UNLOCK CUTTING EDGE COACHING CONTENT

Activate a 30 day free trial of TCS+ to access this full post, along with the latest drills, tactics and leadership lessons from hockey's top coaches.

START FREE TRIAL
LOG IN
The Science of Player Skill Acquisition with Job Fransen

The Science of Player Skill Acquisition with Job Fransen

Glass and Out Podcast Photo
Glass and Out Podcast
TCS+
569 Views

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify Linktree

In episode 322 of the Glass and Out Podcast, we welcome Senior Lecturer Charles Sturt University Job Fransen.

Fransen is also the founder and managing director of SkillACQ, a company that provides skill acquisition support services to high performance sporting organizations, from education and one-on-one mentoring of coaches, specifically in how they can create environments that best support skill acquisition.

He studies how team sports athletes develop, acquire and perform complex motor skills. He’s worked with teams across all sports, leagues and countries.

Earlier this year, he presented at the IIHF Coaching Symposium in Stockholm on Foundational Principles of Effective Practice Design. You can watch the full video now on The Coaches Site.

Listen as he shares the science behind skill acquisition, the difference between competence and confidence training and why all coaches need to trust their intuition.

Video Timestamps:

  • 0:00 Aussie Rules football vs hockey
  • 2:35 New ways of doing things
  • 4:55 Practice observations
  • 7:05 Early stages of skill acquisition science
  • 12:10 Competency vs confidence training
  • 16:35 Short term success and dopamine
  • 19:35 Coaching intuition and confidence
  • 22:45 Seasonal training plan
  • 25:45 Process for learning a complex skill
  • 27:45 Learning vs performing
  • 29:45 Learning by failing
  • 31:25 Investing in learning
  • 35:35 Managing the desire to win
  • 42:40 Tracking skill improvement
  • 45:20 Encouraging competition against high skill level
  • 52:55 Coaches are sound engineers
  • 55:20 The Aussie Rules experiment
  • 1:01:25 Physicality and safety
  • 1:02:55 Role as a researcher
  • 1:05:40 Unique practice observations
  • 1:08:20 Evaluating talent





copyright (c) 2026 The Coaches Site