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Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy
ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cpes20
Practising the practice. Towards a theory of
practising in physical education from a Bildung-
theoretical perspective
Malte Brinkmann & Martin Giese
To cite this article: Malte Brinkmann & Martin Giese (2023): Practising the practice. Towards
a theory of practising in physical education from a Bildung-theoretical perspective, Physical
Education and Sport Pedagogy, DOI: 10.1080/17408989.2023.2167968
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/17408989.2023.2167968
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa
UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis
Group
Published online: 08 Feb 2023.
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Practising the practice. Towards a theory of practising in physical
education from a Bildung-theoretical perspective
Malte Brinkmann
a
and Martin Giese
b
a
General Pedagogy, Institute of Educational Studies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany;
b
Sports
Science & Sport Pedagogy, Department of Natural and Human Sciences, Heidelberg University of Education,
Heidelberg, Germany
ABSTRACT
Background: In the international sport pedagogical discourse, practising
is a marginal research topic. Nevertheless, it should be considered as an
elementary component of PE. To fill this gap, we discuss the
international discourse against the background of Bildung-theoretical
work on practising in German-language educational studies and sport
pedagogy.
Theoretical approach: The article is based on a phenomenologically
informed perspective on Gestalt, lived-body and practising. We use a
hermeneutical-phenomenological approach that focuses on the
meaningful and embodied processes in the experience of practising. In
the tradition of a theory of Bildung, both, systematic, e.g. semantic and
theoretical analyses, as well as didactical and methodological
perspectives for practising, are developed.
Purpose: An alternative view on practising is developed which, contrary
to conventional perspectives on automatisation, memorisation and
optimisation of motor skills, focuses on the meaningful and formative
(bildend) experiences in practising. We argue that in practising, two
meaningful and embodied processes arise: repetition and not knowing-
how. Both are identified as productive and creative potentials. We
argue that in practising not only skills can be improved but also abilities
and attitudes can be developed and transformed. Moreover, in
practising the relation to oneself and to the world is challenged and
possibly changed. In practising as a process of Bildung, a subjectivation
takes place: It’s about becoming a self. To make this clear, three aspects
of a theory of practising in sport pedagogical research are highlighted:
First, the differences to psychological theories are worked out. This is
done in the context of a critical reconstruction of international and
German-speaking research in PE. For this reason, a semantical and
conceptual differentiation is proposed by distinguishing practice,
exercise and training from practising. While exercise and training as
outcome-oriented and technological terms strongly aim at
automatisation and optimisation, practising is based on embodied
experiences that give meaning and aresubjectively and holistically
experienced. Second, the particularities and specific characteristics, as
well as the productive potentials of practising, are carried out from
both a philosophical and a pedagogical perspective. Based on teaching
examples, the theoretical and phenomenological foundations of the
ARTICLE HISTORY
Received 22 September 2021
Accepted 2 December 2022
KEYWORDS
Practising; embodiment;
sport pedagogy;
phenomenology; exercise
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
CONTACT Malte Brinkmann Malte.Brinkmann@hu-berlin.de General Pedagogy, Institute of Educational Studies, Hum-
boldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, Berlin 10099, Germany
PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORT PEDAGOGY
https://doi.org/10.1080/17408989.2023.2167968
lived body (Leib) in practising as well as the moments of repetition and
negativity are elaborated. Third, the redefinition of the term and
concept of practising opens up significant educational and didactic
possibilities but also challenges for sport pedagogy.
Conclusion: A theory of practising should not be reduced to
psychological models, but should also not stop at philosophical
thoughts. If practising is systematically related to pedagogical contexts,
then not only the characteristics in the experience of practising, such as
negativity and repetition but also the specific actions and settings must
be included. Practising as a social and educational activity, therefore,
requires a reflection on the premises and goals of pedagogical actions.
A didactics of practising is necessary, which is carried out in the last
chapter.
1. Introduction
In the international pedagogical discourse, practising is still a marginal research topic. However, it
has recently received increased attention. Philosophical and sociological publications with wide cir-
culation have contributed to this, such as the book on craftsmanship by Sennett (2009) or the best-
seller by Sloterdijk (2014). Expertise research has also discovered and investigated practising as a
deliberate practice technique (Keith and Ericsson 2007; Ericsson 2020). Practising is also a topic
in music pedagogy (Dyndahl and Nielsen 2017), Didactics of Mathematics and language learning
didactics (Küster 2020). Especially in physical education (PE), practising is attributed a high
value as well (Giese and Brinkmann 2021; Aggerholm et al. 2018; Lindgren and Barker 2019).
