Athlete’s use their skill to achieve athletic objectives, for example, scoring a penalty in lacrosse. Here, the skill of putting the ball in the goal is acquired and therefore has to be learnt. There are three types of skill; Motor (Involves movement). Cognitive (Involves thought Processes), Perceptual (Involves interpretation of information). Skills have many characteristics that can change in different situations, which makes classifying them difficult. Accepting that skills cannot be neatly labelled, we place them on a continuum, which is named ‘Knapp’s continuum’. Most skill classification systems are based on the view that motor skills are affected by three factors:
- How precise a movement is
- Whether the movement has a definite beginning and end
- Whether the environment affects the performance of the skill
Open Skills – are those which are directly influenced by the environment in which they are performed. They are skills that require adaptation each time they are performed. May depend on a range of environmental conditions such as the weather or pitch conditions. This proves that the open sport is never performed again to the exact positioning as the previous. Examples of open skills are a lacrosse shot.
Closed skills- are those that have no outside physical influences acting upon them. They are the same each time they are being performed. The performer will go through a pre- learned sequence of motor activities with no reference to the environment in which the skill is being performed. Once learnt, closed skills are usually performed exactly the same after. For example, once high jump technique is learnt, the same actions are used all the time after that.
To improve the components of fitness, specifically structured practices can be given to the performer which concentrates on each component individually; The performers skill, ability and technique. The paragraphs ahead will outline different types of practices used, what they consist of, what components they concentrate and improve and how and why they improve each one, using lacrosse, athletics and badminton as my examples.
Firstly, to obtain the knowledge about what practices best suit the enhancements of each component of fitness, you first need understand the four types of practice; Fixed, Variable, Distributed and Massed.
Fixed Practice involves the repetition of an activity, which allows the skill to be over learned or automatic to the learner. This type of practise is ideal for performances that need to be doing in the exact same way.
Massed practice is when you perform a practice in a match like situation, for example, lacrosse, where you set a practice of a 6 a-side game with similar rules. This can be developed in a full sized game with identical rules. Rules can be adapted to help the performer improve.
Variable Practice involves a variety of activities. The learner will practice applying his/her skills to a number of different environments in practice, allowing the development of both the skill and ability to adapt when come up against different situations. This is especially good practice for real games or races as it replicates the constantly changing situations.
Distributed Practice involves the division of a practice session into sections. The overall session involves breaks between each section during which the next activity is explained.
Combined with different teaching methods such as Command, Reciprocal and Discovery each component of skill can be intensely worked on to gain the most out of each practice. Command style is where the teach is in complete control and the pupils have to do exactly what the teacher says. Reciprocal style is where the learner is allowed slightly more freedom. And the Discovery is where the teacher sets the task and the pupil has to discover its own solution’s.
Now I have explained each type of practice, I will write about how each one can help a certain component of fitness. I shall start off with Technique. For basic techniques such as a Lacrosse throw, a badminton serve or a High jump, a fixed practice is ideal to work specially on the single technique which will improve the overall skill. As these actions only require basic techniques, it is easy to continually practice them until they are perfected. The fact that these actions do not differ from practice to a real match/race, makes the fixed practice that much better. As long as the performer is first shown the correct technique, the practice will be highly efficient. However, when practicing it is crucial the correct technique is used every time, so the performer doesn’t break into nasty habits which may drastically effect the overall outcome of the action, making it incorrect.
Variable practices will allow the performer to build up their technique over time throughout the practice, to eventually use it in a game like situation. This gives the performer a chance to build up a basic technique first of all, and further adapt the technique to suit them. This technique adaptation is possible here and not in a fixed session because the skills being taught are very different here which means that technique applied aren’t straight forwardly right or wrong
I shall now move onto how to enhance skill using different practice methods.
Fixed practices are perfect for closed, interactive, discrete and coactive skills as they all tend to require practices which allow the motor sequence to be perfected, since they remain the same in practice as they do in competition. In lacrosse, this could be the pass in, or in Badminton, the discrete skill of serving could be practiced continually as it is a self paced and relatively closed skill. In athletics, the closed skill of the high jump is an ideal skill to be learnt during a fixed practice as this never changes from practice to serious event. Variable practices are ideal for open and interactive skills, as they are never the same twice. Initially, the movement pattern required is learned and then the adaptations required. To enhance the practice of this skill, there is a common approach to which the open and interactive skills to be taught in a closed environment first, and once mastered, the environment can be made more and more open. For example, in lacrosse the skill of cradling the ball can be first practiced by just walking with the ball in the stick, then at jogging pace, then at full speed until eventually the cradling is practised using defenders and ultimately in a game situation. In badminton, you can start off with soft smashes to the body, and over time the practice can be continually developed step by step until the performer is practicing returning hard smashes all over the court.
As High jump doesn’t contain many open or interactive skills, this type of practice would not be ideal for the sport.
To actually teach certain ability to a performer, I think it is crucial to use the fixed practice at all times. This is because specific abilities do not differ from person to person, they only improve, so by repeating these abilities continuously, you eventually perfect it.
In conclusion I feel that skill, technique and ability are all closely linked and that changing one affects another. Skill and technique can be improved where as ability is natural. It is also very clear from the information I have provided that it is easy to structure practices which are highly efficient at enhancing each component of fitness, but it is crucial you pick the correct ones.
Word Count = 1302
Bibliography
I used the following recourses to help me define words in my essay.
1 ) Google
2 ) Advanced PE for Edexcel
3) Physical Education Handbook. A-Z by Rob James
4) Oxford Dictionary
5) Wesson et Al: Sport and Pe; a complete guide to Advanced level study page 34 to 539
6) Honeybourne: Advanced Physical Education and Sport page 116-119
What is the difference between Skill, Ability and Technique and explain how you would structure practices to enhance these components of fitness?
