ERIC EJ899100: Behavioral Intervention for Teaching Tackling Skills to High School Football Athletes

2010·0.29 MB·English

by  ERIC

JOURNALOFAPPLIEDBEHAVIORANALYSIS 2010, 43, 509–512 NUMBER3 (FALL2010)
A BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION FOR TEACHING TACKLING
SKILLS TO HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL ATHLETES
JOHN V. STOKES
ENDICOTTCOLLEGE
JAMES K. LUISELLI
MAYINSTITUTE
AND
DEREK D. REED
MELMARKNEWENGLAND
We evaluated an intervention that combined task analysis and differential reinforcement for
teachingtacklingskillsto2highschoolfootballathletes.Asaresultofintervention,bothplayers
tackledmore proficiently inpractice drills andmaintainedproficient tackling during games.
Keywords: athletics, football,performance enhancement
_______________________________________________________________________________
Between 2001 and 2005, football-related METHOD
injuries accounted for 1,060,823 emergency
Participants and Setting
room visits to U.S. hospitals (Mello, Myers,
The participants were two students who
Christian, Palmisciano, & Linakis, 2009).
attended a suburban high school and were
Among high school football athletes, statistics
linebackersonthevarsityfootballteam.Tedy,a
revealthatfortheperiodof1984to1999,there
junior, was 17 years old, and Mike, also a
were 63 injuries resulting in permanent disabil-
junior, was 16 years old. Both athletes had no
ity (Mueller, 2001). Additional data suggest
more than 4 years experience playing football,
that having an experienced coach decreases the
were not first-team (starting) players, and had
likelihood of severe injury to players by 50%
been identified as being poor tacklers by the
(Knowles et al., 2009). Some applied research
coaching staff. Tedy and Mike volunteered for
shows that coach-implemented behavioral
the study, understanding that they would
teaching procedures can improve football skills
receiveadditionaldefensiveskillstraining.Their
of youth, high school, and college players
parents provided informed consent.
during practice and games (Allison & Ayllon,
1980; Smith & Ward, 2006; Stokes, Luiselli,
Measurement
Reed, & Fleming, 2010). Our purpose in the
We measured tackling according to a 10-step
present study was to add to this small research
task analysis (Table 1), which was based on
base by evaluating a multicomponent behavior-
skills recommended by the American Football
al intervention for teaching the skills necessary
Coaches Association (1995). Each step (with
toexecuteapropertacklebytwolinebackerson
accompanying definition) was listed sequential-
a high school football team.
ly on a recording form. Measurement consisted
ofplacingaplusoraminusnexttoeachstepon
AddresscorrespondencetoJohnV.Stokes,5CherylDrive,
Milton, Massachusetts 02186 (e-mail: johnvictorstokes@ the task analysis form that the participant
yahoo.com) or James K. Luiselli, May Institute,41 Pacella executed correctly and incorrectly, respectively,
Park Drive, Randolph, Massachusetts 02368 (e-mail:
during one-on-one practice tackling drills and
[email protected]).
doi:10.1901/jaba.2010.43-509 scheduled games with league opponents (de-
509
510 JOHN V. STOKES et al.
Table 1
Ten-Step Tackling Task Analysis
Step Description
1Appropriatesplit Feetslightlywiderthanshoulderwidthandweightontoes
2Buttocksdown Buttocksparallelwiththeground
3Bendknees Kneesbentto90degrees
4Headup Chinupfacingdirectlyinfront
5Facemaskinchest Facemaskcontactschestofballcarrierkeepingneck‘‘bulled’’
6Driveheadtowardball Slidefacemasktowardsarmholdingtheball,keepingneck‘‘bulled’’
7Wraparms Wraparmsaroundballcarrier’shipswithhandsclaspedbehindupperthighs
8Rollhips Movehiptowardsballcarrier’ssternum
9Liftwithlegs Straightenlegskeepingbackarched
10Drivetoground Movelegsuntilballcarrierisdroppedtotheground
scribed below). The senior author had trained Procedure and Design
the defensive coach to conduct measurement The coach implemented procedures with the
before the study by having him observe video- participants during practice drills. Intervention
taped and live action practice drills until both was not applied to games.
individualsachieved85%ofgreaterinterobserver Baseline. The participants completed 10
agreement on three consecutive occasions. tackling drills per practice session under
The one-on-one tackling drill started with a conditions that were in place before the study.
participantlyingonhisback,helmettohelmetin Specifically, other team linebackers shouted
frontofasimilarlypositionedballcarrier.Padded enthusiastically before (e.g., ‘‘C’mon, get
barriers were set 5 yards wide and 5 yards deep ready!’’) and during (e.g., ‘‘way to go!’’) the
from the participant and ball carrier to create a drills and following drills in which the
runningroute.Thecoachinitiatedthedrillwitha participant tackled the ball carrier (e.g., ‘‘great
verbal command, at which time the participant hit!’’). The coach made similar statements
