Stimulate
Adapt
Stabilize
Actualize
This sequence is taken from a Dan Pfaff lecture. He notes that it actually comes from motor learning, but works quite well describing physiological processes.
As he has noted, we’re pretty good at the first 2, but pretty bad (and often negligent) of the last 2.
As coaches, we often will see an athlete do something and just assume “oh, now they can do it.” In reality, demonstrating the ability to perform a task once does NOT indicate an ability to repeat it. The body needs to stabilize at this new ability level, and then be able to realize it in a variety of environments.
I like to use the example of my infant son. The first time he crawled was probably 2 weeks before he actually started regularly crawling. While his body was capable of the movement, he wasn’t capable of it all the time, in a variety of situations. The same can be said of an athlete of any level – just because they can achieve a performance one time, does not mean they are capable of it all the time. It is incumbent upon the coach to realize this and plan accordingly.
