Skill

Skill has been defined as:

‘ The learned ability to bring about predetermined results with maximum certainty, often with the minimum outlay of time or energy or both. ( Guthrie, 1956)

a skill is something you learn, you can (eventually) do consistently and you can perform efficiently.

FEEDBACK - is information received by a competitor either during or after a performance. Feedback can take place in a number of ways.

Intrinsic Feedback Extrinsic Feedback Knowledge of Performance (KP) Knowledge of Results (KR)

INTRINSIC FEEDBACK - been able to recognise mistakes or faults in your own performance and having the knowledge/ experience to make suggestions on how to improve it.

EXTRINSIC FEEDBACK - is feedback that comes from someone else. It could be a teacher, a coach, a spectator, its up to the performer whether they act upon it.

to be effective it is important that external feedback is:

restricted to one or two specific comments at a time does not confuse or de-motivate the athlete occurs either during competition or soon afterwards.

Extrinsic - feedback from a coach

KNOWLEDGE OF PERFORMANCE (KP) - although knowledge of performance can come from

the athlete it is more likely to be obtained from external sources such as coaches or even through video replays.

knowledge of performance means analysing the nature of the performance and working out how it can be improved.

KNOWLEDGE OF RESULTS (KR) - this is a little bit different from knowledge of

performance. this form of feedback comes from external sources

such as the result of the game.

this is just one way of how to measure how well or how poorly they are performing.

There are two types of skill -

OPEN - what you are doing may vary. It all depends on your environment. A goalkeeper’s skill is open, he has to stop the ball going in his net. The way he does this depends on how the ball is aimed.

CLOSED - you do the same thing over and over again, in exactly the same way. The environment remains the same. A golfer’s skill is closed. The skill is repeated in the same way.

OPEN SKILL - Goal Keeping CLOSED SKILL - Golf

ADAPTING SKILLS - some sport skills cannot be learned as closed or fixed skills. They need to be adapted to changing situations with the player able to react quickly in adjusting the skill to meet the precise circumstances. Some activities require performers to perfect both open and closed skills.

Ability Ability is innate - meaning we are born with it. Some

people are naturally more co-ordinated or faster than others. Where natural ability is highlighted at an early age it provides a great basis to develop those abilities into advanced skills in sport and physical activity. These natural abilities include :

Speed Agility Co-ordination Flexibility Balance Reaction Time

SPEED AND REACTION TIME - Speed can be very important in sport and physical activities. There are two main kinds of speed in sport.

How quickly a performer can move. How quick their reactions are.

AGILITY - is the ability to move quickly and flexibly agility is also inherited in terms of the flexibility of

your joints and your body shape and size.

CO-ORDINATION - is the control over your movements and the ability to be able to link movements together effectively and easily.

FLEXIBILITY - is the amount you can bend or stretch your joints.

You inherit your flexibility and usually become less flexible with age.

BALANCE - similar to co-ordination, balance is also to do with controlling body movement. Retaining balance when moving or even standing still .

Different Levels of Skill

Advanced skills take time to learn. The way the skills are performed determine whether it is a skill of a top level performer or a novice.

The novice may be: inconsistent put in a lot of effort without producing an effective

performance. Not able to perform the skill as quickly or effectively not able to adapt the skill when required simply

because they do not have the experience to do this

The top level may be: high level of consistency appear to perform with little effort or energy perform quickly and effectively capable of adapting the skill, to meet changing

situations.

Learning and Developing Skill

To develop or learn skills practice is needed. Some skills can be learned in one go for example, catching a ball. This is known as whole learning.

Other skills are more complicated and therefore need to be broken down and learned as mini skills. This is called part learning.

Regardless of whether the skill is learned as one or broken up a lot of the same ways of learning, refining and adapting the skill are used. They usually involve:

DEMONSTRATION COPYING PRACTICE TRIAL AND ERROR ROLE MODELS

DEMONSTRATION AND COPYING - skills can be learned by copying other people such as:

a professional sports person. A coach or teacher may demonstrate a skill and then feedback until the performer has corrected the skill.

PRACTICE - for the practice to be effective correct procedures must be used. Meaning the demonstration must be technically correct.

TRIAL AND ERROR - means doing something until you happen to come across a way in which you can make it happen. It can cause a problem as it is possible to pick up bad habits.

ROLE MODELS - the role model needs to be a good technical role model, but a good role model should also promote their chosen sport in their conduct both on and off the field.

Learning Skills: Information Processing When learning and doing skills, you are also

processing the information. During a competition or match we need to process the following information about the present situation.

What is happening (input) How do we react (decision-making/output) Was the right reaction used? (Feedback)

INPUT - at all times a performer must be aware of what is going on around him/her. For example, in tennis how fast is the ball travelling?

DECISION-MAKING - A performer must make a decision, so for the tennis example which shot shall I play…?

OUTPUT - is the result of both input and decision-making, choosing the right shot. But maybe could have placed in more accurately.

FEEDBACK - whether or not the shot was a correct one the player should now be thinking how they can improve the shot for next time.

‘ How fast is the ball travelling?’ ‘Good shot - but I could have

placed it more accurately’

‘Which shot shall I play?’

INPUT DECISION-MAKING OUTPUT

FEEDBACK

‘ok - must remember to hit through the ball next time’

EVALUATION AND ANALYSIS

skills and performances can only be improved if mistakes are highlighted.

Then some evaluation, analysis and planning for improvement needs to take place.

Evaluation means you can see what is good or bad about the performance

Analysis will break down the performance Planning means knowing what needs to be done

in order to improve the performance

Feedback is essential to evaluation, analysis and planning, it needs to come from someone who has a specialised knowledge of:

skill- learning process group and / or individual skill relevant to the

sport aspects of fitness relevant to the sport tactics and strategies relevant to the sport

Motivation and Mental Preparation MENTAL PREPARATION - a right frame of mind is required in a competition or a

game situation a performer will then become more confident top performers spend a great deal of time on

preparation. This may include:

RELAXATION MENTAL REHEARSAL FOCUSING

WHAT IS MOTIVATION??

MOTIVATION IS THE DESIRE TO PERFORM WELL

there are many different reasons why people are motivated to do well in particular activities. There are two forms of Motivation.

INTRINSIC (INTERNAL) MOTIVATION - comes from inside the participant

EXTRINSIC (EXTERNAL) MOTIVATION - comes from the outside, the result of some external influence.

AROUSAL

motivation is also an effective way of stimulating the level of arousal or state of readiness in a performer. A team captain may be a good example when he/she is ‘psyching their team up before a game’

0VER - AROUSAL

some performers can get aroused very easily this can case problems, and effect their performance

Over arousal - Tyson V Holyfield, the infamous ear biting incident

GOAL SETTING

is a process where achievable goals are set by either yourself or a teacher to help to improve your performance

setting achievable goals or targets can help to increase motivation

goal setting can also reduce the level of anxiety about performance

SMARTER goals should be set bearing in mind the SMARTER

principles

S Specific - a specific goal, not a vague desire to improve

M Measurable - there is standard to measure progress against

A Accepted - the goal is agreed by both the performer and the coach

R Realistic - it is possible to achieve T Time-Related - a specific time period gives the

goal added focus E Exciting - motivating and interesting R Recorded - you can see what you have achieved

and chart your progress

TYPES OF GOAL there are two main types of goals in goal setting

PROCESS GOALS - usually connected with improvements in technique or some small aspect of them as well as tactics

TARGET GOALS - identify specific targets in overall performance, such as improving a personal best.. They can also be known as outcome goals.