sports

1. Unit 27
Task 2 – Performance Strengths and
Areas for Improvement

2. Strengths
• After looking at all the results from myself, the
athlete and the coach, I found that the 4 greatest
strengths of my athlete were strength, reaction
time, power and selective attention.
• Initially I believed balance to be a greater
strength but after the coaches assessment power
scored the same. I waited for the athletes scores
and again the two were close so I discussed this
further with both the coach and athlete and we
agreed that power was a greater strength then
balance.

3. Strength 1/4
• Excellence Trait: Reaction time
• Describe / Explain / Critically Analyse:
• After the performance profiling, reaction time was found to be Lisa’s
strongest trait. Reaction time is the speed in which you can respond to a
stimulus. Lisa has a quick reaction time, especially around the net as she is
accurate at interpreting and responding to a fast net shot with both speed
and accuracy. By having a quick reaction time Lisa is able to produce a high
quality of shot as she can reach the shuttle faster. In badminton I
personally believe that it is one of the most crucial things to have, and by
Lisa scoring highest on this, improves her overall performance greatly.
Even though her reaction time scored the highest out of all the traits I
looked at, Lisa can still improve on the scale and I think that getting her
reaction time to be a 10 would enable her to play a faster game of
badminton, giving her an even greater advantage against her opposition.
With a quicker reaction time Lisa will be more likely to be picked over
other players as she will be able to have a much more varied rang of shots.
Describe: Give a detailed account of something
Explain: Give a detailed account to give the meaning of something with reasons. Include the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the topic of interest
Critically Analyse: Give your opinion of the subject of interest – consider all of the evidence and then write about both the advantages and
disadvantages

4. Strength 2/4
• Excellence Trait: Selective Attention
• Describe / Explain / Critically Analyse: As Lisa competes at a performance
level she is now often performing in front of large and loud crowds. It is
important that Lisa has a strong selective attention and by scoring high on
this proves that she is able to stay focused; this has a massive benefit
towards her performance. When I watched her perform Lisa showed that
she was able to focus on relevant cues, such as her partners calls and
ignore irrelevant cues such as the crowd. She was able to concentrate on
the important information and ignore unnecessary noise that could be
both off putting and distracting. Even though Lisa has a very strong
selective attention whilst in a rally ,I think that it would be useful to
improve on her selective attention during points. It isn’t as important but I
noticed her look to the crowd on a few occasions after the end of a rally;
improving this slightly will enable her to ignore the oppositions team
mates comments and make her more confident in her decisions. This will
make her a more confident player and the coaches will look for this when
selecting the squad. The confidence will also make her seem more
intimidating in her oppositions eye, making them the nervous ones and
forcing them to make unnecessary errors.Describe: Give a detailed account of something
Explain: Give a detailed account to give the meaning of something with reasons. Include the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the topic of interest
Critically Analyse: Give your opinion of the subject of interest – consider all of the evidence and then write about both the advantages and
disadvantages

5. Strength 3/4
• Excellence Trait: Strength
• Describe / Explain / Critically Analyse:
• Strength is defined as the ability to apply force against resistance. It is important
that Lisa has good strength as she is constantly moving round the court and when
for example lunging her muscles are able to push out of this position. She also
needs to be able to exert enough force to smash. Her wrist needs to be extremely
strong as with out this her smash would be weak. Her body muscles need to be
strong in order for her to be able to recover from certain positions accurately.
Strength is also essential for Lisa to have as it underpins the basis for power. It also
is important that strength is one of the top traits as this will provide prevention of
injuries like shoulder dislocation and tennis elbow. These can occur due to
imbalance in muscle strength occurring due to lack of or inadequate weight
training. Lisa has good strength but as it isn't at the highest point on the scale Lisa
can improve this by weight training and by doing this I believe her performance
will benefit. With a high strength score, Lisa is less likely to get injured and
therefore more likely to get picked over other players who may susceptible to
injury. It also gives her an advantage over her opposition as she is usually free from
injury, however small it may be.
Describe: Give a detailed account of something
Explain: Give a detailed account to give the meaning of something with reasons. Include the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the topic of interest
Critically Analyse: Give your opinion of the subject of interest – consider all of the evidence and then write about both the advantages and
disadvantages

6. Strength 4/4
• Excellence Trait: Power
• Describe / Explain / Critically Analyse: Power is both speed and strength combined.
Power is an important part of badminton and Lisa showed that she was able to
lunge for a net shot and was able to push back to get into her next position. She
also performed many jump smashes after covering the court and changing
direction. She was able to exert enough power to jump so that her smash became
more powerful. The more power she has the higher her jump, the stronger her
smash and the more chance she has of winning. She also showed her power when
defending as she was able to exert enough force to defend the shuttle to the back
of the court.
• Power was the weakest strength Lisa had and I think that this was because of her
speed; because power is a combination of strength and speed if Lisa focused on
this her power would improve and therefore her performance and the types of
shots she would be able to play would widen.
• I think the power is an important part of badminton and was pleased to see Lisa
scored high in this.
• Being powerful is likely to get Lisa chosen over other team mates as it is important
that she can hit the shuttle from one end of the court to the other, as well as being
able to finish a rally.
• It is also important as it means she might be able to over power her opposition
and play shots that will lead to her having the attack.

7. Developments
• The four main areas for development are
aerobic fitness, control of anxiety, placement
of the shuttle and stress levels.

