"Discuss the differences between skill, ability and technique and explain how you would structure practices to enhance these c

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“Discuss the differences between skill, ability and technique and explain how you would structure practices to enhance these components of fitness”

Skill, ability and technique are very important components for a person to be able to be successful in any sport.

Skill is the ability to choose and perform the right techniques at the correct time, this must be consistent and with minimum of effort. Sportsmen use their skills to achieve particular objectives in their sport e.g. scoring a goal in football.

Ability is the make up of a sportsperson. A number of different aspects of your make up can be taken into consideration whilst talking about ability e.g. Height, Strength etc. We inherit our ability from our parents.

Techniques are the basic movements that we make in any sport e.g. a block start in a 100m sprint. We can combine a number of different techniques to create a pattern of movement e.g. the triple jump.

Skill, ability and technique are always closely linked. The book ‘Edexcel‘gives the equation:

“Skill = Ability + Technique”

The book also quotes:

“In order to perform a particular skill in sport, we must learn the required technique. In order to learn the technique fully, we must have the necessary abilities”

This quote once again shows us the close relationship between these three areas and supports the idea that these components are important to be in success in sport.

Skill is a word commonly used in sport, for example it could be the technique a tennis player uses to serve or how a football player dribbles past other players. Different people will view skill levels differently. A reference to skill is as follows:

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“A organised co-ordinated activity in relation to an object or situation which involves a whole chain of sensory, central and motor mechanisms.”

(Welford)

There are a number of key qualities to perform skilfully, which are, consistency this is needed so the performer can complete a skill regularly, control of the skill as the sportsperson must know the end result of the skill they are performing.

There are different types of skills such as cognitive skills, perceptual skills, motor skills and perceptual motor skills.

Cognitive skills involve the use of a persons mental power, e.g. problem solving, verbal skill etc. A Perceptive ...

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