Motor Preferences & Athlete Development
Jack Rafferty
Understanding the Athlete Before changing the athlete
Motor Preferences provides information about how an athlete natrually organizes movement, giving coaches another piece of information to consider when developing the individual.
What is Motor Preferences?
The Athlete comes before the instruction
Every athlete doesn't respond to movement strategies, positions, exercises, or instructional cues in the same way.How Motor Preferences identifies characteristics of how an athlete naturally moves, including Motricity, Spatial Orientation, Balance Points and Association/Disassociation.The purpose IS NOT to put athletes into boxes or prescribe one "correct" way to move.The purpose IS to give coaches and players better information about the individual athlete before deciding how to reach, train, or develop them.
My Work
A pitcher we worked with had been dealing with lower back pain for over two years; and just because some athletes are similar doesn't mean they move the same.
A high school pitcher recovering from a partially torn UCL comes to us for a different approach. Instead of beginning with training, we began with understanding.
Information alone does not create improvement. Its real value comes when athletes learn to apply it, make informed decisions, and take ownership of their development.
Two athletes. The same instruction. The same effort. Completely opposite results. Here's what that revealed about how we coach movement.
Factors to consider when your athlete looks great in practice then disappears in the game.
The Big Idea
Understanding the Athlete has to come before trying to change them
Most athletes spend years being exposed to different coaches, cue, drills, philosophies, and movement strategies.The Question isn't Simply:
"What is the Right Way to Do This?"The Better Question Can Be:
"What Does this Athlete Naturally Do, and How Should that Information Influence the Way We Develop Them?"
What I Do
From Assessment to Application
Assess
Identify the athlete's Motor Preferences
Interpret
Understand what those preferences may mean for movement, instruction, and training.
Apply
Give the athlete information they can consider in their training, conditioning and recovery.
Individualize
Athletes are supported with better information and context. With a full Motor Profile Report following each assessment, athletes understand when to move away from assuming that the same cue, position, or movement strategy should work for everyone.Coaches are supported with better information for their athletes and understand when to move away from assuming that the same cue, position, or movement strategy should work equally well for every athlete.
To better support the program's initiative in player development, Worcester State University Baseball had all it's players receive a partial Motor Preferences Assessment. Each player received a Motor Profile Report, which includes a comprehensive guide sheet supporting their natural movement tendencies to their advantage on the field.
Currently Exploring
How Motor Preferences can be integrated into athletic programs across multiple sports.I've spent years coaching baseball and working with athletes, and one thing has become increasingly difficult to ignore:Athletes are NOT InterchangeableTwo athletes can perform the same task, receive the same instruction, and respond completely differently.That led me deeper into the question of how much an athlete's natrual movement preferences should influence the way we teach, train, and develop them. Motor Preferences has given me another way to look at that problem.My goal is NOT to tell athletes what to do or to tell coaches how to coach their sport. My goal IS to give them more information about themselves and their athletes in order to make the most informed decisions they can.My current work has primarily been within baseball, but the larger question extends beyond one sport: How can coaches and performance professional use information about an athlete's natural movement preferences to better individualize development?
For Coaches & Athletic Programs
Motor Preferences isn't limited to a particular sport.The same fundamental question exists across athletic environments: How can we better understand the individual athlete before deciding how to develop them?Motor Preferences Assessments can provide information that may be useful to:
* Strength & Conditioning Staff
* Sport-Specific Coaches
* Athletic Directors
* Performance Staff
* Athletes and familiesThe assessment can exist alongside the ecisiting coaching structure, rather than replacing it.