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

Wiley et al. (2024) worked with high-school football linemen. Coaches used behavioral skills training (BST) to teach proper run-blocking footwork and hand placement.

First they taught the skill in regular practice. Later they added BST right on the scrimmage field. They tracked every block in both places.

Players blocked better after each BST round. The gains showed up in practice drills and carried over to live scrimmages.

When coaches ran BST on the scrimmage field itself, the boys improved again. The skill locked in under real-game speed.

Tai et al. (2017) did the first football BST study. They taught safer tackling to youth players and also saw the skill hold in games. Wiley moves the same package to high-school run-blocking, a harder, faster skill.

Quintero et al. (2020) used BST for safer soccer heading. All three papers show BST works across sports, ages, and body-control tasks.

Covey et al. (2021) trained peer models with BST so kids with disabilities played more. The pattern is the same: teach the adult with BST, then watch the learner generalize in real social or sport moments.

You can take BST straight to the field. Script the footwork, model it, let players rehearse with feedback, and check it under game speed. The study says one BST cycle in practice is good, but a second cycle right on the scrimmage field is better. Try it next week: run the regular drill, then stay on the field and BST the same skill while the scout defense lines up.