Three Considerations of the Challenge Point Framework applied to coaching practice. 

First consideration, we must recognize that although difficulties or challenges in practice can be beneficial for learning, such challenges can also have motivational “costs”. These costs are a product of introducing more errors into practice and performance. Reduced motivation has negative effects on learning because learners may stop practising sooner and because reduced motivation might make learning less effective in and of itself.

Second consideration, regarding the challenge point framework and coaching is that not all difficulties are equally beneficial for learning. It is not difficulty in and of itself which is good for learning but the psychological processes which are engendered by the difficulty. These types of process difficulties have been termed “desirable” because they beneficially enhance encoding of information and its retrieval. We suggest that a key factor in determining which difficulties are desirable is practice specificity; that is, do the constraints of practice match those likely to be encountered in competition? For instance, task speed is likely only to be a desirable difficulty if response time is constrained in competition. A number of conditions of practice have been shown to impact on learning and transfer based on the match between the two scenarios, such as training under conditions of anxiety, matching of visual conditions during practice and testing,  and maintaining of perception-action links integral to the task.

Third consideration, the dynamic nature of the competitive environment makes the “optimal” difficulty for an individual (or team) a moving target across practice sessions or across seasons. The difficulty of a particular practice scenario can change in the short term, perhaps due to fatigue or arousal, as well as over the long term as a result of learning. Moreover, goals of practice may change, such that at times it may be beneficial to practice with high functional difficulty to optimize learning and improvement; at other times it may be beneficial to practise with lower relative difficulty, reinforcing successes and promoting competence.

In short, coaches can manipulate functional difficulty, motivation, and specificity to optimize different practice goals.

Read more:

Hodges, N. J., & Lohse, K. R. (2022). An extended challenge-based framework for practice design in sports coaching. Journal of Sports Sciences, 40(7), 754-768.

Guadagnoli, M. A., & Lee, T. D. (2004). Challenge point: a framework for conceptualizing the effects of various practice conditions in motor learning. Journal of motor behavior, 36(2), 212-224.