Practising Skills (3.2)

Question 1

Three Classifications of Practise Types

Answer 1

• Massed and Distributed
• Whole and Part
• Fixed/Drill and Varied

Question 2

What is Massed Practise?

Answer 2

Practising a skill continuously without breaks until the skill is learned

Question 3

What is Distributed Practise?

Answer 3

Short, frequent practise sessions broken up into intervals of learning some other skill relevant to the sport

Question 4

Benefits of Distributed Practise

Answer 4

• More effective for learning a new skill than massed practice
• Good for difficult, dangerous or fatiguing skills
• Good for young performers or performers with low motivation to practise skills

Question 5

Benefits of Massed Practise

Answer 5

• Massed practice is better when the skill is simple
• Massed practice is not usually suitable for beginners ) fatigue and motivation)
• Massed practice does cause fatigue and is therefore good for simulating the late stages of a game

Question 6

What is Whole Practise?

Answer 6

Learning the skill in its entirety.

It is particularly good for skills that are high in complexity and low in organisation

Question 7

What is Part Practise?

Answer 7

Learning skills by breaking them down into subroutines. This method is best when the skill is complex but has clearly defined components

Question 8

What is Progressive Part Practise?

Answer 8

Combination of both whole and part.

Skills are taught by working on one part, adding the next part, and continuing this process until the skills is practised as a whole.

Question 9

Benefits of Whole Practise

Answer 9

• Helps learner to get a feel for the skill, timings and end product
• Good for skills high in complexity and low in organisation
• Unsuitable for people with low attention spans, complex or dangerous skills

Question 10

Benefits of Part Practise

Answer 10

• Method is best when skill is complex but has clearly defined components
• Parts of skills are practised in isolation which is useful for complicated andserial skillsand good for maintaining motivation and focusing on specific elements of the skill
• Possible that skills from parts to a whole may not be effective and it may also reduce kinaesthetic awareness (feel) for the full skill

Question 11

Benefits of Progressive Part Method

Answer 11

• Skills are taught by working on one part, adding next part, and continuing the process until skill is practised as a whole
• This is a slow process but allows weaknesses to be targeted and for performer to understand relationship of sub-routines

Question 12

Benefits of Whole-Part-Whole Method

Answer 12

• Can be effective in skills which have easily distinguished parts, where whole skill together is complex