The teaching and learning of decision making in team sports

In team sports, playing well means choosing the right course of action at t he right moment and performing that course of action efficiently and consis tently throughout the match. Research on decision making in sports indicate s that although experts make more accurate decisions based on earlier occur ring information, they tend to have speed rather than accuracy, context-spe cific advantage in decision making. In light of the key notion of configura tion of pray, elements underlying its perception and interpretation and the ensuing anticipation and decision making are discussed. In connection with teaching-learning settings, observation and verbalization are presented as key strategies for eliciting critical thinking and the development of stra tegic and tactical knowledge. Finally, the authors present a dynamic model exploiting (a) action settings, (b) observation settings, and (c) debate-of -idea settings for the ultimate goal of constructing strategic and tactical knowledge in team sports.