ABSTRACT
As the childhood years are crucial for developing many physical skills as well as establishing the groundwork leading to lifelong participation in sport and physical activities, (Orlick & Botterill, 1977, p. 11) it is essential to examine current practice to make sure it is meeting the needs of children. In recent papers (e.g. Renshaw et al., 2009; Renshaw et al., 2010; Chow et al., 2009) we have highlighted that a guiding theoretical framework is needed to provide a principled approach to teaching and coaching and that the approach must be evidence-based and focused on mechanism and not just on operational issues such as practice, competition and programme management (Lyle, 2002). There is a need to demonstrate how non-linear pedagogy underpins teaching and coaching practice for children given that some of the current approaches underpinning children’s sport and P.E. may not be leading to optimal results. For example, little time is spent undertaking physical activities (Tinning, 2006) and much of this practice is not representative of the competition demands of the performance environment (Kirk & McPhail, 2002; Renshaw et al., 2008). Proponents of a non-linear pedagogy advocate the design of practice by applying key concepts such as the mutuality of the performer and environment, the tight coupling of perception and action, and the emergence of movement solutions due to self-organisation under constraints (see Renshaw et al., 2009). As skills are shaped by the unique interacting individual, task and environmental constraints in these learning environments, small changes to individual structural (e.g. factors such as height or limb length) or functional constraints (e.g. factors such as motivation, perceptual skills, strength that can be acquired), task rules, equipment, or environmental constraints can lead to dramatic changes in movement patterns adopted by learners to solve performance problems.
