- Consistency
- Accuracy
- Control
- An intention
- Fluidity
These are the types of skills:
- Intellectual (cognitive) skills
- Perceptual skill
- Motor skill
- Psycho-motor/perceptual skill
People learn new skills and are not born with them. This is a difference between skill and ability, because abilities are generally seen as ‘innate’, meaning you develop them very easily in life or are born with them. Without basic abilities, skills cannot be learnt. Although some people have different definitions of skill, ability and technique, everyone agrees that they are all needed to be a success at sport. The book ‘Skill in Sport’ quotes ‘Skill is very important in sport, but if you want to be successful, amongst other things you definitely need basic ability and good technique’
There is a very strong link between the three words. In order to perform a skill in sport you must learn the right technique, and in order to learn the technique fully, you must have the ability. Therefore;
Skill = Ability + Technique
All activities have a range of skills (skill repertoire) that require fundamental techniques to be mastered, and by relating technical development to the assessment of these skills, a clear common approach is maintained.
There are a number of practices that may be used with each other to build up a profile of a particular skill. There is Knapp’s open-closed theory which involves skills being categorised into open or closed skills. An example of an open skill is a tackle in football. It is very difficult to improve an open skill in any sport because the situation in which it occurs is always different but the skill can be improved over time through experience .An example of a closed skill is the shot putt. Closed skills can be improved easily due to the fact that there are no outside physical influences on the athlete, which means he or she can train easily for a closed skill.
To structure practices to enhance your performance for ability is very difficult as ability is innate. However there are ways of improving hand/eye co-ordination by doing special eye exercises. These exercises are starting to be used more frequently in sports such as cricket to improve hand/eye co-ordination but they are not yet proven to work.
Technique, according to most textbooks can be easily enhanced and improved. Your technique can be enhanced and improved by feedback from coaches telling you to change certain parts of your technique e.g. keeping your legs shoulder width apart while swinging in golf. This feedback can then be used to improve your technique and then you can go away and work on it in the next training sessions.
