Craft 8 min read
VIII · Journal

Give the Drill a Target Before You Throw

You put the jack at eight metres, empty the boules onto the ground and start pointing.

The first is wide. The second is close. The third is long.

What are you trying to do?

Get closer, perhaps. Throw better. Find a feeling. All reasonable answers, but none tells you what this practice is for or when it has taught you anything.

After 20 boules you may have a small pile near the jack and a vague sense that the last few were better. You may also have repeated the same correction several times without knowing whether it helped.

The drill had a place to throw from and a place to throw to. It did not have a clear target for learning.

A target gives the next boule a job

Compare “try to get close” with this:

Land 4 of 6 inside this marked area.

Now the task has a shape. You know what counts, how many attempts you have and what information to collect afterwards.

The number is not there to make the drill more serious. It is there to direct attention. Without it, every boule can produce a new judgement. With it, you can stay with one question for the whole set.

A good target does three things:

What the study actually tested

A 2026 motor-learning study asked 34 young adults to balance on an unfamiliar unstable board. They were randomly placed into two groups.

Both groups received a numerical measure of their performance after every attempt. The difference was that one group also received a specific performance target before each attempt. That target was based on how the control group had performed on the corresponding trial.

The practice was brief: four blocks of three attempts. Twenty-four hours later, everyone completed a retention test without targets or feedback.

The target-plus-feedback group performed better during practice and at the retention test. Only that group showed a clear improvement from the pre-test to retention. It also reported greater perceived competence after practice.

There are two important details in that result.

First, the study tested a target combined with feedback. It did not show that setting a target on its own caused the difference.

Second, the participants beat their target on about 82 per cent of the practice attempts. The target was challenging enough to direct them, but achievable often enough for success to remain believable.

The study does not give pétanque a perfect percentage. It does give us a useful question: is the target difficult enough to guide attention without making competence impossible to experience?

A constraint and a target are not the same thing

In Make the Miss Useful, I use a constraint to change the problem: move the jack, alter the landing area or give yourself one boule instead of six.

The constraint asks, “What happens when the shot changes?”

The target asks, “What am I trying to achieve, and what will the result tell me?”

They can work together, but they have different jobs.

You might move from seven metres to nine metres. That is the constraint. You might then aim to land three of six boules in a marked landing area while keeping the same pre-shot picture. That is the target.

Changing the problem without a target can leave the practice vague. Adding a target without understanding the problem can turn it into empty scoring.

Use both only when both help.

Make the target information-rich

Not every useful target is “boules near the jack.”

The best target depends on what you are trying to learn:

These targets do not all measure the same thing. Some concern the result. Some concern a behaviour you want to preserve. The study used a performance result and did not compare process targets with outcome targets, so these are my practical applications rather than tested conclusions from the paper.

Whatever you choose, make it observable enough to answer honestly. “Stay focused” is difficult to see. “Name the landing area before each of six boules” is much clearer.

Feedback belongs after the attempt

In the study, participants saw a performance number after every practice trial. They could compare the result with the target they had received beforehand.

Pétanque already provides a great deal of feedback. You see where the boule lands, how it reacts and where it finishes. A marked landing zone, a tape measure or a simple note can make one part of that result clearer.

Coach feedback should add information the player cannot easily collect, not fill every silence with an instruction.

After a boule, try:

“Where did it land compared with the area you chose?”

Or:

“Did the routine remain available when this became the final attempt?”

The question sends the player back to the target. It does not solve the next throw for them.

The study supplied feedback after every practice attempt, but it did not compare that schedule with less frequent or gradually reduced feedback. We should not use it as proof that a coach ought to speak after every boule.

A six-boule practice

Here is a simple way to test the idea.

Choose one pointing shot that is difficult but familiar enough to read. Mark a landing zone that gives the boule a realistic route toward the jack.

Before throwing, complete these four lines:

Today I am testing: my ability to find the landing zone at eight metres.
Success for this set is: 3 of 6 boules land in the zone.
After each boule I will record: short, long, left, right or inside.
I will change: nothing until all six boules are complete.

Then throw the set.

Do not move the target after two misses. Do not introduce a new swing thought after one long boule. Let six attempts answer the same question.

At the end, look beyond the score.

If you landed 3 of 6 in the zone but discovered that every miss was short, the set was not wasted. The score tells you whether you reached the target. The pattern tells you what to practise next.

When the target is wrong

An achievable target is not the same as an easy target.

If you succeed on every attempt without adapting, the target may not be asking enough. If you miss every attempt and cannot tell why, it may be too difficult or too broad.

Change one part:

Do not keep increasing the challenge simply because the first target was reached. Competence is not an obstacle to learning. Sometimes recognising that you can complete the task is what allows you to stay with it long enough to refine it.

The study’s goals were based on another group’s average and were reached often. It did not identify the ideal difficulty, compare self-chosen and coach-chosen targets, or follow learning beyond 24 hours.

Those questions remain open.

Keep the target, lose the judgement

A score can clarify practice, but it can also become a verdict if you let it.

Four of six is not your level as a player. It is the result of one task, on one terrain, on one day. Its value lies in the information around it.

Did the chosen picture remain clear? Did the misses gather in one place? Did the routine survive the final boule? What will you preserve when the target changes?

Set the goal before you throw. Use the result after the boule. Then make one informed choice about what comes next.

That is enough structure to guide the practice without taking ownership away from the player.

How far can we take the evidence?

The participants were healthy young adults performing a balance task, not pétanque players learning a precision throw. They completed only 12 practice attempts, and retention was measured after 24 hours.

The study compared targets plus feedback with feedback alone. It did not isolate the effect of goal setting, examine long-term retention or test whether the learning transferred to a different task. The target was also based on control-group performance rather than chosen personally by each learner.

The motivational results need care too. Perceived competence improved more clearly in the goal-setting group. That group reported higher interest and enjoyment overall, but the analysis did not establish that enjoyment increased differently over time because of the intervention.

My pétanque examples are therefore informed applications of the central finding: a specific, achievable target combined with clear information after the attempt supported practice performance and 24-hour retention in this controlled task.

It is an idea worth testing on the piste, not a guarantee about the next competition.

Before the first boule

The next time you set up a drill, pause before throwing.

What is this set trying to teach you?

What would count as success?

What information will you collect afterwards?

If those answers are clear, the first boule already has a job.

Research

Akizuki, K., Takeuchi, K., Yamamoto, R., Yamaguchi, K., & Yabuki, J. (2026). Goal setting as a facilitator of motor learning in postural control task. Scientific Reports, 16, 15942. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-46305-3

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