Behavioral skills training produces acquisition and generalization of run-blocking skills of high school football players

Abstract

Behavioral skills training (BST) has been used to improve football players' performance in one prior study, but limited data were collected on how the skill generalized from the training environment to the natural environment. The purpose of this study was to further evaluate the effects of BST in enhancing football players' performance while also evaluating the generalization of a skill taught in a training environment (i.e., practice) to the natural environment (i.e., game-simulated scrimmage). This study included five high school offensive line football players and recorded their run-blocking skills in the training context and a game context in baseline and following BST. The results showed that BST improved performance in the training environment, with run-blocking skills slightly generalizing from the training environment to game-simulated scrimmages. When BST was conducted in the natural environment, it further improved the participants' run-blocking skills.