Module Six:

Skill Acquisition
INTRODUCTION
This module examines the phases of motor skill development and the importance of
fundamental movement patterns, You will look at how motor skills are learned, and factors
affecting skill acquisition. Effective coaching strategies for developing motor skills are
introduced.
Motor skill acquisition is an important aspect of coach education. It is concerned with how
motor skills are learned. Skill learning is at its best when interest is high. Interested
athletes achieve success more often and success, in turn, generates further interest.
Upon completion of this module, you will be
able to:

EXPLAIN THE PHASES OF MOTOR DEVELOPMENT AND THE IMPORTANCE

OF FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENT PATTERNS
EXPLAIN HOW MOTOR SKILLS ARE LEARNED
DESCRIBE EFFECTIVE COACHING STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING MOTOR
SKILLS

EXPLAIN THE PHASES OF MOTOR DEVELOPMENT AND THE IMPORTANCE

OF FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENT PATTERNS
The development of the ability to move well occurs in a sequential manner, based on an
individuals physical, psychological, social and emotional growth and development. This
sequential development must be considered when teaching motor skills and whenever
practises and games are organised for children and young people.

PHASES OF MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

GALLAHUE (1982) DESCRIBES FOUR PHASES OF MOTOR DEVELOPMENT:

Normally children do not need to be taught reflexive and rudimentary movements, they
just happen as the children move through the developmental phases. However, the
mature stage of fundamental movement patterns does require teaching.
The fundamental movement phase is the most important period for the learning of many
movement patterns such as running, jumping, hopping, stepping, balancing, stretching,
turning, twisting, throwing, catching, striking, and kicking. It important that children learn
to coordinate the movement of both sides of the body and to keep their eyes on objects,
such as balls. Then they can move on to learning other skills, such as avoiding objects,
and applying their skills in small group activities and simple games.
Fundamental movement patterns (FMPs) provide the foundation for sport-related general
skills and these sport-related skills are further refined to become the building blocks for
the more complex sports skills. It is important that children are taught and encouraged to
develop a wide range of fundamental movement skills and a broad base of movement
experiences, before leading on to more complex and specialised sports skills.
If you are coaching children, you need to provide them with opportunities to use their
fundamental movement skills in individual play, progressing through to small group
activities and simple games that are both challenging and enjoyable. The games and
activities should be simple and short, and should reinforce the skills you have taught the
children.
As children get older, you should encourage them to continue to learn and practise
fundamental movement skills.
You should also provide them with opportunities and time to practise these. Modified

games involving children at similar stages of growth and development, without the
pressure of competition, are ideal. You need to cater for all children at this level, and focus
on maximum participation.
From the age of about 10 years, children accept the challenges of competitive sport
enthusiastically, and the psychological demands involved are appropriate for their stage
of growth and development. Coaches should provide opportunities for children to apply
the motor skills they have learnt, and at the same time introduce a competitive element.
Modified sport is ideal for this. The activities need to be varied and challenging to meet
the childrens needs and maintain their interest. Coaches also need to make provision for
the childrens personal and social development, promote positive attitudes towards sport
and physical activity, and develop in the children a sense of responsibility for themselves
and others.
Once children reach secondary school, participation in the adult version of major games is
appropriate for most of them. However, the level of competition should still be
appropriate to their skill level, stage of growth and development, and the nature of the
sport. Enjoyment and achievement should still be priorities. Coaches at this level should
place an emphasis on developing a broad base of sports skills, avoiding specialisation in
one sport at an early age, so that children will have a choice of sports in their later life.
Note that children and young people progress through the stages of motor skill
development at different rates, and the stages have significant overlaps, especially
amongst older children. You need to recognise that age is only one of the factors which
determines a childs readiness for a particular participation stage in motor skill
development.

