Liftin' weights and hittin' dingers

I'm actually surprised it took me this long to write about something regarding behavior analysis and the sport I love: softball. I recently read an article Comparing Forward and Backward Chaining in Teaching Olympic Weightlifting by James W. Moore and Laura M. Quintero. Great read. Highly recommend if you are someone who teaches weightlifting or you are a behavior analyst with an interest in fitness.

Anyways, the article discusses two procedures (backward and forward chaining) used to teach two different lifts (clean and snatch). Before I go on, I feel like I should start with a definition of backward and forward chaining and an example of a clean and snatch. Each definition can be found in the behavior analyst must read, Applied Behavior Analysis by John. O. Cooper, Timothy E. Heron, and William L. Heward. (Commonly referred to as the big white book.)

"Backward chaining: A teaching procedure in which a trainer completes all but the LAST behavior in a chain, which is performed by the learner, who then receives reinforcement for completing the chain. When the learner shows competence in performing the final step in the chain, the trainer performs all but the LAST TWO behaviors in the chain"......and so on and so on, until you reach the starting point and the learner completes the entire sequence independently.

"Forward chaining: A method for teaching behavior chains that begins with the learner being prompted and taught to perform the FIRST behavior in a task analysis; the trainer completes the remaining steps of the chain. When the learner shows competence in performing the first steps of the chain, he is then taught to perform the FIRST TWO behaviors in the chain.".....and so on and so on, until you reach the final step and the learner completes the entire sequence independently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3WeR9NdflI

To the right you will see examples of the clean and the snatch. These were the two lifts the authors were looking to teach using both forward and backward chaining. To do this, they broke each lift into four sections and taught them either in forward or backward sequence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBc5N_-xdqo

For the clean they separated the lift into the following four sections: the deadlift, the pull, the power clean, and the squat. For the snatch the lift was separated into the following four sections: the deadlift, the pull, the power snatch, and the squat. It is important to note, when teaching the forward or backward chaining procedures the skills were taught specifically in the four-segments.

Anyways, not trying to make this an article review. They found that forward chaining proved to be most effective when teaching both of these lifts to four individuals varying in previous experience lifting. By far, these individuals learned the skill much faster and had more accuracy following forward chaining. I'm sure you all are just asking yourself, how does this article have anything to do with hittin' dingers?

How does this article have anything to do with hittin' dingers?

Well I started thinking about how I break skills down as a coach. In a sense, am I forward or backward chaining with my athletes? Do I show them how to hit a ball and expect them to go do it? Do I focus on seeing the ball, putting power behind it, and placing it where you want to go, first? Or do I break it down into segments of picking up the bat and getting in an athletic position, loading back, weight transfer and separation of the upper and lower body, getting your arms in a strong position at contact point, extending through the ball and finishing the swing?

I'm not here to argue the best method of what to teach. I am the first one to say, I've only been coaching softball for six seasons. I do not know everything and I am constantly learning from more experienced coaches around me. I take trips to coaches conferences, I watch youtube like it's cable TV, and I reach out to successful coaches to learn. I am still a student of the sport.

What I am here to do, is discuss the impact of a forward chaining procedure with athletes. In other words, breaking down a skill, ensuring mastery of part one of said skill, then moving to part two of the skill. As coaches, I feel that sometimes we are in such a hurry to teach kids everything they need to know before a big game, we forget to ensure they are mastering the fundamentals.

I'm going to end this post with an example of what I feel, may be an effective teaching procedure for a young athlete looking to develop fundamental hitting technique. This could be adjusted for any hitting program you use, the focus here is ensuring the athlete masters one step before moving on. In this case, we will define mastery as performing the skill correctly, five times consecutively.

Let's break our swing down into five sections: set your stance, load back, drive legs forward (creating some separation in the upper and lower body), bring bat to contact point, extend through the ball, finish swing.

Note: Not the greatest visual, but something to represent working through a chaining procedure.

First, I would work on creating an athletic, yet comfortable stance for the athlete. Have them practice stepping out of and back into their stance until they are able to do it five times in a row.

Then I would teach the load onto their back leg, striding if that is what they choose to do. Have them practice the load until they are consistently performing it correctly five times in a row.

Next work into attacking the ball. I talk about this as separating your hips and your arms. Driving your back leg forward while keeping your arms in an athletic position to get to contact point. Again, performing this skill over and over until she is able to consistently create that separation five times in a row.

After that we get our bat to contact point and hold strong. I talk a lot about creating a strong frame of the house in this position. I often work with young athletes and I find that it create a great visual for them to see the roof of the house created by their hands and elbows. The frame of the house is created by their arms. This helps young athletes not progress to extension too early in their swing. So we practice working from that attack position to contact point until the athlete is able to show correct form five times in a row.

Then we push through the ball and extend our bat toward the outfield. This is why it is so important to have that great frame before moving to extension. We want to make sure that we are getting ample amount of power behind the ball that in turn will create distance, leading to dingers (hopefully). I find that practicing this skill can be beneficial with a tee and a ball. Working on pushing the ball off the tee from contact point without a full swing helps girls to visualize the impact of proper extension. Again, we practice this until the athlete has correct form for five straight extensions.

Finally, I like to reinforce proper finish of the swing. I see it especially in young kids, they wrap their bat around their lower back. This often is a result of rolling wrists and early extension in my experience. I try to emphasize finishing their swing at the top of their shoulder blades to create an angle in their swing to promote said "dingers". This should be one of the easier skills to teach and many athletes master it within their first five swings.

There is so much more to hitting. This is not a hitting camp with the best technique by any means, but as a future behavior analyst, I wanted to look at what research has shown to be effective when teaching new skills. If forward chaining has been shown to be one of the fastest ways for individuals to acquire skills required for effective lifting, it would be worth more research to show if forward chaining is the most effective coaching technique in other sports as well. '

Moore, J. W., & Quintero, L. M. (2018). Comparing forward and backward chaining in teaching Olympic weightlifting. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 52(1), 50-59. doi:10.1002/jaba.517