Edexcel AS PE - Skill Acquisition 1 - Skill, Ability, Technique

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Ivan Dolphin

Skill Acquisition

Every sport is compiled of many skills. To be skilful one must have the innate ability and the correct technique. So, what is skill? Welford defines skill thus,

“An organised co-ordinated activity in relation to an object or situation which involves a whole chain of sensory, central and motor mechanisms” (as cited by; Gilligan et al, 1999)

In sport we do not use one skill alone but a whole variety of skills; there are cognitive, perceptual and motor skills. However the one we use in sport is referred to as perceptual motor skills as sport involves thought, interpretation and movement. A simple example of a perceptual motor skill would be: Receiving then passing a basketball.

In order for a performance to be skilful the following qualities must be present:

  1. Consistency (being able to achieve a target every time a skill is performed)
  2. An intention (not a fluke)
  3. Control (over the skill)
  4. Accuracy (results do not vary much)
  5. Fluidity (the skill is performed with grace, it looks easy to onlookers)

To fully understand what skill is, we must first appreciate the nature of its make-up; technique and ability.

Firstly what is ability? Abilities are building blocks of skilful performance. Without them the skill would not be complete. They are inborn, and so, all sportspeople have an ability culmination; which, when reached, provided the presence of perfect technique, will be the most skilful that athlete could ever become.

Examples of abilities would be:  speed in basketball, strength in shot putt and hand – eye co-ordination in squash.

Now to answer: what is technique? It is the way a skill is performed; we have standard technique models for most skills in sport which allow one to practice until perfection is reached.

Skill can be represented by this equation.

SKILL = TECHNIQUE + ABILITY

We cannot train or aim to improve ability very much, so we must concentrate on technique to improve the overall skill.

I have chosen the following sports and skills:

  1. Basketball.         Skill: lay-up.
  2. Athletics.         Skill: shot putt.
  3. Squash.         Skill: low return.

Classification of the given skills

  1. A lay-up in basketball is: open, has the characteristics of externally and internally paced skills (you can lay-up when you choose to, however you cannot do so with a defender in the way, his actions sometimes govern yours; a lay-up would be about the 5 mark on the Pacing Continuum), it is discrete and interactive.
  2. Shot putt in athletics is: closed, self paced, discrete and individual.
  3. The low return in squash is: open, externally paced, discrete and interactive.

Why is classification important? I feel that by classifying skill we can understand the requirements of the skill and thus improve teaching and learning methods; and this allows us to design practices that suit the skill best, and match its classification.

Type of Practice

Basketball Lay-Up Practice

As I have chosen a novice competitor, I feel that a fixed and distributed practice is suitable because they would not have the skill levels required to be able to adapt to a changing situation in variable practice and I chose distributed because a novice would need frequent breaks in order to re-hydrate, rest and receive extrinsic feedback.. However as skill levels increase I could begin to move away from the fixed style of practice towards the variable style as variable the style favours open and interactive games.

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1st Drill – the X – out lay up.

Player 1 starts at the red or the white position depending on their preferred hand, they run up taking 3 strides and lay-up the ball, then rebound their own shot and dribbles out to their starting position.

Drill is repeated.

Place emphasis on:
1. Correct footwork
2. 1 dribble only
3. Jump up and not long

Possible variations:
1. Do the drill in a group where at the white and red circles there would be a line of players who would run up to the basket ...

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