TheVirginiaJournal_SpringSummer2024

Tactical Games Approach in Physical Education (Reprint from Spring 2022) Seungyeon Park , Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Health, Physical Education & Exercise Science Department , Norfolk State University Ann-Catherine Sullivan , Ph.D., CAPE, COI, Department of the Health, Physical Education & Exercise Science Department, Norfolk State University

Introduction What is the best pedagogical approach in order to instruct students in physical education (PE) settings? This question has two folds as teaching and learning. Depending on how physical educators utilize their pedagogical approach in PE settings, students can maximize their understanding and then participate in sports with a great amount of motivation. Experts have diverse perspectives about their practices and pedagogical approach in relation to teaching and learning in PE. There is a notion that tactics are a more integral part for promoting learning of students in PE. In traditional teaching methods, sports skills taught in isolated environment cannot easily transferred into game and sports performance . With this most concerned critic in traditional teaching method, there were comparatively recent teaching approaches as (1) Teaching Games for Understanding and (2) Tactical Games approach (TGA). These two models actively employ a modified game playing to promote student’s understanding in relation to sports and game playing. TGA is more emphasizing to teach tactics to perform sports effectively. TGA is both student-centered and subject matter pedagogical approach because it enables students to learn and then apply those skills in the particular tactical situations; students will have ‘tactical awareness’ which is about knowing what they are required to do in the specific playing situations in sports (Gr haigne et al, 1999). The rationale is that teaching sports with TGA enables students have more excitement by having them to playing game, develop their knowledge and its natural transference into sport performance throughout a series of questions in developmentally assigned game Mitchell et al, 2021). Additionally, there are four different categories of sports which can be considered with TGA use when teaching sports for students; net/wall, invasion, target and striking/fielding category (Almond, 2015). Sports in the same sport category will share similarities. With the same ‘tactical awareness’, students will be more likely to transfer their knowledge into one another sports during the game situations. For instance, ‘tactical awareness’ in invasion games such as soccer, football and team-handball include examples such as ‘maintaining possession of the ball’, ‘attacking the goal’, ‘creating space’ and ‘defending space’ under the situations of off-the-ball movements and on-the-ball-skills. There are even benefits of dividing sport activities into the same specific category, we need to be aware that different sports in the same category also will require different aspects hugely which are more related to skills rather than strategies. As an example, Diagram 1 describes tactical awareness for both on-the object and off-the-object movement in ultimate frisbee and team

handball. With this identifiable ‘ tactical awareness’ , physical educators should reflect different level of ‘tactical complexity’ of the game or sports for their students assuming that there is different skill level of learners (Mitchell et al, 2021).

Diagram 1 . Maintaining Possession in Ultimate Frisbee and Team Handball.

Conceptual Framework of Tactical Games Approach PE teachers can identify the most important tactical problems in their sports lesson unit. First step for TGA is providing modified game playing practice for students to promote student’s decision-making in given tactical awareness situations. One of considerations is level of tactical complexity when identifying tactical awareness. There are diverse learners in relation to skill level and understanding of sports performance in PE classes. Next, students are asked to answer about the modified game situations and these parts are specifically linked to student’s understanding. These are all related to psychomotor (on and off the-ball movement), cognitive (tactical awareness and decision making) and affective domain (communication skill and sport person-ship). At the next level, students can be introduced into modified game playing practice again followed by next level game playing to prove and show improved skill level as well as reinforcing problem-solving and decision-making (Mitchell et al, 2021). Review of Tactical Games Approach Literature A number of research studies have been conducted to examine the effectiveness of TGA with respect to learning games for school-aged children. However, there was little attention on application outside of the school context or in a setting for adult population. This section will briefly report the effectiveness of TGA for school-aged children as an instructional model and

12 • Virginia AHPERD • SPRING-SUMMER 2024