THE IMPORTANCE OF FMPS

It is important that children learn to move effectively, efficiently, and with
control and enjoyment. The learning needs to be developmentally
appropriate
and challenging, extending childrens competence through movement
experiences which are fun and child focused.
FMPS are the basic movements which underpin all that we do. There comes a point for all
children when they need help, encouragement and guidance to develop FMPS. Their skills
may be developed through involvement and practise in the many varied opportunities
provided for them. Children need encouragement and instructive feedback from an adult,
e.g. watch the ball, which provides information to help them improve their skills.
FMPS can be divided into three categories:

Stability

Locomotor Skills

Manipulation Skills

Involves body and spatial

awareness.

Forms the basis of

locomotor and
manipulation skills.

Involves moving the body

from one point to another
along a variety of pathways
(straight, curved, zig-zag).

Involves giving force to

an object OR receiving
force from an object.

Turning

Walking

Throwing

Bending

Running

Kicking

Stretching

Crawling

Catching

Balancing (stationary and

moving)

Jumping

Striking

Twisting

Marching

Skipping
Galloping
Hopping
Leaping

There are five fundamental skills that contribute to FMPs.

Balance
The basis from which all controlled movement originates.

Jumping
May be for height, FMP for take-off, for distance, FMP for flight; or from a height, FMP for
landing.

Throwing
The basis for more complex movements, e.g. racquet sports, athletics.

Catching
Important for hand-eye coordination.

Striking
Important for hand-eye-foot coordination.
FMPs are important because they:

 are the building blocks for more complex skills,

are common threads for many sport skills,
develop a wide range of motor skills, and
help children to understand the structure and concepts of human movements.
Body awareness What is the body doing?
Space

Where is the body moving?

Time and energy How is the body performing it?

Relationships

Who is the body working with?

In the performance of all movement skills, our body must adjust to take into account the
factors of time, force, pace and flow in order to improve the quality of movement.

QUESTIONS & EXERCISES

List the stages of motor skill development, and describe the types of activities
that are most suitable for learning and practising motor skills at each stage.
Review the importance of FMPs and discuss how these might be relevant to adult
athletes.
With reference to SPARCs Junior Sport Policy, discuss the following points:
guiding principles and objectives for junior sport,
benefits of participation for children and young people,
rights and responsibilities of junior sport participants, and
the role of the coach in providing junior sport and the responsibilities inherent
in that role.
Do not spend too much time on this section if you are not coaching junior
athletes. However, it is useful for you to know and understand the concepts
outlined in this section, and you should be aware of the Junior Sport Policy and
the implications that it has for your sport organisation.

EXPLAIN HOW MOTOR SKILLS ARE LEARNED

Motor skills refer to the relatively complex patterns of movement that require learning,
and are performed in order to achieve some specific pre-determined goal. The quality of
movement produced influences how well the goal is achieved. A motor performance
refers to the execution of a motor skill. It can be observed and measured directly. Motor
skill learning involves a more or less permanent change in behaviour as a direct result of
practise. It is reflected in a change in performance, but cannot be observed or measured
directly. Learning is assumed as a result of changes in performance over a period of time.
As a coach, you need to be aware of the difficulties associated with trying to assess how
much learning has taken place, simply by using simple and occasional tests of
performance. You need to consider both the performance and the learning of your
athletes. Your coaching needs to be directed towards achieving standards, goals and
outcomes, as well as towards providing instruction and practise. This will result in
permanent improvements in performance potential.

CLASSIFICATION OF MOTOR SKILLS

The classification of motor skills has implications for the way in which motor skills are
taught.

Open and Closed Skills

The classification of open and closed skills is based on the conditions and the
environment in which the skills are performed.
Open skills are performed in conditions where:
the surrounding environment is constantly changing and generally unpredictable,
there is uncertainty about what to do and when to do it, and
there is a limited time to make decisions and produce the actions required of a skilled
performance.
For example: a tennis player receiving a serve faces uncertainty about when the ball will
be served, how fast it will travel, and to what corner of the service court the ball will be
directed.
The skills used in team sports, e.g. rugby, hockey, squash, volleyball, soccer, cricket, and
netball, are nearly always open skills.
Closed skills are performed in environments which are highly predictable, where:
the athlete is able to plan what to do and how to do it in advance,
the athlete does not have the same pressure of time that is associated with open skills,
the demands and requirements of the activity are known in advance of the
performance, and
the athletes attention is directed totally towards the production of the desired
movement pattern.

