| ability | The qualities and characteristics a person is born with, such as speed, coordination and flexibility, that allow a person to learn or acquire skills |
| skill | A learned and practiced ability that brings about the results you want to achieve with maximum certainty and efficiency. |
| Factors affecting skill | Teaching & Coaching, environment, facilities, arousal conditions, age & maturity, culture, motivation, anxiety |
| Age & maturity | How young a person is can affect how good they become. Starting younger provides more time to become an expert. |
| Arousal conditions | Someone who is calm and enjoys low arousal may perform well in shooting or archery. People with higher arousal levels may prefer football or boxing |
| Facilities | The kinds of facilities that are available and accessible will impact on the sports that are offered |
| Environment | Where you live will affect your choices. If you live where the is snow you are more likely to ski |
| Teaching & coaching | The quality and provision of coaching available will affect the skill level. Andy Murray left the UK for Spain to develop his tennis skills |
| Anxiety | If you see the skill as difficult it may stop you improving. The coach must break the skill down to help motivate you |
| Motivation | This will influence the skills you choose and how well you master them. A desire to succeed will encourage you to practice and seek new challenges |
| Culture | Background can impact upon the skills you learn. A person with the ability to play striking sports is likely to play baseball in USA, but cricket in India |
| accurate | Achieving precise, reliable movements |
| consistent | Performing to a high level every time with control and quality |
| fluent | Using movements that are quick, smooth and flowing, without hesitation or stumbling |
| coordinated | Moving different parts of the body together with efficiency and control |
| Aesthetically pleasing | A display that looks good to the eye of the spectator, judge or coach |
| Goal directed | Focusing performing on a specific target and being determined to achieve that target |
| Skill continuum | basic - complex, fine - gross, open - closed |
| basic skills | are simple skills such as throwing, catching, hitting a ball, and running |
| complex skills | are more difficult skills that require a higher level of coordination and concentration |
| open skills | are skills that are affected by the environment. The performer must react and adjust to the situation, and this will constantly change. |
| closed skills | are skills that are not affected by the environment or the performers within in |
| fine skills | are precise movements that require high levels of accuracy and technique. They are often small movements that require small groups of muscles such as in the fingers. |
| gross skills | are movements that use large muscle groups to produce big, powerful movements. Gross skills are usually performed by the arms and legs |
| decision-making | is when the information is analysed by the performer, so they can choose the most appropriate response |
| output | decision made and then acted upon. |
| feedback | information that is received about the output or decision |
| single channel hypothesis | if we do more than one thing at once, our overall performance can suffer as the brain struggles to process all the information coming in |
| short term memory | limited capacity, only there for a short amount of time |
| long term memory | unlimited capacity, there for a long time |
| 3 stages of learning | cognitive, associative, autonomous |
| cognitive | The preparation stage, you start to learn the new skill or technique. You consciously think about what is involved and the actions you need to perform the skill. A large number of mistakes will be made |
| associative | Practice stage, you continue repeating and practicing skills and techniques so that they improve. The number of mistakes decreases as your skills improve |
| autonomous | Automatic stage, you can perform the skills naturally without conscious thought. You show control, accuracy and even flair. Mistakes are rare. When you do make mistakes you can analyze what went wrong. |
| intrinsic feedback | information that comes from within, like your emotions thoughts and muscles |
| extrinsic feedback | comes from an external sources like coach or a teacher |
| knowledge of performance | analyzing your quality of movement or use of techniques e.g. if you landed gymnastics vault well |
| knowledge of results | analysing the outcome of your performance, e.g. the score |
| importance of receiving feedback | allows the performer to identify what they have done well and what needs to be improved |
| 4 types of guidance | visual, verbal, manual, mechanical |
| verbal and example | guidance that you hear e.g. coach telling you instructions |
| visual and example | guidance you can see e.g. coaches demonstration |
| manual and example | supporting the movement through touch, useful for cognitive and associative learners e.g. a coach may touch the performer to show them |
| mechanical and example | use of a device to support the performer, useful for cognitive so performer is less anxious e.g. a float for swimming |
| goal | A desired aim or outcome; something that you are trying to achieve |
| SMARTER goals | specific (make it detailed), measurable (measure if you can achieve it), agreed (you and your coach agree on that goal), realistic (a goal that is too difficult can demotivate you), time-phased (planned ahead), exciting (can prevent you from getting bored), recorded (goals should be written down) |
| how can goal-setting reduce anxiety | the performer will be more confident going into a competitive situation. Having control of a situation has been shown to play an important role in reducing stress and anxiety. |
| intrinsic motivation | feelings of satisfaction or well-being from doing the activity |
| extrinsic motivation | Praise from other people, at the professional level, the search for sponsorship or a better contract |
| arousal definition | energized state of readiness that motivates you to perform a task |
| over arousal affect | feeling anxious, nervous or stressed, you could be ‘psyched out’ by the opposition, you may make mistakes or not give your best performance |
| under arousal levels affect | You will not be excited or focused enough to perform at the required level |
| how optimal arousal is different for different skills | fine motor skills (such as in darts) require low levels of arousal to perform well, gross motor skills like running require high levels of arousal to perform well |
| cognitive anxiety | The mental symptoms that a performer feels such as self doubt, that can occur if the performer is in a state of under arousal |
| somatic anxiety | The physical signs of anxiety that can be termed as ‘butterflies in the stomach’. |
| 3 relaxation techniques | mental rehearsal, visualization, deep breathing |
| mental rehearsal | Running through a skill, sequence or event in your mind, in detail, using all your senses |
| visualization | ‘Seeing’ the best positive outcome for the skill/technique you are about to perform |
| deep breathing | A learned way of breathing in a deep, calm and focused way to promote relaxation as well as physical well-being |
| how relaxation techniques control arousal for all 3 | preparing for what will happen so its not a shock, train your brain to do the best outcome, focus on only breathing |
| introvert | reserved, and usually prefer taking part in individual sports |
| extrovert | enjoy interaction with others and are aroused by others, enthusiastic/talkative |
| introvert characteristics | Get energized by being on their own, prefer taking part in sports by themselves, perform best at lower levels of arousal |
| extrovert characteristics | energized being with others, prefer team sports, perform best at higher levels of arousal |
| sports for introverts | golf, tennis, swimming |
| sports for extroverts | hockey, netball, volleyball, rugby |
