As the current chair of the PSA Sport Science Committee Tam dedicated to providing our readership with research that can enhance our coaching practices. We coaches can think of ourselves as lifelong learners who seek to elevate our sport to new levels not seen before. To do so, we must challenge existing beliefs, be open to new ideas, and integrate what we learn into an organized, yet constantly evolving, set of core principles that inform our coaching methodologies. One theory that greatly enhanced my own coaching practices is the OPTIMAL theory for motor learning. The OPTIMAL theory was conceived by professors Gabriele Wulf and Rebecca Lewthwaite. I had the pportunity to meet them both at a Neurorehabilitation Conference in Boston several years ago. I am happy to share with you an article I co-authored with Gabriele, which presents the OPTIMAL theory and applies its core principles to figure skating practice. Gabriele is a distinguished professor whose research has been cited more than 30,000 times. The OPTIMAL theory has greatly influenced physical therapy and athlete development domains. You can learn more about OPTIMAL theory through the extensive references we provide in the article.
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