But often it is still technologically reduced to automation, memorisation and optimisation of
motor skills.
In continental pedagogical approaches to practising, it is assumed that in the activity of practis-
ing a connection to subjectivity and thus to the self-relationship of the practising person arises
(Bollnow 1978). A change or transformation of this relation to oneself and to others is determined
as a process of Bildung (Koller 2012). In recent years, the concept of Bildung has also been increas-
ingly noted in the English-speaking world (Pinar 2011; Horlacher 201 6; Friesen and Kenklies 2022;
Biesta 2022). Bildung is distinguished from outcome- and competence-oriented or psychological
conceptions of learning. To put it very succinctly, Bildung means a lifelong process of work of
the self at being a self which includes self-cultivation, self-formation and self-care. The concept
of Bildung goes back to the ancient concept of paideia. The term education can be distinguished
from this. Education means supporting or summoning to self-activity (Benner 2020) or to engage
in their own practising and learning (Brinkmann and Türstig 2023). It is thus an activity of the edu-
cators that eventually aims at making experiences of Bildung possible for the students (Biesta 2022,
35).
Unlike the practice of education, Bildung is closely connected with the experience of an inter-
ruption, an irritation or even a crisis. Experiences of Bildung make it possible to experience oneself
and others in the world differently, to see and behave in a different way. Bildung implies a redirec-
tion of attention (Benner 2020,15–20), which includes a conversion (Greek: periagoge) and thus a
re-learning (Umlernen) and a re-practising (Brinkmann 2021). In the German-speaking discourse
these aspects, like failure, irritation and not-knowing-how are called –in the tradition of Buck
(2019)–negative experiences. But they are highly positive and productive! Bildung thus does
not mean continuous adaptation or development, but a possibly uncomfortable experience in
which the relationship to oneself and to the world is challenged and changed.
In the following, we relate these perspectives from a theory of Bildung to practising. We will
argue that practising is not only practising something (a skill) but always also practising the self
in the sense of subjectivation. Negative experiences make practising an exhausting and challenging
2M. BRINKMANN AND M. GIESE
activity for the practitioner that requires patience, endurance, concentration and a tolerance for
mistakes. Thus, in some respects, the person itself is challenged. In this regard, practising is worked
in a first-person perspective. It is about how I exist as a subject of my practices and my life (Sloter-
dijk 2014; Brinkmann 2021). In practising the practice not only a skill or a technique is practised,
but also an ability with which this skill is performed and an attitude with which this activity is car-
ried out.
Practising is therefore both a practical and a mental, a bodily and an ethical activity of subjecti-
vation. Practising as something that you do is always based on the body. While in sports the cor-
poral aspects are emphasised, memorisation practices, practices of reflection or practices in Zen,
such as yoga, are focused on the mental dimensions. Properly considered, the whole person is prac-
tised in practising. In other words: In practising a subjectivation takes place (Biesta 2022,45–47).
The hypothesis we want to derive in this paper as the basis of a Bildung-theoretical legitimisation of
practising in PE is that practising is a practice in which a skill (e.g. setting in volleyball or the slice in
tennis), an ability (e.g. concentration, mindfulness) and an attitude or a stance (e.g. tolerance of
mistakes, composure) can be developed –through repetition.
In the cultivation of abilities and skills, the person gives himself or herself a form and is formed.
This formation as care (lat.: cura) and cultivation (lat.: cultura) has a long occidental tradition
(Brinkmann 2021). The formatio in practising concerns the relationship of the practising person
to him/herself, to others, and to the world. But this cultivation is not a continuous development.
In practising both take place at the same time: a continuous and a discontinuous experience, a for-
mation and a transformation. Moreover, in the repetitive activity of practising, creative and trans-
formative potentials are more strongly appreciated. Thus, a specifically existential perspective on
practising becomes possible insofar as negative experiences are identified as a basic and creative
moment of practising. It is precisely in these negative, subjectivating experiences of not knowing
how, disappointment, irritation, mistake and failure that the productive and creative potentials
of practising manifest themselves (Brinkmann 2021; Giese and Brinkmann 2021).
