“Perfect Practice Makes Perfect.”

Athletic performance can improve and one can be learning.

Athletic performance can decline and one can be learning.

So, “Perfect practice makes perfect” – learning. Regardless of how “Perfect” our practice is, performance can and will go up and down, but learning can be maximised.

To get close to perfect practice the practice must be with purpose; “Deliberate Practice”.

Richard Bailey introduced me to a good definition of “Deliberate Practice”.

Deliberate Practice = Practice + Feedback
+ Variation
+ Observation
+ Mindfullness
+ Context

So, coaches, teachers, parents and anyone interested in creating learning environments and “Deliberate Practice”, if we can develop our feedback skills, provide variation within our practice sessions, create opportunities for our learners to watch practice and learning taking place, engage our learners (mindfulness) and do all this in a relevant context then we get closer to, “Perfect Practice”.