Discussion

Background: Recent developments of theories for teaching decision making in sport offer a large variety of applications for the context of physical education.

Purpose: This review of current models of teaching tactical skills concludes that most models incorporate different cognitive learning mechanisms, such as implicit and explicit learning, and are either domain specific or domain general. Yet, most models ignore the structure of the environment when defining in which situation a specific cognitive process will be beneficial and in which situations it will fail.

Findings: From an ecological rationality perspective the experimentally validated SMART (Situation Model of Anticipated Response consequences of Tactical training) model is presented; this model identifies in which situation a particular learning mechanism should be beneficial.

Conclusions: It is crucial to acknowledge that no one model of teaching decision making is the best but rather that choosing the appropriate model depends on the task and persons involved. The SMART model provides selection criteria for models of teaching decision making used in the domain of sport.