8. Development Area 1/4
• Excellence Trait: Control of anxiety
• Describe / Explain / Critically Analyse: Control of anxiety means to ignore
factors such as worry and doubt and focus purely on the game. I noticed
that Lisa wasn’t able to stay 100% focused in a game situation and often
dropped her head due to a previous bad shot. She needs to able to focus
on each point individually in order to improve this. I know that Lisa has
only just started to be picked for County level matches and after speaking
to her and her coach we agreed that the nerves would have gotten to her
especially at the start. She will need to be able to forget about added
pressures such as crowds and be able to control her nerves in future
games as this will effect her overall performance. I believe that her team
mates can also help her ease her anxiety by providing her with extra
support for the first few matches. I know when I’ve watched her at club
level she hasn’t been anxious and I think this is to do with confidence as
well as knowledge of her opposition. It is important she learns to control
this as it could make her partner feel uneasy too affecting both there
performances as individuals and as a pair. Losing certain matches can also
put more unnecessary pressure on the rest of the team.
Explain: Give a detailed account to give the meaning of something with reasons. Include the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the topic of interest
Critically Analyse: Give your opinion of the subject of interest – consider all of the evidence and then write about both the advantages and
disadvantages

9. Development Area 2/4
• Excellence Trait: Placement of the shuttle
• Describe / Explain / Critically Analyse: Placement of the shuttle for a serve is the most important
shot in badminton, and making sure this is of a high standard is important. It is the first shot in the
game and determines the amount of outcomes where the return of serve can be placed. By having
a strong serve you can ensure that you are fully prepared for the next shot. This is because the
placement of the shuttle for a serve, wherever this is at the T, the corner tram line, at the body or a
flick will each allow the opposition to only play a range of specific shots back. Knowing this will
prepare Lisa for a smaller variation of outcomes. This will is important in performance level as
players will return serves to a high standard. When watching Lisa’s performance the majority of her
serves were not of a high enough standard. A few of her serves were good but their need to be
consistency throughout the game. Lisa needs to improve the range of serves she performs, making
sure these are of a high standard as well as choosing accurately which serve is best based on the
side of the court she’s serving into as well as the position and placement of the opposition. Being
able to identify these factors will give an advantage to Lisa and her partner. When Lisa’ serves are
poor her and her partner at an even greater disadvantage as they will have to be defending more.
This also puts added unnecessary pressure on the pair which can affect their performance even
more. Lisa is less likely to get selected over other team mates who can perform a high standard
range of serves as it gives the starting advantage allowing them to be in control of the rally.
• Lisa will need to improve her serve if she wants to be selected for the team. I think her poor serves
link in with her other two developments; stress and anxiety as her lack in concentration and nerves
affect her judgement and therefore her serves.

10. Development Area 3/4
• Excellence Trait: aerobic fitness
• Describe / Explain / Critically Analyse: Aerobic endurance is
important in badminton as often matches, which consist of three
games can last for up to about 70 mins, most averaging at 45 with
minimal breaks. Lisa needs to improve her aerobic threshold as with
the step up to county she will be required to perform at a high level
and continue being able to move effectively and efficiently around
the court throughout the entire match. To start with Lisa
performance was weaker than usual but I feel that this was due to
nerves, but after she overcame this she performed to a much
higher standard. I feel that her performance however dropped in
the third match and this was due to her aerobic fitness. It will be
important that Lisa improves on this quickly as she will be required
to perform a lot longer in county matches compared to club
matches. I think it is a crucial part of badminton and if Lisa wants to
continue in the fourths she needs to work on it fast.
Describe: Give a detailed account of something
Explain: Give a detailed account to give the meaning of something with reasons. Include the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the topic of interest
Critically Analyse: Give your opinion of the subject of interest – consider all of the evidence and then write about both the advantages and
disadvantages

11. Development Area 4/4
• Excellence Trait: stress levels
• Describe / Explain / Critically Analyse: A certain level of stress is needed for optimum performance;
too little means that Lisa will be unable to motivate herself, however too much stress will affect the
ability to focus on skills and performance when performing. During the match I watched I felt Lisa
was under a lot of stress, because I have previous knowledge I could tell that some of her shots
weren’t as accurate as usual and I think that this is because of the added pressure of performing in
a new environment. However Lisa will need to prove she can control this otherwise players of a
similar or slightly worse standard, who can cope with stress, will be picked above her as their shots
will remain consistent and accurate and therefore their performance on a whole will be better.
• By the second match the stress levels had decreased and she performed much better however I
feel it is important that she is able to reduce this at the start so she has more confidence and a
higher success rate. I feel that if she had of had more practice with her partner she would have felt
less stressed and less pressure not to “let her down” and I also feel that Lisa should practice
calming techniques. If she was less stressed to start her performance would be affected in a
positive way and she would be able to advance to the thirds a lot quicker. By being stressed, this
can also have a negative affect on her partner and this can bring down their performance too.
• Lisa needs to work on her stress as the more stressed she is the more likely she is to make mistakes,
some of which could lead to injury of her or her partner, for example not using the correct footwork
and twisting an ankle or not being in the correct position and accidently hitting her partner with
her racket/ getting hit, setting her back in training.
• Lisa is less likely to get selected over other team mates who can control there stress as it can have a
negative effect of the rest of the team and the managers may drop her in order to make sure the
rest of the team can concentrate and perform to their best
Describe: Give a detailed account of something
Explain: Give a detailed account to give the meaning of something with reasons. Include the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the topic of interest
Critically Analyse: Give your opinion of the subject of interest – consider all of the evidence and then write about both the advantages and
disadvantages