The focus of this contribution is theoretical and methodological. We argue for a theory of prac-
tising as a meaningful, productive and educational practice. We will draw on examples from sports
pedagogy to underpin our arguments. The examples are taken from relevant literature in German-
language sport pedagogy. They serve to illustrate our line of thought. In the following sections, we
first present the international and German-speaking state of research.
1
We argue that approaches
focusing on automatisation, memorisation and optimisation of motor skills cannot take productive
aspects of practising into account. For this reason, we propose a semantical and conceptual differ-
entiation by distinguishing practice, exercise and training from practising. While practice, exercise
and training as outcome-oriented and technological terms strongly aim at automatisation and
optimisation, practising is, as we will show, a meaning giving, subjective and embodied processes,
which is holistically experienced (2). In the following, we discuss a phenomenological approach to
Gestalt-theory, implicit knowing and embodiment in order to develop the theoretical and methodo-
logical foundations of practising (3). The moments of repetition and negativity, which we identify as
two characteristic experiences in practising, are elaborated in section 4as productive foundations of
practising. Finally, the phenomenological and Bildung-theoretical insights are connected with edu-
cational (Erziehung) and didactical considerations. In the last chapter, we present methodological
and didactic possibilities in the sense of a ‘didactics of practising’. In this, we see a central desider-
atum in sport pedagogy and didactics.
2
2. Practising –a desideratum in the international and German sport pedagogical
discourse
The English word to practise (with an ‘s’and not with a ‘c’as in the widespread practice theory or
deliberate practice approaches) is not very common in PE and sport pedagogy. Like the German
word ‘Üben’, it denotes a specific, repetitive activity directed towards knowing how to do something
PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORT PEDAGOGY 3
(Können). It is also found in the Greek word áskēsis and in the Latin words exerzitium or medita-
tion, each with a different emphasis. Different words are used for this activity: Exercise, training,
practice, sometimes practising (Brinkmann 2021; Vlieghe 2017). In the following, we will show
that the use of different terms in scientific discourse is due to different paradigms of reference.
Hence, we propose to distinguish practising from practicing, training and exercising conceptually
and theoretically. In the following, we will trace the differentiation between technological and opti-
mising training on the one hand and subjectivating and embodied practising on the other hand in
the international and in the German-language discourse of sports pedagogy and illustrate it with
examples.
In the international discourse of sports pedagogy, e.g. Aggerholm et al. (2018) explicitly use the
term practising. They present a proposal for mapping contemporary approaches and models in
international sport pedagogy from a sport philosophical perspective. Following on Sloterdijk’s‘trea-
tise on “the practising life”(das übende Leben)’, they come to the far-reaching conclusion ‘that the
form of human activity related to practising is not well represented in the existing orientations and
models’(Aggerholm et al. 2018, 206). We follow this assessment. Since a consistent theory of prac-
tising has not yet been done in international sport pedagogy, a further Bildung-theoretical clarifica-
tion of the concept, taking into account German-language discourses, seems possible and useful. In
addition to existing approaches, e.g. from Aggerholm (2015, 52) or Baker et al. (2018) this clarifica-
tion is intended to focus on didactics and on the consequences that follow from our theory of prac-
tising for PE in general.
Productive links to our undertaking can be found in particular in the discussions within the Nor-
dic countries, where approaches related to Bildung have a long and strong tradition in PE (Agger-
holm and Giese 2022; Larsson 2021). Of particular note are approaches in the context of Gestalt-
theory and phenomenology (Standal, 2020) that explicitly distance themselves from perspectives
of Motor Programming and Information-Processing and their inherent psychological and techno-
logical theories of learning (Barker et al. 2017). In the international discourse about motor edu-
cation, these behaviourist and intellectualist theories are strongly linked to the dominant
leitmotif of primally fostering sport performance in PE, that stays in contrast to the ideal of Bildung
(Quennerstedt 2019).
The German-speaking sport pedagogy (and respectively the curriculum for compulsory school
lessons in German-speaking countries) is based on a dual mission (Doppelauftrag). It promotes the
mandatory idea of learning in and through sport, aiming both at students’personal development
and at the development of sport-specific competencies. Nevertheless, the side of sport-specific com-
petence development focuses on the technological and optimising aspect (Giese et al. 2022). This is
because research in PE is mostly based on psychological and technological learning theories and
commonly ignore a Bildung-theoretical perspective of movement education in PE, which Barker
et al. (2017) were also able to illustrate for the international context. Because of these reference the-
ories, we therefore use in our translation of the German-speaking literature the terms
practicing (with a ‘c’), exercise and training to make the different epistemologies visible –and
focus on the term practice –if the technological and optimising aspect is focused.
