The abductive moment in player training in contemporary football

In a gaming context such as the contemporary one in which processes of definition and expression of identity are at stake and, consequently, of creation and interpretation of meaning, understanding and manipulation of the context, dynamic definition and functional use of relationships with all the protagonists of the game, an educational model based solely on the usual deductive and inductive moments is no longer sufficient, nor is it fully effective for the purposes of training a player fully capable of operating and providing functional solutions to the various game situations at the best of own possibilities.

It is the mandatory task of today’s technician, trainer and professional to reconstruct the circular process of experience, returning to the learning chain the link that has been forgotten and missing for too long and which allows the athlete’s personal and sporting experience to acquire meaning , continuity and cohesion.

It is inevitable, that is, to return space and attention to what, in the methodology of sports learning, is the great absence of the three processes that are logically used by the mind to elaborate the context in which it operates and provide conceptual, organizational and motor responses for be effective and have control and understanding of the environment in which it operates: what we define as the abductive moment of learning.

This experiential modality makes it possible to overcome the vision and practice of playing and learning as moments aimed at defining and perfecting repetitive and normative behavioral models, albeit experienced and resolved by the athlete in an original and personal way (induction) or through the simple execution of known gestures and behaviors (deduction) in favor of the creation of learning contexts in which, in a free or oriented way, the athlete needs to acquire knowledge and awareness of the game context, of the dynamics that regulate and how to influence them proactively.

In other words, of the three teaching approaches, the abductive one (specific to the game) is the one that chooses to provide the player with the opportunity to directly relate their current skills with the discovery of their effectiveness in a game context not only open, but poorly aimed at a specific and direct objective, so as to focus the educational value on the exploration and experimentation of the various game contexts in their entirety and complexity (relational, positional, functional superiority and inferiority, game situations volatile and unpredictable, indecipherability of the opponent’s game) and their intrinsic characteristics.

In this way the learning process can take place in its total completeness and naturalness by developing and perfecting technical, tactical, cognitive, motor and relational skills simultaneously and functionally with the understanding of the game and its deepest dynamics, leaving the student part of the control over one’s educational path.

In the training course that we will soon organize on the teaching of Game Experiences we will delve into operational concepts and strategies and field solutions that will allow us to have an even more effective impact, no longer simply on skills and competences detached from the broader < strong>sense of the gamebut which allow us to provide our players with an understanding of the dynamics that regulate it, providing purpose and meaning to their technical-tactical action and providing them with their own specific identity that gives real consistency and effectiveness to their act in an extremely complex gaming context like today’s.