For example: in a gymnastics floor routine, the gymnast aims to perform to perfection,
movements which have been constantly repeated many times in practise.
The skills involved in sports such as gymnastics, archery, shooting, bowling, and golf are
largely closed skills. Closed skills may also be found within a sport where the skills are
mostly open, e.g. softball pitch, tennis serve, rugby goal kick, basketball free throw.

Fine and Gross Motor Skills

The classification of fine and gross motor skills is based on the amount of movement and
force required to perform a motor skill.
Fine motor skills involve movement of small muscle groups, e.g. writing, painting. They
are generally not included in sport, although they may be an important part of a gross
motor skill.
Gross motor skills involve large parts of the body or movement of the whole body, e.g.
running, hitting a ball. Most skills in sport are gross motor skills, but many involve both
large and small muscle groups.
For example, balancing on a beam requires control of the whole body as well as fine
adjustments by the muscles of the foot and ankle. Performing in shooting also requires
control of the whole body, combined with a fine touch with the finger on the trigger.

Simple and Complex Motor Skills

Motor skills may also be classified according to their complexity.
Simple motor skills are ones that can be learned with very little practise and have few
parts to them. They can be taught as whole activities. Complex motor skills take more
time and effort to acquire because a number of different actions make up the skill. You
can simplify complex skills to make learning easier by:

 breaking the skill down into a series of steps or parts, teaching the individual parts
separately, and progressively bringing them all together as learning occurs,
making the action simpler, leaving out some parts to be added later,
practising the simplified action in a simple situation, with team mates, opposing
players, and competition being added progressively, and
slowing the action down to give your athletes time to think about what they are doing,
and to make the appropriate responses.

STAGES OF SKILL LEARNING

People learn motor skills in stages. Fitts and Posner (1967) have identified three stages of
learning:
cognitive stage (plan formation),

associative stage (practise), and

autonomous stage (automatic execution).

Stage One The Cognitive Stage

The cognitive stage focuses on determining and understanding the demands of a new
skill, i.e. what needs to be done in order to perform the skill correctly and successfully. It
takes place at the early stage of learning and much of the enhancement of performance
involves thinking and planning. The athlete draws on existing knowledge and skills, and
re-shapes this into new movement patterns. Improvements in performance tend to be
rapid, but inconsistent.
As a coach, you need to simplify the demands of new motor skills being learnt. Good
instruction, video, and demonstration aid learning, and may be used to introduce new
skills. Athletes need to translate different modes of instruction into meaningful movement
components for themselves. Transfer of learning from other motor skills is likely to be
positive, so it is useful for you to point out similarities with and distinctions between other
skills. For example:

 the similarity between the forward defensive stroke in cricket and trapping the ball in
hockey, and
the distinction between the flexibility of the wrist in badminton and the stiff wrist
required in tennis.
It is important to recognise that athletes require a lot of information at this stage, but they
cannot cope with more than two or three key points at a time. Athletes experience a large
number of errors at this time, and they require a great deal of very specific feedback in
order to recognise and correct these errors. This stage is usually completed in a short
period of time.