3
Practicing, exer-
cising and training have a long and powerful tradition in German-speaking sport pedagogy. In the
nineteenth century, Guts-Muths identifies practicing as a significant activity in sport (Wiemeyer
and Wollny 2017, 278). In the twentieth century, practicing was considered as the main method
of PE (Trogsch 1961). However, even if today there is no homogeneous theory, there is agreement
that ‘the sense of exercising and the incentive to practice in PE […] lies primarily in the mastering of
sporting skills’(Ehni 1985, 21). These approaches are in line with the tradition of the influential
definition by Stiehler (1966, 134), who identifies ‘repetition, perfection, consciousness, and purpo-
sefulness’as the essential characteristics of practice, exercise and training in PE. He describes prac-
ticing as ‘the most important practical activity of students’(135). At that time, Stiehler headed the
Institute for Theory and Methodology of PE at the German University of Physical Culture in Leip-
zig (GDR). He presents a systematisation of the basic forms of practice (see Figure 1).
4M. BRINKMANN AND M. GIESE
This systematisation shows until today a great closeness to pertinent definitions in the German-
speaking exercise and training science (Schnabel, Harre, and Krug 2014, 291), which in the GDR
‘temporarily (1960s) had the status of a “mother science”for sport pedagogy’(Hummel 2013,
116). The few theoretical considerations are in the tradition of an East-German training and exer-
cise science and focus one-sidedly on the acquisition of motor skills.
The critical stocktaking in international and German-speaking sport pedagogy shows that prac-
ticing, exercising and training are mostly seen as the storage and automatisation of knowledge or
(motor) rules without taking productive and creative aspects into account. This image coincides
with traditional notions of practice, where dullness, drill and discipline play a role.
Figure 2 shows a more recent example from German sport pedagogy. Here, too, practicing is
focussed on isolated, decontextualised elements such as arm position without a ball or on exercises
with a ball but without a game action, etc. Such approaches are attributed to the ‘technological pos-
ition’(Scherer 2001, 3) in German-speaking sport pedagogy, favoured mainly by behaviourist, cog-
nitivist and intellectualist models based on the epistemological foundation of information, concept
or rule. We now want to highlight the differences between these technologically oriented examples
and the Bildung-theoretical approach to practising (with an ‘s’) that we mentioned above. Practi-
cing (with a ‘c’) and exercising in such a conceptualisation is not able to appreciate important
aspects in the experiencing of practising, such as negative experiences. They cannot reflect the
meaning of doing something repeatedly. Repetition, in these concepts, remains a mindless drill
or dull automation. But sport is more than an adaptation to existing standards and their enhance-
ment and optimisation. In a Bildung-theoretical perspective, sport can be understood as a socially
significant area of movement culture that contains ‘forms, stylizations, and aestheticizations’
(Laging and Kuhn 2018, 4). For the acquisition of movements, forms of movement and their sty-
lisation, practising is a central part of PE.
3. Phenomenological approaches to the lived body (Leib) and Gestalt in practising
In the following, we discuss the theoretical foundations in the context of Gestalt-theory and phe-
nomenology. Phenomenology developed a decided and precise theory of the lived body and bodily
Figure 1. The basic forms of practising according to Stiehler (1966, 148).
PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORT PEDAGOGY 5
movements. Gestalt-theory follows on from this and combines the theory of the body and move-
ment with psychological research. Important parts of German PE (Scherer and Bietz 2013) and
the phenomenologically oriented educational studies (Brinkmann and Friesen 2018) focus on the
meaning making and the embodied experiences in practising. The critical examination of empiricist
and cognitivist conceptions of perception and learning already led to an emphasis on holistic
experience in Gestalt psychology in the 1920s and 1930s. Lived body, Gestalt, body-schema and
embodiment are in this sense anthropological foundations of practising. They will be identified
in the following as the conceptual basis of a sport pedagogy that aims at shaping, cultivating and
stylising movements.
The concept of Gestalt, already alluded to in the previous chapter, describes the fact that it is the
relation and the meaning of individual perceptions and experiences to each other that is important.