andballcarrierstoodupsothattheywerefacing during the drills. If the participants did not
eachother.Theparticipantthenhadtotacklethe tackle the ball carrier, the coach commented
ballcarrier,whotriedtoeludeorrunthroughthe negatively (e.g., ‘‘That’s no good!’’ ‘‘He made
participant within the padded barriers. you look silly!’’).
Following the intervention evaluation, we Intervention. During intervention, also imple-
measured Tedy’s and Mike’s tackling during a mented during 10 tackling drills per practice
scheduled game with a high school league session, the baseline conditions remained in
opponent. Measurement targeted the initial effect, with two exceptions. First, the coach
three tackling opportunities that had been withheld negative comments when the partici-
videotaped from their first varsity game. pantsmissedatackle.Second,positivereinforce-
To assess interobserver agreement, the first mentwasintroducedbyhavingthecoachpresent
author and coach independently recorded data a colorful helmet sticker to the participants each
for 20% of practice tackling drills that were time they matched or exceeded their previous
videotaped and for both of the videotaped correcttacklingpercentageasdocumentedonthe
games. Computed as the percentage of steps in task analysis form. Typically, the coach gave
the task analysis the coach and senior author stickers to team players who performed excep-
agreedtheparticipantsexecutedcorrectly,mean tionally during games (the participants had no
agreement was 82% (range, 70% to 90%) for game experience). Although not programmed,
the intervention evaluation and 100% for the these stickers resulted in positive comments and
game assessment. other forms of attention from teammates.
FOOTBALL TACKLING 511
Figure 1. Percentage of tackling steps executed correctly during 10 drills per practice session in baseline and
intervention phases (filled circles) and three tackling opportunities during games (open circles). The shaded squares
indicate individual steps inthe 10-step taskanalysis thatthe participant executed correctly.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION also increased with intervention (M 5 58%)
and was 70% during his first game. Tedy and
Figure 1 shows the percentage of tackling Mike routinely missed Steps 5 through 10 of
steps and each step in the 10-step task analysis the blocking sequence during baseline. They
the participants executed correctly during were able to execute these steps correctly more
baseline, intervention, and game phases. Mean often in response to behavioral coaching. In
correct tackling in baseline for Tedy was 35%. summary, the intervention improved the tack-
His performance improved steadily with inter- ling skills of two high school football athletes
vention(M575%),whichpersistedduringhis during practice, and they continued to perform
first game. Mean correct tackling during proficiently when assessed in their first post-
baselinewas26%forMike.Hiscorrecttackling intervention varsity game.
512 JOHN V. STOKES et al.
The factors that led to the improvement of pant. Therefore, in addition to expanding the
tackling skills are not determinable because the number and type of primary direct measures of
intervention consisted of multiple components. a player’s performance, future research should
Nevertheless, through task analysis of the include measurement of intervention integrity,
complex skills of tackling and differential social validity, and extended performance
reinforcement of progressively more features of during game conditions.
correct tackling, improvements were evident. Our findings support the use of task analysis
During this intervention, the helmet stickers and differential reinforcement as behavioral
likely functioned as conditioned reinforcers for interventions for improving tackling skills of
correct tackling skills. It was also apparent that high school football athletes. Beyond the
the possibly aversive consequences for missed procedural enhancements outlined above, addi-
tackles used in baseline and absent during the tional research should evaluate this or similar
intervention phase were not necessary during behavioral interventions for other football skills
practice for proficient tackling to occur. (e.g.,passing,blocking)andexplicitstrategiesto
As judged by the coaching staff, demonstrat-
promote practice-to-competition performance
ing proper technique was critical for these
generalization and maintenance.
young athletes to prevent potential injury and
to have them ‘‘game ready.’’ The intervention
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The study was limited because we did not
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assess the integrity with which the coach
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Received December 17, 2008
data were recorded only during the initial three
Final acceptance September 23,2009
tackles within a single game for each partici- Action Editor,Gregory P. Hanley