I believe that we both have the same ideas when it comes to coaching young children, this has helped me to understand both learning methods better as well as my own research that I have done.
Younger children do need the freedom to learn freely rather than in a structured environment but they also need a structure to ensure that they are performing the skill correctly. Both learning methods enhance each other and could be throughout any age group but especially younger children as they are learning motor skills and not sport related skills which is important for not only sport but every day life too.
Explicit learning is characterised by:
- A large set of rules and knowledge of how to perform a skill
- Conscious processing of these rules by the athlete
- The athlete is able to explain, when questioned, how a skill is performed
Implicit learning is characterised by:
- Subconscious learning of skills
- Lack of verbal instructions
- The athlete is unable to explain, when questioned, how a skill is performed
The methods used in every coaching course I have attended sit heavily in the explicit learning style and on first glance this appears the sensible approach as it provides a methodical approach to teaching and subsequently checking for understanding or learning by the athlete.
Implicit learning is far more difficult to implement as it requires critical and creative thinking to shape the training environment in order to produce the desired movement outcome and makes it hard for the coach to assess how much the athlete…
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Reflection 