If this is changed, the ‘structure of behaviour’(Merleau-Ponty 1976) also changes. In a Gestalt-per-
ception, part and whole stand in a relation of correspondence. Consequently, ‘practising […]is
exercising, in the broadest sense, of a structure, not the consolidation of a connection’(Koffka
1921, quoted from Weise 1932, 191). In practising motorically complex actions, ‘a“movement mel-
ody”gradually develops, which does not consist of independent parts, but forms a structured whole’
(Koffka 1921). Repetitive practising through the formation of structure can therefore only be
implemented in an authentic Gestalt-situation. Not individual isolated movements, but the mean-
ingful context or horizon of a situation forms the structure of the movement and the practising
situation.
The practised movement is based on ‘tacit knowing’, i.e. on the non-explicability of Gestalt-per-
ception (Bietz and Scherer 2017, 76). Motor movements are intentionally directed towards some-
thing.
4
Polanyi (2016) in this context, distinguishes between focal and subsidiary awareness. In
acting, the central consciousness (distal term) is anticipatorily directed towards the forethought
of an action, while the supporting consciousness (proximal term) acts implicitly. However, the
relation between functional action and distal focussing is not linear due to the intentional structure
of consciousness. Either one acts functionally-instrumentally in the first-person mode, paying
Figure 2. Setting in Volleyball according to Meyndt et al. (2003, 46).
6M. BRINKMANN AND M. GIESE
attention away from the body and perception towards something else (distal). Or one pays focal-
conscious attention to perception and recognition (proximal) in the mode of the third person.
But then, one can no longer act functionally.
We can only hammer a nail if we focus our attention on the nail (distal term), not on the hammer
(proximal term) (Polanyi 2016). If we would focus on the proximal term (details, information, first
person), we would not be able to explicate it and we would fail in our action. Explicit, regular
knowledge in the sense of a knowing-that can therefore even be an obstacle to ability and perform-
ance. In action and thus also in practising, implicit knowing-how as practical ability is primary,
while verbally explicit and formalised knowing-that is secondary (Neuweg 1999).
The theory of tacit knowing is based on a phenomenology of the lived body. Merleau-Ponty
focuses in his work ‘Phenomenology of Perception’(Merleau-Ponty 1966) on the dynamic and
practical aspects of the lived body. Motor movements are connected to perception in an elementary
way. As embodied and intentional acts, they are primordially embedded in the Gestalt-space of
meaning and significance. The unity of the body is established in the activity. The ‘intentional
threads’join together in movement to form an ‘intentional arc’of implicit knowing-how. Then,
in the concrete situation of movement, the body schema ‘emerges’as a ‘system’(Merleau-Ponty
1966, 71) in the overall Gestalt of the lived body. According to this, knowledge is first and foremost
incorporated or practised ability.
In this sense, repetitions do not lead to the ‘sedimentation’of the execution determinants of par-
tial motor movements. Rather, meaning is generated and ‘incorporated’. It is only through rep-
etition and targeted repetition that habits, sedimentations and habitualisations (Buck 2019)
become what they are: embodied, moved and moving dispositions of perception, movement and
thinking in the social world.
The theoretical insights of Gestalt-theory and phenomenology of the lived body make it possible
to see both, the practitioner and the situation, holistically. Meaningful perception of ‘Gestalt’
(Gestaltwahrnehmung) implies that the isolated detail of a movement must be brought into the
context of the situation. This is the ‘space of orientation’and the ‘space of time’(Merleau-Ponty
1976). Instead of isolated and technological training, a perspective on the situation as a meaningful,
embodied and ‘authentic’situation opens up. The specific task to be practised must require that
isolated movements be reinserted into the movement sequence. The isolation of the individual
elements of a movement should therefore correspond with a recomposition. Practising in this
sense is an isolating and composing as well as an analysing and synthesising practice (Brinkmann
2021). In this context, both limitation of the situation and simplification of the movement as well as
limitation of the perception and the content-related, material scope of the exercises are prerequi-
sites for successful practising. This can be demonstrated in a third example.
This example from school tennis shows how this connection can be established as an authentic
practising situation (Hasper 2009). First of all, ball control is practised. This is done in small courts
with larger and/or softer balls and shorter tennis rackets. These adaptations allow for easier ball
control. Target zones are laid out in the centre of each court, focusing balls in the middle of the
court. Long runs, which make it difficult to find a favourable position to the ball, are thus avoided.
The net is raised to slow down play (see Figure 3). The overall goal is to initiate long rallies in order
to realise the highest possible number of authentic ball contacts. Thus, it is not isolated skills that are
practised, but the ability to play in simplified but authentic situations of orientation and time (Mer-
leau-Ponty 1976).