Stage Two The Associative Stage

At this stage, the athlete has decided on the best way of executing a new motor skill and
is concentrating upon perfecting the execution of the skill, so that a higher standard of
performance is achieved more consistently. The associative stage is characterised by:
increased accuracy in the performance of particular movement patterns (important in
the performance of closed skills), and
an increased ability to produce new movement responses when required (important in
the performance of open skills).
As a coach, you need to devote a lot of time to practising motor skill development,
focusing on skill-specific practises, and providing appropriate feedback. Progressively
increase the complexity of the practise situation, i.e. gradually introduce external
influences to make athletes more familiar with the demands of their specific sporting
environment.
For example, for an open skill, introduce team mates, opposing players, new playing
options; for a closed skill, introduce variables which more closely resemble the
competitive situation.
The amount of practise your athletes require will depend on the complexity of the motor
skill, the athletes abilities and past experience, and their motivation to improve their
performance. Athletes learn through timing and rhythm, visual direction, experience and
doing, progression, manual guidance, special design, and positive feedback.

Stage Three The Autonomous Stage

During the autonomous stage, the performance of the motor skill becomes largely
automatic, without the athlete needing to consciously pay attention to the execution of
the skill. This normally requires extensive practise over a long period of time, usually
years, and it may not be achieved by all athletes. The control of movement becomes very
precise and the performance very accurate and consistent. Athletes are able to apply
motor skills in the correct sequence and in the appropriate situation. They no longer need
to monitor feedback about their own movements, which enables them to focus their
attention on other tasks, e.g. looking for team mates, evaluating what opposing players
are doing, thinking ahead, and planning in advance.
Even at this stage skill acquisition is ongoing, and continued intensive practise is essential
to the continuing development of these athletes. In order
to maintain their skills at this level, athletes must continue to practise them, and may, at
times, have to revert to the cognitive stage to check that they are performing the skills
correctly. Athletes at this level require challenge and the stimulus necessary to enhance
their skill development further. Coaches need to provide practise situations which place
greater demands on the athletes attention than they face in an actual competitive
situation.
It is important to note that, at this stage, errors in technique are so much a part of the
subconscious response that they are extremely difficult to correct. At this level, some
athletes will not be able to describe accurately how they execute motor skills.

WAYS OF TEACHING A MOTOR SKILL

Depending on the type of skill, different methods and approaches may be used to teach a
new motor skill.

Massed or Distributed Practise

Massed practise involves a motor skill being practised consistently and continuously until
the skill has been learned. It tends to be more suitable for highly skilled or highly
motivated athletes. Boredom is the greatest disadvantage of massed practise.
Distributed practise involves short, frequent practise sessions, interspersed with rest
periods, or intervals of other skill learning. This tends to be more appropriate in the early
stages of learning, when the energy demands of a skill are high, the learning task is
complex or boring, and when motivation is low. Rest periods are valuable in providing
opportunities for athletes to think about what they are doing, which may also enhance
learning.

Whole or Part Learning

Motor skills may be taught in their entirety, whole learning, or broken down into parts,
part learning.
For example:
a basketball lay-up shot may be taught as a whole, or broken down into the dribble,
footwork, shot, and follow through, and
a swimming stroke may also be taught as a whole, or swimmers may be taught the
kick, arm movement and breathing separately.
Whole learning may be best for simple skills and part learning for complex skills.
Generally, it depends on the skill being taught and most coaches tend to combine the two
as whole-part learning. Athletes learn the whole skill at times, and concentrate on parts of
the skill at other times, like when they are having difficulty with a specific aspect. Whole
learning increases the awareness of timing, pace, and rhythm of a complete skill. Learning
a skill in parts puts emphasis on learning each part correctly. It is important to teach skills
correctly from the beginning, whether they are simple or complex skills.

Mental or Physical Practise

Physical practise involves active participation in an activity, while mental practise
involves the athletes visualising a performance in their minds (mental imagery), viewing a
video of their own or someone elses performance, and/or reading or listening to
instructions. A combination of the two is most effective for learning: using mental
practise initially, and then alternating with periods of physical activity.

FACTORS AFFECTING THE LEARNING OF A SKILL

There are many interrelated factors which affect motor skill learning. This section will look
at some of the major ones and the implications they have for teaching and coaching
motor skills.

