Skills

Skill “is the learned ability to bring about pre-determined results with maximum certainty, often with the minimum outlay of time or energy, or both” (Knapp, 1976).

There are many definitions of skill, however they share common features:

• Skill is aesthetically pleasing; a well performed action is good to watch e.g. Tom Daley perfectly executing a dive in a competition.
• Skill appears effortless; watch an expert 400m hurdler; they cover the distance and jump the hurdles with apparent ease.
• The performer is consistent; they nearly always performs the skill accurately e.g. Jonny Wilkinson the place kicker in rugby who rarely misses, and has a career average of over 80% success in kicking conversions.
• The skill is goal-directed; they have a planned response in the situation they are in. All performers experience luck but skilful performers can perform actions regularly so don’t always have to rely on luck to win.

Knapp’s definition expresses this in a precise manner. However a key phrase in this definition is ‘the learned ability’. It is important to realise that skill is learnt or acquired. We are not born with specific skills; we learn these skills as we develop and practice.

To teach skills it is helpful to be able to classify them by common features, so correct training sessions can be devised. We then can describe each skill in terms of its position on a skills continuum. The ends of a continuum have opposite characteristics and in sports skills it is difficult to class a skill at either end.

Muscularity Continuum - Gross Versus Fine Skills

The muscular involvement continuum relates to the number of muscles or muscle groups involved in the skill and how much movement there is in the limbs. At one end of the continuum there are fine skills, those that involve small movements and limited muscle action, e.g. in the game of pool, a player may play a minute shot to touch the white up to one of their own balls to ‘snooker’ their opponent. At the other end of the continuum are skills that are gross, they involve wide-ranging motion at a number of the joints and lots of muscular contractions, e.g. a high jump.

However, many skills do not fit as being completely fine or gross, they come somewhere in-between. Therefore, they can be placed towards the gross end if there is some muscular involvement and towards the fine end if there is less.

Pacing Continuum – Self Paced Versus Externally Paced Skills

Who determines when an athlete performs a skill? If the performer make the decision, it can be described as a self-paced skill. A snooker player takes their time before deciding when to hit a shot and a long jumper decides when to start their approach to the board and thus these are examples of self-paced skills.

If you look at the actual rules of the long jump you will see that the long jumper cannot commence until an official gives permission. The athlete then has two minutes in which to complete their jump. It could be said that they are not completely autonomous in their decision. Remember, this is a skills continuum and you would place the long jumper towards the self-paced end of the scale but not totally at the end.

A hockey player in the possession of the ball often has the decision to pass made for him by the run of a team-mate or the position of the defenders about to tackle for the ball. If a team-mate makes a ‘defence splitting’ run then the pass may only be available for a fraction of a second, before the chance has gone. When the other players here are affecting the decision of the player and when the skill is carried out then it is an externally paced skill.

Continuity Continuum - Discrete vs Serial vs Continuous Skills

When do skills begin and end? The answer determines where skills can be placed on the continuum as it refers to whether they have a clear beginning and end or are replicated over and over.

If a skill has a clear beginning and end we describe it as a discrete skill. An example is a tennis serve which has a clear start (grip and stance) and a clear end (following through after hitting the ball). Other examples of such discrete skills are the badminton smash or a free throw in basketball.

Serial skills have a number of discrete elements linked together. Generally, any skill that has a run up will be serial. For example a gym vault, a long jump and taking a conversion in rugby all require the performer to run up before carrying out the next sub-routine in the motor programme.

If a skill has no clear beginning and end we describe it as a continuous skill. Examples of continuous skills are swimming, running and cycling. These activities clearly begin and end (unless you are Forest Gump running across America!) but whilst the skill is being carried out the end of one sub-routine is the beginning of the next. For example in rowing when the pull or stroke phase ends it will be the beginning of the next stroke.

Skills can often be placed at two different places on the continuity continuum. Again, using the throw-in from football, sometimes it is performed from a standing position so could be placed at the discrete end, whereas at other times it is performed with a run up so would be more placed towards the centre as it is serial in nature. Can you think of any more actions that could be placed on two positions on the continuum?

Environmental Influence Continuum - Open Skills Versus Closed Skills

This continuum refers to whether the action is performed in a stable environment or whether this is constantly changing. Skills that take place in a complex, changing environment are called open skills, whereas closed skills are performed in a stable and consistent environment so are often referred to as being habitual. Closed skills that are repeatable are performed almost exactly the same way each time. They are usually self-paced skills (see below) and examples are high diving, trampolining and taking a free throw in basketball. When a basketball player takes a free throw, clearly there are factors, such as anxiety, that affect him but the skill is repeatable and changes very little from one shot to the next.