4. Productive foundations of practising
In the following, we would like to take up the aspects discussed so far and highlight the productive
and creative potential of practising in more detail. For this purpose, on the basis of the theoretical
foundations of the lived body (Leib) on Gestalt, tacit knowing and body schema as central charac-
teristics of practising will be examined more closely from a perspective of Bildung-theory.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORT PEDAGOGY 7
4.1. Repetition: creativity in practising
We would like to illustrate the creative potential of repetition in practising with a fourth example. It
is about a lesson sequence from Scherer (2001) on teaching javelin throwing. Scherer insists on
maintaining the overall movement as a whole. It should be practised with simplified javelin equip-
ment. In this unit, throwing is done from the beginning in three steps, whereby the contexts of the
throwing are varied. In addition to methodical javelin, bamboo sticks, rubber sticks or other flying
objects are also used. In order to generate authentic throwing experiences that make it possible to
independently assess the quality of different throwing techniques, and which also offer a high moti-
vational aspect, javelins are also thrown at targets at different distances. From the point of view of
practising theory (Übungstheorie), this example shows that in and with repeating something and
someone changes, because variations of contexts and objects are systematically implemented.
Meaningful repetition is not a simple repetition of pieces of information or isolated facts, nor is
it a proceduralisation of previously memorised cognitive rules. The repetition of the past means
a return of skills, abilities and habits on the one hand.
On the other hand, in repetition of the same experience, knowledge or habit does not return
identically. Repetition is a ‘return of an unidentical as an identical’(Waldenfels 2001, 7). Therefore,
in a repetition of and as a movement, variation and creativity are possible (Brinkmann 2021). In this
way, not only skills can be improved but also abilities and attitudes can be developed and - perhaps
more significantly - abilities, skills and habits can be changed. And moreover, in practising the prac-
titioner himself or herself also changes. That’s why the relation to oneself (to the previous experi-
ences, skills, knowledge, habits), as well as the relation to the social, cultural and natural world, is
formed and transformed. This process can be identified as a process of Bildung (Biesta 2022)asitis
also appreciated in international sport education research for example by Quennerstedt (2019, 616).
4.2. Negativity: potentials of practising
Practising takes place when one does not yet ‘know’, when one does not yet have a skill or ability,
when one fails and tries again, when the ‘will to form is broken by the resistance of the world’(Giese
2008, 175). Practising and repetition are based on a not-knowing-how, which has to be partially
overcome through practice. That is why practising is a strenuous and demanding activity, that
requires endurance, self-conquest and tolerance for mistakes.
Negative experiences, however, not only arise in the embodied experience of not-knowing-how,
but also in unlearning (Verlernen) or unpractising (Verüben): If one does not practise for a while,
there is a partial loss or forgetting, which in turn requires renewed practising. But the practised
Figure 3. Practising Tennis in simplified but authentic situations according to Hasper (2009).
8M. BRINKMANN AND M. GIESE
movement is not forgotten completely. This is when movements that have already been skilful have
to be reshaped, for example when skiers change to new skis and ‘the practising is focused on the
improvement and differentiation of […] previous movement and action patterns’(Scherer and
Bietz 2013, 151). In special practising variations with focus on negative experiences previously
developed, schematised and habitualized types of movement must then be re-practised (Umüben).
All in all, it can be summarised that negative experiences are elementary for practising. Basically,
they cannot be cancelled or overcome. Regarding our examples it is worth to mention that negative
experiences are experienced meaningfully in the first-person perspective. As subjective experiences,
they are not visible (Buck 2019). This is why they are not directly represented in our examples.
However, a number of relations to them can be clarified, which we present in this section.
In General Pedagogy, these negative experiences are increasingly the focus of research: irri-
tations, disappointments, failures and mistakes are seen as important moments (Benner 2020)of
learning and practising. In the sociology of sport, the question of the relationship between learning
and habitus in the context of ‘practices of subjectivation’and ‘habitus transformations’comes into
view. There, specific irritations of the ‘natural belief in the world’in the horizon of the ‘doxa’(Bour-
dieu 1990) are investigated (Alkemeyer 2006, 126, 136). In educational studies, negativity is not
meant in the common sense as something bad, annoying or dangerous. Buck (2019) shows in
his profound study on ‘Learning and Experience’, that the negative experience rather emerges in
a‘turning experience back on itself’, i.e. in an ‘experience about experience’(48).
