ability is the ease with which an individual is able to perform a movement or routine.
acquisition is gaining possession of something.
acuity is sharpness.
agility is the ability to move the body from one position and direction to another with speed and precision.
appraisal is a judgement about the quality of something or somebody.
associative means connecting or linking ideas.
autonomous means being in full control of actions so they become automatic.
closed skills occur in an environment that is stable and predictable.
cognitive refers to mental processing of information, thinking and understanding.
concurrent feedback is received during the performance of a skill.
continuous skills have no distinct beginning or end.
delayed feedback is received after the skill has been executed.
discrete skills have a distinctive beginning and end that can be identified.
distributed practice (or spaced practice) involves a broken practice session, with the intervals of rest or alternative activities being longer than the practice intervals.
external feedback is all feedback other than that which occurs as a normal consequence of performing a skill. It includes various forms of external information, such as suggestions from the coach, video replays, judges’ scores and race results.
externally paced skills are movements for which an external source controls the timing.
feedback is the information provided to the learner about the nature or result of their performance.
fine motor skills require the use of only small muscle groups to perform the movement.
game-centred approach a focus on the whole game and all components, rather than a sequence of basic skills assembled within a game format. The emphasis is on integrating thinking and learning rather than skill development in isolation.
gross motor skills require the use of large muscle groups for execution.
heredity refers to genetic characteristics inherited from our parents.
internal feedback occurs as a normal consequence of performing a skill. It embodies feelings, together with sensory information such as seeing the ball and hearing the sound of a ball hitting the bat.
281kinaesthesis (or kinaesthetic sense) refers to the system of sensitivity that exists in the muscles and their attachments.
knowledge of performance is information about the pattern of the movement during execution.
knowledge of results is information about the outcome of a movement.
massed practice involves a continuous practice session, with the rest intervals being shorter than the practice intervals.
objectivity is the extent to which a measure or test is independent of the observer.
open skills occur in an environment that is unpredictable and frequently changing.
part practice method is applied when a skill is broken into smaller components and each discrete subskill (subroutine) is practised separately.
personal criteria are the preconceived ideas or expectations that an individual brings to judge a performance.
personality refers to an individual’s characteristic way of behaving.
prescribed criteria are established by a sports organisation or body and form the basis of assessment for competitions in that sport or activity.
reliability refers to the degree of consistency of a test — that is, the ability of the test and tester to produce the same results on successive occasions.
scenario is a situation or scene.
self-confidence is a firm belief in one’s own ability.
self-paced skills are movements for which the performer determines the timing and speed of execution.
serial skills involve a sequence of smaller movements that are assembled to make a total skill.
somatotype is a person’s body type or shape (ectomorphic, mesomorphic or endomorphic).
subjective observation refers to a judgement of performance quality based on feelings, impressions or opinions rather than a measurement system.
traits are characteristics or observable features of a person.
validity is the honesty of a test — that is, the degree to which it measures what it is supposed to measure.
whole practice method is applied when a skill is practised in its entirety