|
|
|
  |
| Sunday, 6 February 2005 |
 |
|
 |
Junior Observer |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Skill, ability and technique : How they come into play
Skill is an athlete's ability to choose and perform the right techniques at the right time, successfully, regularly and with a minimum of effort. Athletes use their skill to achieve athletic objectives e.g. sprinting a 10.0 second m. Skill is acquired and therefore has to be learned. Techniques are the basic movements of any sport or event e.g. the block start in a 100m race is a technique. We combine a number of techniques into a pattern of movement e.g. triple jump - running and then the hop, skip and jump phases. Ability is the make up of an athlete which we inherit from our parents. Abilities underpin and contribute to skills. Abilities can be essentially perceptual, essentially motor or a combination of both. Most abilities to do with action are a combination and are referred to as psychomotor abilities. There are various types of skills. Some of them are: * Cognitive - involves thought processes * Perceptual - involves interpretation of information * Motor - involves movement Psychologists have categorised human behaviour into three broad domains: * Cognitive skill (knowing) - know and understand the vital aspects of the sport * Affective behaviour (feeling) - success at the sport depends on mental attitude and developing psychological skills to cope with stress * Psychomotor skill (doing) - excellence in sport requires the execution of precise, fluent and effective movement patterns which require the combination of perceptual and motor skills. **** A major factor influencing the development of a skill is practice of which there are two main types: * Variable - practising a skill in a variety of different contexts and experiencing the full range of situations in which the technique or tactic might be used in competition. The learner applies the skill to a number of different environments in practice, allowing both the development of the skill and the ability to adapt the skill to a range of possible situations. This is vital for open and interactive skills. * Fixed - a specific movement is practice repeatedly, often referred to as a drill. This type of practice is ideal for skills that are always performed in the same way, that do not require adapting to the environment. Closed, interactive and coactive skills tend to require fixed practice to allow the motor sequence to be perfected, since they will remain the same in practice as they will in competition. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Politics | Produced by Lake House |
It is no secret that most sporting activities require a set of skills
which have many characteristics that can change in different situations.