The motivation for this (self-)reflexive turn is experiences of irritation, disappointments and
crises (Buck 2019). The negative experience can then give rise to a reflexive process. In the view
of a theory of Bildung, negative experiences are –very positive –preconditions for learning and
practising. Bildung as a process of subjectivation is not possible without negative experiences in
which the self of the practitioner is challenged. As it is mentioned above, in this experience of trans-
formation (Koller 2012) a redirection of attention (Benner 2020), re-learning (Umlernen), or re-
practising (Umüben) (Brinkmann 2021) can happen. In practising as re-practising, the embodied
formation is transformed –a change of body schema and habitus becomes possible (Brinkmann
2021).
In sport, the focus is on movements, their shaping, stylisation and aestheticization. This happens
by deliberately placing an obstacle in the way ‘so that it has the purpose of functioning as a means of
enabling this specific form of movement execution’(Volkamer 1984, 196). In this respect, negative
experiences are of central interest, especially for sport pedagogy, because people stage such experi-
ences in sport arbitrarily, in the form of ‘obstacles, problems, or conflicts that are solved predomi-
nantly by physical means’(Volkamer 1984). Once they have mastered them, they construct new,
even more demanding challenges.
This poses a major didactical challenge for pedagogues. It consists of carefully and purposefully
designed irritations, disappointments and mistakes in the teaching process and confronts the lear-
ners with their not-knowing-how. If the negative experience becomes too apparent, a break may
occur in the repetition. Further practising can become impossible. The person practising breaks
offand gives up. The didactical challenge is that the practice is to be connected to the students’hor-
izon of experience to avoid excessive demands (Giese 2008, 232). Negative experiences should
therefore be used ‘tactfully’and with consideration for the individual situations of the practising
persons (van Manen 2015).
5. Towards a didactics of practising
So far, we have tried to argue that a theory of practising should not be reduced to psychological
models, but should also not stop at philosophical thoughts. If practising is systematically related
to pedagogical contexts, then not only the characteristics in the experience of practising, such as
negativity and repetition but also the specific actions and settings must be included which is inter-
nationally linked to Quennerstedt’s(2019) idea on ‘focusing on the E in PE’.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORT PEDAGOGY 9
The Bildung-theoretical reflections can be connected to reflections on education. While Bildung
refers to experiences in the first-person perspective, to the process of subjectivation and becoming a
self, education (Erziehung) is, in the German discourse, seen as a social action of supporting or
summoning to self-activity or to engage in their own practising and learning (Brinkmann and Tür-
stig 2023). Education is an activity of the educators that aims at making Bildung possible for the
students (Biesta 2022, 35). Practising as an educational activity, therefore, requires a reflection
on the methodologies and goals. A didactics of practising is necessary (see note 3). We have
shown above that it is inappropriate to give rules, terms, schemes or scripts and have them per-
formed or proceduralised in training. This is because not every skill and movement can be trans-
lated into rules. The practitioner cannot explicitly say how he or she proceeds. He or she acts
embodied, implicitly and Gestalt-orientated, e.g. when keeping balance on a bicycle, playing volley-
ball or tennis. Although the cognitive rule ‘describes how to do it, it cannot be used to learn how to
do it’(Neuweg 1999, 120). Therefore, knowing-how cannot be represented exclusively in terms of
rules, laws or schemes. There are no explicit rules for learning setting in volleyball or any other
motor skill.
This problem of explication simultaneously leads to a problem of instruction: embodied motor
skills cannot be learned from rules. It can only be developed by doing and practising. The wrong
idea is therefore to deduce skill and practice from the theoretically modelled description of cogni-
tive competence. Then, rules and plans are taught because researchers have ‘previously introduced
(them) for merely theoretical purposes in order to reconstruct already existing knowing-how’(Neu-
weg 1999, 112). But, it is not rules that ensure future ability, but rather a situational understanding
of the lived body that expresses itself in a ‘Gestalt’(Koffka), a ‘body schema’(Merleau-Ponty) or in
‘tacit knowing’(Polanyi). The inventiveness of the lived body, its creative adaptations and reactions
in situations are thus not trained or exercised, but practised as experiences. Practising a skill (Einü-
ben) and practising an ability (Ausüben) belong together by practising on oneself, including the
existential, negative experiences of transformation and re-practising.
