstacles and challenges that I have had to overcome to be where I am today. However, as I have discovered through our class, much of my success has resulted from the subconscious application of various motor learning concepts. Before taking this class, I had no formal name for these concepts, and I was unaware of the research behind these concepts. I simply applied these concepts to my athletics out of instinct and experimentation. Now, with the knowledge I have gained from class, I realize that I have applied the Habit Loop Concept, the Fitts and Posner Model of Skill Acquisition, and the Acquisition and Mastery Concept to all my athletics, but specifically to my football career. Looking first into the Habit Loop Concept, this notion can be described as the neurological loop that governs any habit. In this loop, the three components are the cue, the routine, and the reward. The cue signals the brain into action telling it what habit to use. The routine is the physical, mental, or emotional response triggered by the cue. The reward is the prize that tells your brain whether the habit is worth keeping or abandoning. I have recently applied the Habit Loop Concept to my game in the form of learning a new pass drop footwork. I have not only installed a new habit loop for better footwork, but I have had to break a habit loop as well. The new habit loop that I have installed deals with starting my left foot forward and dropping back first with that same foot. In this scenario, my cue was my coach telling me to start

Davenport 2 with my left foot forward instead of my right. This signaled to my brain that I was in a left-foot forward routine instead of a right-foot forward routine. When I completed the left-foot forward drop back correctly, my reward was praise from my coach. However, as I continued to successfully complete this new habit loop, my reward became more intrinsic as I realized that the new drop was improving my timing, accuracy, and release speed. The next concept that I have applied to the sport of football is the Fitts and Posner Model of Skill Acquisition. This model helps to explain how skills are acquired and the different stages involved in acquiring a new skill. In the first stage, the cognitive stage, beginners try to establish their goals for participating in a certain skill and learn the basics of that skill. Essentially, the proper form and execution are taught in this stage. The focus is more on taking mental repetitions instead of physical ones. The second stage, the associative stage, is often called the “refining” stage as cues are associated with certain movements to execute a skill. Muscle memory is initially formed in this stage along with some confidence. In the third stage, the autonomous stage, muscle memory is completely developed, and skills are executed with little to no effort. Skills can even be paired successfully with other skills in this third and final stage. A great example of this model applied to my career in football is when I first learned how to throw a football with the proper form and grip. I remember learning this skill at a young age and I struggled with it for some time as I could not correctly throw a spiral. When I first began learning this skill and was in the cognitive stage, my goals for practicing were to have fun and be able to play catch with my uncle. As time went on and I began to understand the basics of throwing a football, I transitioned into the associative stage. In this stage, I combined the little steps involved in throwing a football and began to build muscle memory on how all those steps fit together. I could throw the football every time, but it was not accurate and did not always

Davenport 3 spiral. Finally, after many years of practice and around the time I was going into my freshman year of high school, I would say that I reached the autonomous stage. I was now able to throw a ball accurately and with a spiral with consistency. I could also combine other skills with throwing a football, such as running and jumping. Ever since reaching the autonomous stage, throwing a football accurately and with a spiral comes with little to no thought or effort. The final concept that I have applied to the sport of football is the Acquisition and Mastery Concept. This concept mainly deals with how practice is broken down into three main factors: time, repetition, and a combination of time and repetition. Looking first at the acquisition side, the massed stage deals with time as practice has short rests and practice is held every day. Next, the constant stage deals with repetition as skills are repeated constantly. Finally, the blocked stage deals with a combination of time and repetition as skills practiced in this stage are sequential, in a condensed time period, and athletes know what to expect. On the other hand, looking at the mastery side, the distributed stage deals with time as practice has long rests. Next, the variable stage deals with repetitions being varied as certain skills are practiced differently. Finally, the random stage deals with a combination of time and repetition as skills practiced in this stage are arbitrary, in a condensed time period, and athletes do not know what to expect. I applied this concept many times when I first came to Butler to play football so that I could learn the plays and learn the offense. In the massed stage, I would work on throwing and footwork every day for 15 minutes to warm up and build muscle memory. In the constant stage, I would then move to throwing a play concept repeatedly and hitting the same route each time. In the blocked stage, I would throw the same play concept on air but work through my reads and visualize my progressions all within the four-second sack limit. In the distributed stage, I would work on throwing a specific route for about 15 minutes every other day. In the variable stage, I

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Davenport 4 would throw the same play concept as in the constant stage, but I would now throw different routes of the concept. Finally, in the random stage, I would throw the same play concept against the defense, apply my reads to how the defense reacts, and keep the mental sack clock working in the back of my mind. Throughout this class, I feel that we learned a wide variety of concepts pertaining to the subject of motor learning. I thought the material was enjoyable, easy to learn, and applicable to my life experiences as an athlete. I appreciate that we were able to learn in a fun and efficient way. I enjoyed the opportunity to discuss concepts as a class because I feel that it helped in retaining the material. It was also interesting to hear everyone’s different perspectives on various topics. Finally, I want to say thank you for another great semester in your class and thank you for teaching in a way that applies the material to real-life examples.