Skill in Sport Flashcards
Define the term skill
“Skill is the consistent production of goal-oriented movements, which are learned and specific to the task.” McMorris, 2004
Main Characteristics of Skills
Goal Oriented Maximising Minimising Learnt through Practice Max Certainty
Describe the different types of skill
Motor skill
Weightlifting, for example, is mostly a motor skill because it emphasizes movement and does not require much thinking. Other examples include sprint racing and wrestling.
Cognitive skill
E.g. Playing chess because it requires lots of thinking. Success in chess is not associated with the execution of the movements. Knowledge of the rules, game objectives and team tactics are cognitive in nature, and are associated with the decision-making element of game play
Perceptual skill
The golfer receives information about the type of surface, the run of the green, the distance of the ball from the hole, and other environmental conditions through their perceptual senses. Perceptual senses include vision, vestibular (senses that help you with balance closely related to your hearing), haptic (touch) and auditory.
Perceptual-motor skills
These skills involve the interpretation of environmental stimuli and the motor response to this sensory information. Perceptual-motor skills depend on high perceptual ability and are very important in activities that require the performer to adapt to the environment. Dribbling with the ball in soccer to beat a defender.
Types of Skills
- Intellectual skills or cognitive skills: Skills which involve the use of a person’s mental powers, e.g. problem solving, verbal reasoning (verbal skill).
- Perceptive skills: Interpreting and making sense of information coming in via the senses.
- Motor skills: Smoothly executing physical movements and responses.
Classifying a skill
The amount of physical effort/size of musculature required to perform the skill successfully (fine motor skills; gross motor skills).
The stability of the environment in which the skill is to be performed. (closed motor skills; open motor skills)
The distinctiveness of the movement characteristics(discrete motor skills; serial motor skills; continuous motor skills)
1. 2. 3.
4. 5.
External and Internal Paced Skills Interaction Continuum
Fine motor/gross
Closed
Open
Fine motor skills involve the cooperative use of small muscle groups and the senses of sight and touch (visual motor tracking). The performer must also balance the use of force and fine touch control.
Gross motor skills involve a combination of large muscle actions that results in a coordinated movement.
Closed Motor Skills: are performed in a predictable environment where there are no interruptions or changes in the surroundings.
Open Motor Skills: are performed in an environment that is constantly changing and is externally paced.
Discrete
Serial
Continuous
Discrete Skills: involve movements of brief duration, and are defined by a distinct beginning and end
External Paced
Internal Paced
External and Internal Paced Skills
External Paced: Action is determined by external sources and involves the performer in reaction.
controls the rate at which the activity is carried out and decides when to initiate movement.
Individual, Coactive, Interactive
A method of describing groups of skills is to group them according to whether the skill is performed without reference to another player (individual skill)
Outline ability
Ability is a stable, enduring characteristic, that is genetically determined and may be solely perceptual, solely motor or a combination i.e. psychomotor.
It should be appreciated that abilities underpin specific skills.
For example, in order to perform a skill such as the 100 meter sprint individuals require motor abilities such as explosive strength and speed of limb movement.
Distinguish between physical proficiency abilities and perceptual motor abilities
Fleishman sub-divided abilities into physical proficiency and perceptual motor abilities.
• Physical proficiency abilities (physical factors) are what you might expect to find in a chapter on exercise physiology. They relate to physical or structural aspects of the body;
• The perceptual-motor abilities may be less obvious to you but are a combination of how we make sense of our environment (perception) and how we act (motor control) within that environment. They are physical attributes that combine the senses, involve movement control and may be associated with visual and/or auditory perception or cognitive speed;
Define the term Technique
In general terms, technique is a “way of doing”.
In the performance of a specific sports skill, it is defined as the “way in which that sports skill is performed”. In other works, it is the way the individual controls his/her limbs.
In order to perform skillfully the person must have the necessary technique or techniques and choose the correct one to use in any particular situation.
Discuss the differences between a skilled and a novice performer
A skilled performer has learnt how to achieve a particular performance goal at almost every attempt – with minimal waste of physical and mental energy, or time.
A number of perceptual abilities and physical attributes has been identified by sports scientists to explain differences between skilled and novice
performers.
A skilled performer develops special attributes (such as anticipation and relevant cue recognition) through experience and practice.
Browne et.al 2000
These are some of the factors which distinguish the skilled performer from the novice: ▪ Consistency of performance. ▪ Accuracy ▪ Control ▪ Learned ▪ Efficiency ▪ Goal directed ▪ Fluency
Information processing
Information processing is the system by which we take information from our surrounding environment, use it to make a decision and then produce a response:
Describe Welford’s model of information
processing
Perceptual
mechanisms
To interpret information
Translatory mechanisms
To make decisions
Effector mechanisms
Transfers those decisions to the muscles to produce a movement response
Outline the components associated with sensory
input
The senses are responsible for relaying information about the environment to the brain. This information is then interpreted by the brain based on past experience of similar situations, and is held in the long-term memory (LTM). They can be divided into:
Extroceptors
They provide information from outside of the body. The main exteroceptors involved in sensation with regard to sport are vision and audition.
▪Visual ▪Smell ▪Audition ▪Taste
▪Touch ▪Temperature
Interoceptors
Information from the internal organs of the body, heart, lungs, digestive system, etc. This information is passed to the central mechanism of the brain via the body’s sensory nervous system, e.g. how fast the heart is beating, register fatigue, etc.
Proprioceptors Nerve receptors within the body in muscles, joints, etc. providing intrinsic information regarding what class of movement is occurring. Kinaesthetic information is also provided about the feel or sense of movement. Components: equilibrium and kinesthesis
Explain the signal detection process
Explain the signal detection process Often referred to as the detection–comparison– recognition process (DCR)
Individuals receive over 100 000 pieces of information per second. This may be information from the environment and/ or from within the person themselves.
Thus actually perceiving an important piece of information, what he called a “signal”, is problematic. In order to explain how we do this, Swets developed the signal detection theory.
Perception
The factors you identified are all stimuli. A stimulus is any item of information which stands out from the non-essential
information noise (background noise). Swets
Stimuli in a game situation include things like the ball, but also includes opponents, conditions, team-mates, etc.
