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Where should the tackler look? When? Why?! Are your tackle drills actually teaching them this key aspect of skill? In this video from the free @learntotackle American Football course, we round out our discussion on direct perception, building on the concept of Tau, potential limitations for perception and decision making in sport, and what this means for football coaches. Key learning points - Tau = time to contact = action gaps = something to coordinate our movement to - The picture of optic flow is always moving. - Not all aspects of the optical array are created equally. We need to FOCUS. - Key information isn’t always available, so athletes need a place to rest their gaze. - Scanning matters too- don't focus so hard you miss the gorilla. - Athletes need to focus, scan, rest and switch between those states. - You can’t verbalise gaze and focus into an athlete. - Good drills anchor movement to external information, give clear goals, and show success or failure without needing the coach to say so. - Depth builds the link between information, action gaps and action. - Breadth teaches which cues stay constant across situations. - Stop running the same unopposed drills day in and day out. Chapters 00:00 Welcome and recap of direct perception 00:51 Time to contact, tau and action gaps 01:56 Caveat 1: our vision is always moving 02:16 Caveat 2: not all of the optic array is equal 02:44 Information isn’t always available 03:17 Where a D-lineman rests their gaze 03:49 The gorilla basketball video 04:06 Focus, scan, rest and switch 04:20 What this means for coaching 05:04 Clear goals and feedback in drills 05:33 Depth and breadth in training 06:12 Why repeating the same tackle circuit fails 06:45 Wrap up 🏈 Wrestling for Football programming drops 1st December. Subscribe to this channel for a special discount when it drops. 👉 Subscribe to the YT channel and watch the entire course playlist. If this helped, like the video and share it with another coach. Let me know your feedback, good or bad, in the comments. #LearnToTackle #FootballCoaching #TacklingTechnique #AmericanFootball #FootballDrills #SportsScience #SkillAcquisition #CoachingTips #DefensiveLine

The OODA loop is a fantastic decision making framework, but it has some inaccuracies, specifically: the brain is not a computer, skills are not like pre-planned programs, and sporting skill is not the conscious, top down phenomenon we think it is. In this @learntotackle video, I'll explain why skill is actually an emergent, self-organized relationship between athlete, task, and environment, and what this means for you and how you coach skills like the tackle. 🏈 Wrestling for Football programming drops 1st December. Subscribe to this channel for a special discount when it drops. KEY LEARNING POINTS - The brain isn’t a computer. We can’t process all perceptual information, run simulations, and control every degree of freedom in a tackle. - Skills aren’t programs we select and “push play” on. Strategies overlap, scenarios are endless, and we have to cope with novel situations. - Elite decision-making is largely autonomous, not a top-down, conscious process. - Ecological dynamics frames skills as self-organized, emergent patterns that arise from interacting with the environment. -Athletes are pushed toward one affordance over others by the interaction of individual, task, and environmental constraints. -Context and individuality matter. One technique or system can’t fit every athlete, position, and situation. - Practical approach: build breadth of movement options, nudge athletes toward better options with carefully designed scenarios, then use repetition and depth to refine timing, coordination, and adaptability. Let the environment provide the feedback. CHAPTERS 0:00 Recap: the OODA loop and tackling 1:23 Why the OODA loop has problems 1:34 Problem 1: The brain is not a computer 2:07 Problem 2: Skills aren’t computer programs 2:43 Problem 3: Skill isn’t a top-down conscious process 3:12 Ecological dynamics: a better lens 3:45 What “self-organized” means 4:41 Affordances and constraints 5:04 Example: how a cornerback decides how to tackle 6:49 Why context and individuality matter 7:47 What this means for coaching tackling 8:25 Wrap-up and what’s next ▶️ Subscribe and switch on notifications so you don’t miss the next video in the series. Head over to the @learntotackle YT for the full course playlist. #LearnToTackle #TacklingTechnique #FootballCoaching #CoachingFootball #AmericanFootball #SkillAcquisition #EcologicalDynamics #OODALoop #TackleTraining #FootballTraining #DefensiveCoaching #SportsCoaching