NCAA CPL (H) Theory flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Long-Term Athlete Development

A stage-based framework that aligns training emphasis with biological maturity and developmental readiness rather than chronological age alone, spanning childhood through retirement and lifelong activity.

Peak Height Velocity

The period of maximal rate of growth in stature during adolescence. Coaches use it to identify windows of increased injury risk and to time strength and aerobic emphasis.

Bio-banding

Grouping adolescent athletes by biological maturity status rather than chronological age, reducing size and power mismatches and protecting both early and late maturers.

Early specialization risk

Intensive single-sport training before puberty is associated with higher overuse-injury rates, burnout, and earlier drop-out than diversified multi-sport participation.

Fitts and Posner stages

Three stages of motor learning: cognitive (conscious, error-prone), associative (refining, fewer errors), and autonomous (automatic, low attentional demand). Instruction should adapt to each.

External focus of attention

Cueing attention toward the effect of a movement on the environment rather than toward body parts. Generally improves retention and transfer compared with internal focus.

Practice–performance distinction

Conditions that boost immediate performance, such as blocked practice, often depress long-term retention, while random and variable practice improve retention and transfer.

Variable practice

Repeating a skill with varied distance, angle, speed, or pressure within a session to build a general movement schema rather than one rote pattern.

Whole versus part practice

Part practice suits serial skills with separable components; whole practice suits fast, continuous skills where components interact strongly and cannot be isolated.

Bandwidth feedback

A feedback schedule that delivers correction only when performance falls outside an acceptable tolerance zone, preserving the athlete's own error-detection and self-correction.

Principles of play

Shared attacking and defending rules such as penetration, support, width, delay, depth, and compactness that govern behavior across formations and systems.

Game model

A team's defined reference behavior in and out of possession, used to design training exercises and to evaluate performance against a shared standard.

Pressing trigger

A specific cue such as a back-pass, poor first touch, or sideline trap that signals the team to initiate coordinated pressure at a defined moment.

Formation versus system

Formation is the starting arrangement of players; system is the behavioral rules within it. Changing shape without changing principles rarely alters performance.

Third-man run

A combination where the player receiving the ball plays to a second teammate while a third player runs into space, breaking lines that direct passing cannot.

Session-RPE load

Internal training load calculated as rating of perceived exertion (0–10) multiplied by session duration in minutes, yielding arbitrary units for weekly load monitoring.

Acute:chronic workload ratio

A comparison of 7-day training load with the 28-day rolling average. Rapid spikes above roughly 1.3–1.5 are associated with elevated injury risk.

Periodization hierarchy

The nested planning structure: macrocycle (season or multi-year), mesocycle (3–6 weeks), microcycle (about 7 days), then individual sessions and training units.

Tapering

A pre-competition reduction in training volume while maintaining intensity, typically over one to two weeks, to reduce fatigue while preserving fitness.

Warm-up sequence

Raise, activate, mobilize, potentiate: elevate heart rate and temperature, activate key muscles, mobilize joints, then include sport-specific potentiation before the main block.

Concussion removal rule

Any athlete with suspected concussion is removed from play immediately and may not return the same day; return-to-learn precedes a graduated return-to-sport protocol.

Exertional heat stroke

A medical emergency with core temperature elevation and central nervous system dysfunction. Cool first with cold-water immersion, then transport; do not delay cooling.

RED-S

Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport: low energy availability impairing metabolic rate, menstrual function, bone health, immunity, and performance. Screen for disordered eating.

Emergency action plan

A venue-specific written protocol assigning roles for recognition, EMS activation, CPR, and AED use, rehearsed regularly with staff and athletes.

Dead period

An NCAA recruiting period during which in-person contact and evaluations with prospects are prohibited; permissible phone and written communication depends on division rules.

Official versus unofficial visit

Official visits are institution-funded and limited by prospect academic stage and bylaw limits; unofficial visits are prospect-funded with different contact and benefit rules.

Extra-benefit rule

Providing prospects or enrolled athletes anything not generally available to the student body is a violation unless a specific bylaw exception applies.

Representative of athletics interests

A booster or supporter bound by the same recruiting rules as coaches; impermissible contact or inducements by them create institutional liability.

Transformational leadership

A leadership model with four components: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration of each athlete.

Psychological safety

A team climate where athletes can admit error, ask questions, and take interpersonal risk without punishment, which supports learning and honest accountability.

Behavior-focused feedback

Feedback that describes observable behavior and its effect rather than labeling the person, separating the athlete's identity from the performance outcome.

Culture audit levers

Team culture is set by what is rewarded, tolerated, and punished. Auditing those three levers reveals actual values more reliably than written statements.