Individual Learning Styles

Individual learning styles refers to the ways in which different individuals learn best. Some
people need to hear instructions, others need to see a skill performed, while others learn
by doing.

I hear, I forget
I see, I remember
I do, I understand
(Anon. Ancient Chinese Proverb)
Effective teaching and coaching provide opportunities for all athletes to learn in the
manner which suits them best. In practise, this means that in order to cater for the needs
of all learning styles you generally need to provide a good demonstration, an explanation
of the key points, and plenty of time to practise.
There are many skills that athletes must learn for themselves. It is important that you
encourage your athletes to be in control of their own learning. Self-direction, selfmotivation, self-determination, and self-reliance are important qualities and
characteristics of successful athletes.

Motivation
Motor skill learning is at its best when motivation is high. Skill acquisition requires
athletes to spend time practising appropriate tasks. For practise to be effective for an
athlete, it requires a high success rate over a period of time to motivate the athlete to
continue practising. Thus, it is important that athletes can see or identify the results of
how well they are improving through their practise or participation in competition. You can
motivate your athletes by ensuring practise activities appear to be both important and
relevant to them, and helping them develop appropriate short and long-term goals. Goal
setting will be discussed in more detail in a later module.

Feedback
Feedback provides information and motivation to facilitate skill learning. It refers to all of
the information an athlete receives about how a motor skill is performed and the results
of the performance. Feedback is effective in changing immediate performance, reinforces
learning, and is important in motivating athletes to make changes and continue learning.
It is essential in the early stages of learning, where it is used for major adjustments in skill
execution.
In the later stages of learning, feedback is used to make fine corrections to performance.
Feedback, and how well it is used, has a significant influence on the standard of
performance an athlete is eventually able to achieve. You should note that an overload of
information or feedback often results in learners failing to understand the most important
points. Therefore, make your feedback brief, positive, quick, specific, and appropriate to
your athletes.

Receiving and Storing Information

Learning involves the perception of sensory information. Athletes can perceive and
interpret the same information differently. This has implications for you as a coach, as
you need to constantly monitor your athletes understanding of motor skill performance
and relate this to their individual learning styles. Information received by athletes passes
into their short-term memory, where it is retained for about 30 seconds. The information
then either passes into long-term memory, or it is lost if it has not been repeated almost
immediately. Athletes cannot remember too many instructions at once, or instructions
that are given too quickly. Any interference or irrelevant information can distract an
athletes short-term memory.
It is important for you to achieve a balance between providing your athletes with enough
information to execute a new motor skill, and overloading them with unnecessary detail.
You should limit your verbal instructions to no more than two or three key points upon

which the athlete should focus. Your instructions should be brief, to the point, make the
demands of the skill clear and simple, and should be given when the athletes attention is
guaranteed. You need to determine which cues to introduce at various stages of skill
acquisition, and develop plans for progressively introducing additional instructional points.

For most athletes, a visual demonstration of a motor skill by a skilled performer greatly
enhances their learning. This may be a video of an elite performer. All demonstrations
need to be technically correct and accompanied by good verbal instructions highlighting
the key points. They should be available during practise as a reference to correct
performance.
An understanding of the mechanical and physical principles associated with a new motor
skill is likely to aid learning for some athletes in some sports.

Selective Attention
Athletes are bombarded by sensory information from a huge range of stimuli both from
the external environment (e.g. noise, movement, sights), and from within their own
bodies (e.g. balance, muscle soreness, fatigue, hunger). Athletes do not pay attention to
all of the available information, rather they disregard irrelevant information and select
sensory cues to concentrate on.
You need to be aware of when your athletes are paying attention to information that is
essential to learning a new motor skill, or when they are listening to the cars going by.
Overloading athletes with too many instructions at once causes confusion, as learners do
not always know which stimuli they should respond to. You need to select relevant
information and direct the athletes to attend to one or two key points at a time, so that
they learn to identify the correct cues. You also need to be able to identify the cues your
athletes need to attend to in a competitive situation.

