I recently delivered a presentation at a coaching conference on an emerging pedagogy in golf/sport coaching. The workshop was titled “An Introduction to Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU)”.
Here is a short blog post for those not already familiar with the TGfU concept.
I describe TGfU as an emerging pedagogy in golf despite the fact that the concept of TGfU was first developed during the 1970s and 1980s at Loughborough University
Thorpe and Bunker had observed that in the majority of coaching sessions the development of technique took up most of the time; furthermore when game play was included in the session, the techniques that had been learnt laboriously over several sessions did not transfer well to the game itself. As such TGfU arose out of concern about the lack of successful transfer from training to performance in games.
Why then in traditional approaches does the development of technique during practice not transfer well to skilful performance in a game context?
A useful way of thinking about this problem is in terms of Mind – Body dualism. In the majority of cases most golfers still train these two aspects of performance in isolation to each other.
In TGfU the tactical, mental, technical and physical aspects of the game are integrated into a performance context during training. This approach is based on problem solving; the games set problems for children to solve; it creates good game players who are independent problem solvers and tacticians.
To finish with here is an example of TGfU from a situated learning perspective. In a traditional approach to teaching and learning, a young footballer will practice controlling the ball in a static/closed context; in a game based approach to teaching and learning, the young footballer will be asked to make controllable passes during a small sided game. This contextualised way of training forces the player to develop the mutli-disciplinary attributes of successful performance, in an integrated fashion.
So even though it is now more than thirty years since the concept was first developed, research involving this NEW pedagogy suggests that if you want to teach for control and safety, use traditional methods. If you want to help young people become better game players, use TGfU
References
Kirk, D (2005) Future Prospects for Teaching Games for Understanding. In Teaching Games for Understanding
Kirk, D and MacPhail, A (2002) Teaching Games for Understanding and Situated Learning: Rethinking the Bunker-Thorpe Model, Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 21, 177 -192
Light, R (2005) Making Sense of Chaos: Australian Coaches Talk About Game Sense. In Teaching Games for Understanding
