Developmental influences on the acquisition of tactical decision-making expertise

Abstract

The principal purpose of this study was to identify those developmental factors most predictive of adult perceptual and decision-making skill. Qualitative data on developmental experiences and social support were collected from semi-structured interviews of 29 elite Australian Football League (AFL) players, 16 of whom were independently ckssified by a panel of coaches as expert decision-makers and 13 as less-skilled decision-makers. While high levels of parental support and a fierce desire to win, established from an early age, were evident for all players in the elite sample, the expert decision-makers were more likely to have had (i) extensive experience of invasion games during their development, (ii) early experience of playing against adults or older children, (iii) playing experience in related sports (especially basketball), and (iv) their father as a coach at some stage during their junior years. The developmental characteristics observed for the expert decision-makers extend quantitative findings on the practice hours of the same cohort (Berry et al., 2008) and indicate that observable differences in decision-making skills amongst adult players, even at an elite level, may be directly linked to each player's particular developmental and practice experiences.