Arousal and Anxiety

An athletes level of arousal and state of anxiety will influence their receptiveness to
learning a new motor skill. An arousal level that is too low shows as over-relaxation or lack
of interest. The athlete gives insufficient energy and attention to prasticing the new skill.
Excessive tension and nervousness are signs of an arousal level that is too high. The
athletes attention may become too narrow to pick up all of the cues needed for a good
performance. They are likely to fatigue more quickly than usual, which will reduce the

time spent practising. Optimal levels of arousal vary for different skills and amongst
different athletes.

SKILL TRANSFER
Skill transfer involves the application of skills and knowledge learnt and experienced in
one situation,
to a different situation.
Experience in similar sports is often beneficial, e.g. if an athlete is skilled at soccer, then
some of the tactical skills will help in hockey; squash players are likely to find handball
and racket ball relatively
easy to pick up; and cricket players taking batting practise from a machine, will be able to
transfer that learning to the game situation.
The Physical Education curriculum is based on the theory of transfer of learning. Students
learn relatively simple skills first, and then use that knowledge to develop new skills, e.g.
students learn to bat and throw before learning to play the games of softball and cricket.
From the earliest stages of learning, parents understand that their children need to walk
before they can run!
This concept applies to coaching as well. It is beneficial to teach basic skills first, or more
complex skills in a closed environment. For example, warm-up activities may include
simple drills that will later be built on; aquatic skills may first be taught on dry land;
harnesses are used to teach dangerous gymnastics moves; and ball pitching machines
are used in the initial stages of teaching basic hitting skills.
In each of these examples, either the skill is taught in a closed environment so that the
learner may concentrate completely on just that skill, or the basic components of the skill
are taught with the expectation that those basics will be easily developed to form the
basis of the complete skill.
You need to be aware that the transfer of skills may be positive, negative, or neutral.

Positive
The previous learning and experience aid or facilitate the learning of the new skill, e.g. if
an athlete is a skilled hockey player, that will help when learning a golf swing.

Negative
The previous learning and experience hinder or interfere with the learning of the new skill,
e.g. an experienced vaulter in gymnastics may have difficulty with a one-footed take-off
in long jump.

Neutral
The previous learning and experience have no effect on the learning of the new skill, e.g.
a swimmers ability in the pool is unlikely to benefit their skill performance on the tennis
court.
Where the previous learning may have resulted in incorrect technique, the faults need to
be corrected before the new skill can be learned. This generally increases the time
required to learn the new skill. There may also be negative transfer from sloppy training
practises to competition, e.g. a shot putter who walks out of the front of the circle during
training, may well do so in the middle of a tense competition, and be disqualified.
QUESTIONS & EXERCISES
Explain how motor skills are learned. Think about:

 the stages of learning motor skills,

ways in which motor skills are classified,

different ways of teaching and learning motor skills,

the factors affecting motor skill acquisition, and

skill transfer.

Explain the relationship between motor skill learning and performance.

DESCRIBE EFFECTIVE COACHING STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING MOTOR

SKILLS
Each athlete comes with their own personality, learning style, heredity, background,
abilities and skill level. They learn and progress at their own individual rate. Teaching and
coaching methods and approaches, and the selection of motor skills and practise
activities, must be suited to the physical, emotional, psychological, and social
development of individual athletes. It is important for you to design the most appropriate
programme to help each of your athletes achieve their best.
When you are teaching and coaching motor skills, it is important for you to identify:

what is to be learned,
what and how much information is necessary for your athletes at a particular point
in time,

when your athletes are ready to receive the information,

the most effective way of conveying the information,

how accurately the information is received,

what motivates your athletes, and

the factors that affect their learning.

When you apply an understanding of how motor skills are learned, you are likely to be
effective in enhancing your athletes learning of motor skills. This requires creating an
effective learning environment, using effective coaching strategies, communicating well,
providing opportunities for practise, and providing effective feedback. These aspects will
be discussed briefly here, and in more detail in other Level Two modules.

EFFECTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

As a coach, you become more effective when you create a learning environment which is
conducive to skill learning. An effective learning environment supports athletes fully so
that they are:

actively involved in practise,

positive in their learning,

on-task,

well challenged,

well motivated,

encouraged to accept responsibility for their own learning,

feeling comfortable in their own learning,

receiving individual attention when needed,

enjoying mutual respect relationships,

achieving high rates of success, and

receiving positive feedback for their efforts.

To create an effective learning environment, you need to plan your training sessions,
manage the session time to maximise the athletes time on-task, and ensure that the
behaviour of athletes allows you to teach and athletes to learn.

EFFECTIVE COACHING STRATEGIES

Effective coaching strategies promote effective motor skill learning. Coaching strategies
involve:

establishing good organisational and management routines,

fostering the effective learning environment,

devoting a high percentage of time to meaningful and useful practise,

respecting individual differences,

communicating expectations clearly,

promoting cooperative learning,

taking an active part in practise,

accepting responsibility as a coach,

setting a good example as a role model, and

setting priorities and following through.

No one strategy is any better than another, but some strategies are more appropriate
than others in certain situations. You need to use a range of strategies that suit the
content of what you are coaching, the age, gender and stage of development of your
athletes, your athletes individual learning styles, and your own personality and preferred
coaching style.

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
To enhance motor skill learning, you must be able to communicate effectively with your
athletes. Effective communication involves sharing information between two or more
people, with each person understanding clearly what is happening. The process of
communication involves giving information to your athletes, and the athletes interpreting
that information. Then, if it is understood, its meaning will be shared between you and
your athletes.
Communication is a skill that involves more than just a verbal process. It requires
sensitivity and responsiveness between the people involved in the process. It is a
continuous process that you need to work on all of the time. Effective communication
involves communicating openly, personalising what is said, and requesting and giving
feedback. This helps establish a two-way process, which is essential to effective
communication.
Communication should be positive, so that your athletes feel valued and respected, and
clear, so that there is little room for misunderstanding. It is important that you make sure
your body language is consistent with what you are saying, or your athletes may receive
mixed messages. As with coaching strategies, the communication techniques you use
must be appropriate to your athletes and their stage of growth and development.

EFFECTIVE PRACTISE
Skill acquisition requires extensive, repetitive practise. Only perfect practise makes
perfect performance. It is desirable for the practise to resemble the competitive situation
as much as possible, but you need to develop this gradually. Motor skills should be taught
and practised in stages. Initially, you should simplify the skills, and reduce the external
influences to allow your athletes to concentrate on learning the new motor skill. You
should gradually introduce and increase external influences until the skill is being
practised in a simulated competition or game after a period of time. Providing a variety of
practise conditions trains athletes to adapt to variations in their competitive situations.

EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK
When learning motor skills, athletes require information about the results of their
performance, e.g. How fast did I run?, Did I score a goal?
Did the ball land in court? and about the way they performed the motor skill, e.g. Was
my body lean correct?, Was my foot in the right position when I struck the ball?, Was
my grip correct? The combination of both types of feedback motivates athletes to
continue to try to reproduce the desired movement pattern.
As discussed earlier in this module, feedback is most effective when it is specific to the
motor skill being learnt, accurate, understandable, carefully timed, and directed at
behaviour over which athletes have control. Your feedback should reinforce correct points,
focus on one key point at a time, and provide constructive corrections. It is also important
that the feedback you give is appropriate to the ability of your athletes to receive
feedback and to correctly perceive what they are doing, and to their stage of growth and
development.

QUESTIONS & EXERCISES

Select a complex motor skill for the development of an individual athletes
performance in your sport.
Develop a plan to teach the skill, and to provide practise activities to develop the
skill.
Think about all the factors involved in the teaching and learning of motor skills,
and apply effective coaching strategies to suit the needs of your individual
athletes.