Department of
Psychological and Brain Sciences

• Similarities between student learning and athlete learning
• Cognitive processes mediating motor learning and performance
• How athletes learn, how coaches teach—a psychological perspective
• Developing coach and athlete expertise
• Acceleration of the motor learning and performance processes

Over the course of my 37 year collegiate coaching career working with hundreds of athletes, I conducted what might be considered an informal longitudinal study. Some of the things I learned during this time period include:

• Teaching a motor skill in an athletic setting is, in many ways, similar to teaching an academic subject in a classroom.
• Cognition plays a role in motor learning just as it does in classroom learning.
• Coaching and learning are about making connectionscognitively, physiologically, emotionally, psychologically, etc.
• Employing psychological theories, principles, and research accelerates the motor learning and performance processes.
• Effective coaching involves developing athletes' physical, mental, and emotional abilities.
• Effective coaching involves developing psychologically healthy, competent, and confident athletes who possess a sense of self-worth.
• Coaching is both an art and a science.
• Coach and athlete expertise can be achieved with effective training (e.g., deliberate practice).
• The processes of how athletes learn and how coaches teach are inseparable.

Huber, J.J. (2015). The essentials of springboard and platform diving. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Huber, J.J. (2013). Applying educational psychology in coaching athletes. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Huber, J.J. (2007). Becoming a champion diver: Striving to reach your greatest potential. DVD. Ames, IA: Championship Books and Video Productions.

Huber, J.J. (2007). Practice management and discipline. In R. M. Malina & J. L. Gabriel (Eds.), USA diving coach development reference manual (pp. 219-230). Indianapolis, IN: USA Diving Publications.

Huber, J.J. (2007). Cognition related to skill development and diving performance: Helping divers cognitively resemble elite level divers. In R. M. Malina & J. L. Gabriel (Eds.), USA diving coach development reference manual (pp. 279-288). Indianapolis, IN: USA Diving Publications.

Huber, J.J. (1997). Differences in problem representation and procedural knowledge between elite and non-elite springboard divers. The Sport Psychologist, 11 (2), 142-159.

Huber, J.J. (1987). Adams' closed-loop theory of motor learning and its implications for diving coaches. The Diver, 8 (9), 9-12.

Huber, J.J. (1987). The warm-up decrement phenomenon and the set hypothesis: Implications for diving performance. The Diver, 8 (8), 14-15.