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Old 01-14-2009, 11:31 AM   #7
Walter Martindale
Location: Edmonton, AB
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 802
Canada
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Re: Pros and Cons of Video

Video of one's own performance can assist in becoming aware of body movement.
It is possible to learn various movements simply through observing and imitating, and research has shown that this "monkey see monkey do" form of learning is actually very powerful - the researchers call it "intrinsic learning".
Video without accompanying commentary, of "elite" performance shown alongside video of "my" performance (or whomever the learner is) can be used to help the learner become aware of where his or her movements do not match the movements of the "elite" performer.
Because the "elite" performer and the learner are different people, their movements will always be different, but one should always assume that the learner is trying to do "correctly" or "well" whatever it is they're learning - i.e., nobody wants to do poorly, do they?
Video can help the person learning figure out where they vary from what they think they're doing, and can speed up the process of having them learn to do what they're trying to do, and also to develop more kinesthetic awareness (awareness of where their bits and pieces are in space, in relation to others, and what they're doing).
When I video athletes for coaching purposes, I first show it through for them without comment, at live speed.
Then rewind and ask what they see.
Then rewind and play at slow speed and ask what they see.
Then rewind and add my own commentary, usually confirming what they say and then adding what I think they can do to improve (or asking what they think they can do to improve). This process gives them some ownership of the error detection and the error correction, and (usually) makes for quicker improvement that stays with the athlete for a longer time.
Video feedback delayed is video feedback denied; people observing video of something very recently completed can remember what they were feeling (physically, not emotionally) when they did the movement, and can relate the video to what they did. The longer you delay providing the video, the less value it has because they can no longer easily relate the images with what they felt during the movement. Preferred option would be to allow a person to watch the video live, concurrently with their movements - in a repetitive sport like mine, this is possible - in Aikido it's a little more difficult to provide concurrent video feedback because you're constantly changing your viewpoint, and (should be) focusing on uke or nage, and not a mirror or a video monitor.

Walter

Last edited by Walter Martindale : 01-14-2009 at 11:34 AM.
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