Skills Acquisition Flashcards
Massed Practice
Continuous practice without rest (free throws in basketball).
Positives: Promotes fitness and motor skills
Negatives: Fatigues and bad for beginners
Distributed Practice
Practice with breaks in between repetitions (rugby player practicing phases of play).
Positives: Good for cognitive performers as time for visualization and extrinsic feedback.
Negatives: Not time effective especially for autonomous performers.
Varied Practice
Changing the practice type and practice drills (passing drill into possession drill)
Positives: Fun and good for open and complex skills.
Negatives: Too demanding and risk of negative transfer.
Mental Practice
Athletes go through movement in their mind (visualizing a free kick).
Positives: Improves confidence, lowers anxiety and can help with decision making.
Negatives: Poor visualization can lower confidence and may not calm you down.
Whole Practice
Complex skill is performed in its entirety without any attempts to break it down into sub-routines.
Good for fast, highly organized, complex skills like shooting in basketball as it helps to gain kinesthesis.
Whole-part-whole Practice
Skill is performed in entirely then broken down for practice then put back as whole practice.
Progressive-part Practice
A method where the skill is broken down into parts and the sub-routines are practiced individually.
Eg. layup in basketball divided into smaller parts
Positive Transfer
Previously learner skill aids the development of another.
Tennis hat aids the learning of a hit in squash
Negative Transfer
A previously learnt skill hinders the learning of a new skill.
(Tennis serve and badminton serve)
Zero Transfer
No effect on current performance from previously learnt skill.
(Swimming and snooker)
Bilateral Transfer
Involves the transfer of learning from one limb to another.
Passing with your left foot
Characteristics of a Skill
Learned Aesthetic Controlled Efficient Fluent Accurate Consistent Goal Directed
Learned
Significant time has been spent practicing. (A football player spends 30 minutes after every training session practicing free kicks)
Aesthetic
It is pleasing to observe.
Basketball player able to shoot in motion
Controlled
Every part of the skills is coordinated to be executed effectively and in time. (Swimmer can breath while maintaining momentum from strokes)
Efficient
Actions are performed with precision using a minimum output of energy.
(Midfield spreads the ball around the pitch with little touches)
Fluent
Actions flow naturally and are not forced
Tennis player is always in movement, anticipating the return
Accurate
The skills is executed with precision.
A volleyball player can serve directly to its intended target
Consistent
Repeatable with a high success rate after time.
Basketball player has a high free throw percentage
Goal Directed
There is a clear aim in mind before the skill.
Judo wrestler goes for a takedown with intention already sorted
Continuum 1: Open or Closed
Open: Constantly changing surroundings and environment
Closed: Same environment every time
Continuum 2: Gross or Fine
Gross: Using large muscle groups
Fine: Small muscled with precise execution
Continuum 3: Self-paced or Externally paced
Self: Can perform the skills when desired
Externally: You act depending on your environment in the moment
Continuum 4: Discrete, Serial or Continuous
Discrete: Clear beginning and end of skill
Serial: Discrete skills linked together
Continuous: No clear beginning or end
