Why Coach Intuition Matters in Sports Coaching

Have you ever wondered how some coaches seem to just know what to do? They make quick decisions that lead to success. This ability often stems from years of experience and a deep understanding of their sport. In fact, many coaches develop their intuition through hands-on experience, refining it over time.

The Importance of Intuitive Judgment for Coaches

Many coaches develop intuition through years of hands-on experience. It is refined, honed, and chiseled by repeated exposure to specific cues in their sport environment. In fact, in an editorial for the Journal of Motor Learning and Development, I wrote that:

"Many experienced coaches already embody the principles and practices central to skill acquisition science, sometimes through formal education but often through decades of honed coaching intuition."

This is a reminder that coaches have spent years honing their intuition. This is especially common in high-performance environments, where poor practices are eventually (mostly) selected out, and there is always a degree of 'efficacy' in a method that works well.

Well-developed intuitive judgment allows coaches to make quick, informed decisions during training and competition. For example, a swimming coach might instantly recognize subtle changes in stroke technique that predict fatigue or injury risk. This ability comes from prolonged engagement with athletes and consistent—often measurable—feedback on performance outcomes that can be used to tweak intuition over time.

The Development of Skilled Intuition in Coaches

Late last year, I translated some outstanding work on skilled intuition in other domains to sport in this pre-print together with practitioner and researcher Steve Crocroft. We concluded that intuition requires two key conditions:

• High Validity: The environment must provide clear, reliable cues that relate predictably to outcomes. In sports like track and field, performance metrics such as race times offer direct feedback, making it easier for coaches to connect observations with results. In team sports, this is often a whole lot more difficult. Or at least, it takes much longer to develop intuition.

  
  

• Adequate Opportunity: Coaches need extended and repeated exposure to these cues, along with feedback on their decisions. This process helps refine their internal models of athlete performance and response.

  
  

A theoretical representation of the coaching process. A training plan leads to a training session, which the coach observes. This observation is filtered through the coach's expertise and potential biases. Through reflection, the coach refines their understanding of the training process and outcome, which informs the next training plan

These conditions are available in many sports, both individual and team sports. Hence, coaches in these disciplines, especially on the high-performance side, have excellently developed coaching intuitions, meaning they 'get things right' most of the time.

Introducing the TnT Method: Trust and Tweak

Because coaches 'get it right' most of the time, especially when it comes to the training and development of skill, SkillACQ supports them to trust their intuition while remaining open to tweaking their approach based on new information or evidence. That way, we recognize that intuition is an extremely stable base to work from, but it is not infallible. We use the TnT method, where we first trust, then tweak.

• Trust: We teach coaches to rely on their experiential knowledge most of the time. Because they get it right most of the time, intuition forms an outstanding basis for confident decision-making and responsiveness during training.

  
  

• Tweak: We teach coaches that their intuition can be biased, sometimes by long exposure to the same methods ("I did it this way too when I was a player Syndrome") and sometimes because coaches have not adapted to the players or context they are facing (i.e., their methods work but are not adaptable). Through our engagement, we encourage coaches to stay curious and maintain a willingness to adjust their methods when new methods may work best. Not a full 180, but just enough to augment results. After all, most discoveries in the study of human expertise are not so ground-shattering that tomorrow we will all find out we have been doing things completely wrong all along.

  
  

Having both a strong reliance on intuitive judgments and an openness to change those judgments with new information keeps coaches from abandoning their judgment in favor of rigid protocols or untested trends. Instead, it promotes continuous learning and adaptation grounded in practical experience.

Coach observing practice

TnT in Action

Consider a veteran basketball coach who notices a player’s shooting form has changed slightly, leading to more misses. No technological "gizmos" have flagged this player for intervention yet. Through applying the TnT, a coach knows that they:

1. Can back their judgment, recognizing that their decade of experience has tuned them to patterns that sensors might miss.

   
   

2. Should be open to tweaking their practice based on what they have learned. For example, the coach uses a principle from skill acquisition science called practice variability (we talk about it here too) to "probe" the player's movement system. This isn't a full 180-degree change but a scientific adjustment to test their intuition and calibrate their internal model.

   
   

By using skill acquisition science to tweak rather than replace the intuition they already had, the coach avoids "outsourcing" their thinking. This symbiotic relationship uses augmented information as a learning tool to challenge biases and sharpen the very judgment for which the coach was hired in the first place. If you are really interested in how intuition and augmented information interact in elite sports, take a look here.

Valuing Coach Intuition in Coach Education

Coaching intuition is often misunderstood as subjective or outdated. We all know that crusty coach who runs the same fitness drill all year long "because it used to get them fit when they were younger too." Granted, their intuition may be a little off. However, in most coaches, intuition is a form of expertise developed through long-term engagement with athletes and environments. Ignoring this intuition risks losing valuable insights that cannot be fully captured by scientific models alone, especially given most coaches are hired for their experience and intuition, not their scientific thinking.

So, the goal of coach education through skill acquisition science is to support coaches, not replace their judgment. The TnT method exemplifies this by encouraging coaches to blend intuition with evidence, so they can use it to slightly update or 'tweak' their intuition. This approach respects the complexity of sport and the unique knowledge coaches hold.

By trusting their intuition and tweaking methods based on new insights, coaches can continue to develop their expertise, which ultimately, and almost inevitably, leads to better athlete development. If you want to know more about how we work to improve coach intuition, check out the Refine and Optimise pathways, where we develop bespoke programs to support coaches and organisations through education, mentoring, and targeted interventions.

Conclusion: Embracing the Future of Coaching

In conclusion, the integration of intuition and evidence-based methods is vital for effective coaching. Coaches should feel empowered to trust their instincts while remaining open to new ideas and approaches. The TnT method provides a framework for this balance, allowing coaches to adapt and grow in their practice.

As we move forward in the world of sports coaching, let's celebrate the invaluable role of intuition. It is not just about following the latest trends; it is about understanding the unique needs of athletes and the dynamics of their sports. By valuing both intuition and evidence, we can create a brighter future for coaching and athlete development.

Remember, as coaches, we are all on a journey of continuous learning. Let's embrace this journey together!