If one wants to encourage students to practising meaningfully and successfully in sport, the fol-
lowing three aspects can offer didactic orientation (Brinkmann 2021):
(1) The prerequisites for meaningful and formative practising are both the limitation of the situ-
ation and the isolation of the movements as well as the limitation of the perception and the
limitation of the scope of the content. The decisive factor is the meaningful and authentic con-
nection of the isolated part to the whole of the movement and the situation (Koffka 1921). Only
then is it possible to meaningfully vary individual elements. The variation of the isolated
elements ensures an individualised, deepened and meaningful practising. It is important that
the focus is not on the result and the optimisation of skills, but on the process of practising.
Then it becomes easier to take into account the individual experiences of the students. The
example of tennis above illustrates that Gestalt as a whole of the movement is maintained in
the exercise, but complexity is reduced, for example, by a smaller court, target zones, higher
net, etc. These simplifications can be varied further, for instance by varying the sequence
and composition of the elements within the repetition. So it is not isolated movements that
are practised, but the ability to play tennis in simplified but authentic situations. In this way,
new connections are established in each case. Using new references to unknown movements,
a transfer to other areas can also take place. Further didactic means for variation in repetition
are attention-shifting and contrast formation. Through specific tasks, a redirection of attention
(Benner 2020) can be achieved. The self-perception in the movement can be directed to differ-
ent parts of the whole movement. By creating contrasts –such as shot putting with and without
body rotation –the perception can be directed to different performance parameters of the
movement.
(2) In repetition, transfer processes in practising become relevant. The intended reactualisation of
prior knowledge and prior ability in repetition can be combined with the claim of something
10 M. BRINKMANN AND M. GIESE
new and unfamiliar. In all the examples we have given, previous experiences are taken up in the
repetition. But in particular, the tennis example shows that simplification and variation are
used intentionally in the repetition. At first, simple movement sequences are used and then
extended in the repetitions to what is not mastered: the balls and rackets are made smaller,
the playing field is enlarged, the net is lowered, etc. Such tasks are challenging both, the tea-
chers, because they have to determine the scope of the transfer in terms of content, didactics
and methodology and assess it in the planning, and the students because they are confronted
with negative experiences. The meta-theoretical thematisation of such tasks in the classroom
can itself be part of a process of Bildung.
(3) Mistakes, irritations, disturbances and disappointments can be used as productive and creative
elements in practising. The didactic means for this is the purposeful presentation of negative
experiences. Perhaps the tennis teacher could use a student’s mistakes as positive occasions
for more in-depth and concentrated practising. However, the practising person should not
be ashamed or frustrated nor should he or she be tired or bored by automating repetition.
The art of practising is to find the balance between under- and over-demanding and not to
shame or endanger the students. This is a great challenge to the professionalism of the teachers,
who must not rely on well-meant recipes or method modules, but above all on their experience
and their ‘pedagogical tact’(van Manen 2015).
(4) By taking these aspects into consideration, it can be made possible that not only a skill or ability
is exercised, but also that existing experiences and attitudes are re-practised and thus changed.
Practising can thus lead to an experience of Bildung and re-learning –through repetition.
Notes
1. We refer in large part to the German-language discourse. Quotations or paraphrases have been translated into
English.
2. The root of the term didactics goes back to the Greek and originally means showing. It deals with the arrange-
ment of education and learning opportunities as well as the formulation and justification of certain learning
goals. It is based on the idea of a didactic triangle that opens up an interactive relation between teacher, learner
and subject matter or world. This relation makes it clear that teaching cannot be technicalised, i.e. that learn-
ing does not directly result from teaching. Rather, education and learning can be made possible and stimulated
through an art of mediation (this is also how didactics can be translated) (Friesen and Kenklies 2022; Biesta
2022).
3. It should be mentioned that translating the German-language terms into English is very difficult due to the
different epistemological frames of reference and internationally different cultural backgrounds. At the
same time, we would like to point out that in German there is no conceptual distinction between ‘practicing’
and ‘practising’, but the term ‘Üben’is used for both approaches.
4. Intentionality is, in the phenomenological tradition, the term for the basic structure of consciousness, always
being conscious of something. This means that action is always directed towards or related to something (a
person, an object, a perception or a thought) in a horizon of meaning. It is therefore not in a box or a dungeon,
but it is in the world already.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Funding
We acknowledge support by the Open Access Publication Fund of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
ORCID
Malte Brinkmann http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0853-1397
Martin Giese http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5621-9429
PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORT PEDAGOGY 11
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