SHAPING THE GAME: Adaptation Over Time (7:7)

By Coach Barry Jones IIHF Level 3 High Performance | USA Hockey Level 3 Performance

Adaptation Over Time: When the Iceberg Thinks Back

The Iceberg Is Not Static

In non-linear coaching, the environment does not remain fixed.

As athletes adapt, the iceberg changes shape.

What once challenged them no longer does. What once created hesitation becomes familiar. What once demanded attention fades into the background.

Adaptation over time lives below the waterline, where the coach must continually respond to how the system is evolving, not how it was planned.

Athletes Adapt, Environments Must Follow

One of the most common errors in long-term development is leaving environments unchanged while expecting athletes to keep improving.

Non-linear learning does not progress in straight lines.

As athletes adapt, constraints must shift, problems must evolve, information must change, and pressure must be rebalanced.

If the environment stays the same, learning plateaus, not because athletes stop learning, but because the system has stopped asking new questions.

Environments Think Back

In an ecological system, the environment is not passive.

Athletes change how tasks unfold. They solve problems faster, exploit constraints, stabilise behaviours, and find efficient shortcuts.

This is feedback.

When environments think back, coaches attune to what behaviours are stabilising, where decisions are becoming automatic, where variability is disappearing, and where challenge ratios are drifting.

Adjustment is not reaction. It is listening to the system.

Progression Is Not Linear, It Is Responsive

Traditional models rely on pre-planned progressions.

Non-linear coaching relies on responsive progression.

The coach does not simply move to the next drill. They adjust the environment based on what the system is revealing.

Progression follows adaptation, not calendars.

Themes Act as Anchors Over Time

As environments evolve, athletes still need coherence.

Themes are not rigid plans or fixed outcomes. They are attentional anchors that keep learning present while allowing behaviour to adapt.

A theme provides a shared focus, a consistent intention, and a lens through which problems are explored.

Without themes, adaptation can drift. With themes, adaptation has direction without restriction.

Themes Hold Learning While the Environment Changes

In non-linear coaching, environments must change as athletes adapt.

Themes allow that change to happen without resetting learning every session.

The task may evolve. The constraints may shift. The pressure may increase or decrease. But the theme remains visible.

Athletes are not starting over. They are revisiting the same idea in new conditions. This is how learning becomes durable.

Themes Guide Attention, Not Behaviour

Themes are not instructions. They do not tell athletes what to do.

They guide what to attend to.

A well-chosen theme sharpens perception, stabilises intention, keeps decision-making aligned, and allows multiple solutions to coexist.

Above the surface, athletes experience clarity. Below the surface, the environment keeps reshaping how that theme is expressed.

Stability and Variability Must Coexist Over Time

Long-term development requires both enough stability for behaviours to settle and enough variability for adaptability to remain alive.

If environments change too quickly, learning never stabilises. If environments never change, learning becomes brittle.

Below the surface, the coach manages this tension. Above the surface, athletes simply feel appropriately challenged.

The Iceberg as a Living System

The iceberg is not a metaphor for hiding information. It is a metaphor for where responsibility lives.

Above the surface, athletes play, decide, adapt, and own solutions.

Below the surface, coaches design, adjust, observe, and respond over time.

Themes sit just below the surface, visible enough to guide attention, flexible enough to evolve with the system.

Closing the Loop

Non-linear coaching is not about removing structure. It is about placing structure where it belongs.

When intent, task design, psychological structure, skill adaptation, representative learning, sampling, and themes are allowed to evolve over time, athletes do not just learn.

They become adaptable performers.

The iceberg evolves. The learning stays present. The system thinks back.

Author Bio: Barry Jones is an IIHF Level 3 High Performance Coach and USA Hockey Level 3 Performance Coach. His work blends ecological dynamics, nonlinear design, and athlete-centred leadership to build adaptive teams that thrive in uncertainty.