Examiner Tip

Some candidates mix up their use of the term ‘environment’ when discussing this continuum. The environment often refers to the scenario or situation the performer is in, not just the weather! In a game of hockey, the environment refers to the pitch, the equipment being used and most importantly to the other players. In one particular situation a player in possession of the ball will have team-mates available but as they dribble the ball, the situation (or environment) changes as the defence becomes organised.

Skills where the environment is constantly changing means modifications are made to the skill each time it is performed. These types of skills are usually externally paced and psychomotor as they require judging and interpreting information as the skill is executed. In passing games like rugby, football and netball, the situation can rapidly change as players move around and a team-mate may be free to pass to in one instance then a fraction of a second later the situation may have changed. Therefore a good example of an open skill would be the centre player in netball receiving and passing whilst the game is in progress. He/she must dodge and move into space and as the ball is received interpret the flight of the ball so the correct technique can be modified. Before and after they have caught the ball they must decide who is the best team-mate to pass to, then execute the skill, again modifying this action to suit the situation (see schema theory).

If someone is an outstanding player in a net-wall game (e.g. tennis) you might have noticed that they will normally be quite successful when playing other racket sports (e.g. badminton or squash). This is partly explained by the fact that the abilities needed to be successful in these sports are similar. However, it is also linked to the fact that some skills have very similar movement patterns and once one sport has been learned it is easier to pick up the skills from the new game. For example the smash in tennis is very similar to a smash in badminton. If one of these skills is learned successfully then only slight modifications are needed to perform the other skills. In Schema Theory generalised motor programmes are adapted to suit the situation and this theory can be applied to the transfer of learning. When learning one skill has a beneficial effect on the learning of another skill this is said to be positive transfer. However, when learning one skill has a detrimental effect on the learning of another skill this is said to be negative transfer.

Positive transfer of learning is when the learning of one skill has a beneficial effect on the learning of another skill. Positive transfer is most likely to occur when the movement pattern of one skill is very similar to another. There have been a number of cases of kicking experts in Rugby Union or football (soccer) players who have been recruited as a ‘kicker’ in American Football. Although the kicking actions are slightly different there are many similar sub-routines which means that only slight modifications are needed to execute skills across the different codes. Other examples are the similarities between the chest pass in netball and basketball and the shooting techniques in these two sports. The skills in gymnastics, trampolining and high diving are also similar meaning many junior performers switch between these sports and become successful.

Negative transfer of learning is when two skills are similar but do not have identical actions or if participants using similar abilities in slightly different ways, such that they interfere with each other. An example of negative transfer can be seen when a person who has been trained in tennis plays squash for the first time. To play the tennis forehand groundstroke requires a long backswing, however, if you are close to the back wall in a squash court the same backswing will mean hitting the wall with the racket. For this reason a different technique must be used.

Proactive transfer of learning is when the learning of a new skill affects the learning of future skills. In gymnastics the learning of basic movements, such as forward and backwards rolls, enable the learner to master much more complex skills such as somersaults in the future. This is also the case in trampolining when those who perfect the basic straight bounce technique, tuck, pike, straddle and twists learn more difficult skills (e.g. ‘swivel hips’) faster. Those who try these skills without perfecting the basic skills usually struggle to learn these more complex techniques or perform them with very poor form.

Retroactive transfer of learning is when learning a new skill affects the performance of a previously learned skill in either a positive or negative way.

Zero transfer of learning is when two skills have dissimilar movement patterns and there is no relationship between them. The two skills do not share any common sub-routines and they can neither support nor hinder each other. For instance the ability to high jump will have no impact on the ability to play a cricket shot and vice versa.

Optimising Positive Transfer

To promote positive transfer a coach or teacher should have a good understanding of the similarities and differences between the two skills. The more components of the generalised motor programme that the skills share the more likely positive transfer of learning will occur. However, they must provide guidance on the similarities and differences so the players they are coaching understand the differences between them, they should place emphasis on the transferable elements of these skills. Showing slow motion demonstrations of the two techniques and ‘cueing’ or highlighting the differences can help. If the learner understands these and the process of transfer then positive transfer is likely to take place. The environmental conditions of the learning situations need to allow for positive transfer; the more similar the practice conditions the greater likelihood of transfer to the real situation. The coaches can utilise positive reinforcement and praise to promote the transfer, similarly negative reinforcement and feedback can be given if they are not adapting their technique from the previously learned skill to the new one. Also ensuring the first skill is well learned (autonomous phase of learning) will help to facilitate positive transfer.