There are different types of skills; Cognitive skills, perceptual, motor and perceptual motor skills. Striking the ball in football falls into the motor skills group, because motor skills involves moving the muscular system and having muscular control, also once you have seen how to do a motor skill you can do it after some practice. Cognitive skills are intellectual skills and often subjective and come with experience, so someone who can judge a game or manage a game e.g. football usually have good cognitive skills, because they have once played the game and used there knowledge of playing the game to be able to teach and judge the game. E.g. Mark Hughes who used play football but now manages the game. Perceptual skills involves interpretation of stimuli people with these skills see the information the same as anyone else but there interpretation is different, they can read a game well e.g. football with no experience of actually playing. An example of some like this is Sven goaran Eriksson, who never actually played but now manages England because he can read the game well and has a great interpretation of the game. Perceptual motor skills are involves the vast majority of skills, thought, Interpretation and movement.
All skills are believed to fit to a continuum called Knapp’s continuum. The continuum is between closed to open and ranges from1-10, 1 being closed and 10 being open. Closed skills which are nearer to 1 on the continuum have no outside physical influences affecting the skill; it means that the skill remains the same every time you perform it weather it’s in a practice session or in a game situation. For example a basketball free throw is a closed skill because it is the same every time there are factors affecting it. An open skill would be placed nearer to 10 on the continuum. Open skills are directly influenced by the environment. They require an adaption or an alteration to the skill every time it is performed. It could be caused by the weather, pitch conditions, opponents, spectators, fitness, equipment and ability. All these can affect the skill when being executed so this is known as an open skill. An example of an open skill is a football tackle, because there are a huge amount of factors needed to be thought about and affecting the challenge. Like where the player tackling is positioned in relation to the ball and player so the player needs to judge. Also the speed at what both the players and the ball are at, pitch conditions can cause an affect also, as do the ability of the player and pressure.
The skill of striking a clean straight powerful shot in football would be positioned at 5 on the continuum half way between open and closed. Because if practising the skill it is closer to a closed skill as there are not many factors affecting the striking of the ball because there are no defenders trying to win opposition and you have as much time as you like to perfect the skill as best to your ability. When in match condition though the skill straight away moves up to towards 10 and becomes an open skill because you have opposition and less time and may have to adjust the position of your body when striking the ball, also the position of where you are on the pitch when attempting the shot will different to when practising.
There are many styles of teaching methods however the preferred way for teaching someone how to shot a straight powerful shot who is a fairly experienced defender would be reciprocal style c, this is where the teacher sets tasks but the pupils given more freedom to try different things, this would be ideal for teaching someone who is fairly experienced because they now how to play the game and they have probably got a fair idea on how to strike a football and can show a variation of skill as can the teacher, so the teacher can explain to them how to have good technique when doing so, and this style gives them more independence, as they are not beginners. The other style that would not be a good way of teaching would be command style A. This give the teacher total control and the learner has no freedom this is safe because if the learner is inexperienced then they might do something wrong. This style is for inexperienced players who can follow easy skills, as they have less ability. The problem with this style is that its boring and simple so this would not suit an experienced defender, learning to strike a perfect shot a goal because they can not show there maximum skill, and can not make any decisions because the teacher is in full control.
So to teach the experienced defender to shot the learner must use reciprocal style C. this allows the learner to have greater opportunity to improve on striking a straight powerful shot at goal, than using command style A. which is for inexperienced players so will not be able to progress in the skill of shooting.
There different ways a teacher or coach teach a skill or activity depending on the individual learner. This is called guidance, and there are 3 types of guidance. Visual, verbal, and mechanical. Visual guidance involve the use of visual aid, and normally suitable for beginners, because it’s an easier way than an explanation that inexperienced individuals may not understand so they get an visual aid to help. For example when shooting in football the teacher could actually show where to hit the ball and where to put your feet, because for some people it’s easier if they see where to place their feet rather than being told and not shown. It allows the learner to use visual stimuli to perform the skill.
Verbal guidance is the teacher only being verbal and telling what to do instead of actually using visual guidance. This can be beneficial as long as instructions are clear and concise. This is more beneficial for player who are experienced and who can listen so is not really suitable for young beginners.
Mechanical guidance is physically restraining the learner on a certain aspect of the skill when performing it. So he does the right things but is restrained on things he is doing wrong so this helps gain muscle memory and how the skill should feel.
