1. BA (HONS) SPORT
Unit 27 – Skill Acquisition in Sport

2. UNIT OUTCOMES
1.
Understand the Nature of Skilled Performance
2.
Understand information processing models

3. TASK – 10 MINS

Plan a skill development session for a skill of your
choice that lasts 15 minutes

4. Questions:
Who can juggle?

What skills are
involved in juggling?

Can you learn to do it?

6. SKILL IS DEFINED AS….
What is this on
about?
‘The Learned ability to bring about
predetermined results with maximum
certainty, often with the minimum outlay
of time or energy or both.’
Knapp 1963

7. ‘The Learned ability to bring about predetermined results with
maximum certainty, often with the minimum outlay of time or
energy or both.’
• Learned Ability
• Predetermined Results
• Maximum certainty
• Minimum outlay

8. CHARACTERISTICS OF SKILL
Objective
Consistently
successful
Learned
Skill
Flowing and
aesthetically
pleasing
Movements
are efficient

9. TASK 
Get ball in the bucket

Ball has to bounce once

Cant hit anything else on the way into the bucket

Must stand 5m away

10. DID YOU NEED SKILL TO COMPLETE THE TASK?
Objective
Consistently
successful
Learned
Skill
Flowing and
aesthetically
pleasing
Movements
are efficient

11. DARTS

3 darts each

1 dart each

Top score wins

Closest to the bulls
eye wins

12. DID YOU NEED SKILL TO COMPLETE THE TASK?
Objective
Consistently
successful
Learned
Skill
Flowing and
aesthetically
pleasing
Movements
are efficient

13. COMPARISON

Which skill was harder?

Why?

What things did you have to think about?

What was the technique? Did it matter?

14. TYPES OF SKILLS
For us to acted in a skilled way we must receive information from our
surrounding environment, select important information, we then
respond with the relevant skill.
This uses a combination of:



Cognitive Skill
Perceptual Skill
Psycho-motor Skill

15. COGNITIVE SKILL

Our cognitive skill develops as we learn from
experience.

Selecting what to do

When to do it

Decision making and reasoning

16. PERCEPTUAL SKILLS

How well we select, organise and recognise
information from our senses.

This will be built on our perceptual abilities and they
are developed through maturation

17. PSYCHO-MOTOR SKILLS

This is our physical movements, controlled by the
brain, towards pre determined results or objective.

To be able to co – ordinate your body to achieve the
pre determined results

18. What cognitive /
perceptual
/psychomotor skills
do I need to use?

19. Cognitive Skills –
 Strengths and
Weakness of opponent
 What shot to play
 Predict where the ball
will go
Perceptual Skills –
 Foot position
 Body position
 Arm action
 Previous games you
have played against
him
Psycho-motor skills –
 Move towards the ball
 Feet & body in correct
position
 Forehand / backhand
 Spin?

20. TASK
In pairs, for your given skill: • Passing a football 30m


Write down all the things
that the person carrying
out the skill has to think
about?
Can you place them in
cognitive, perceptual or
psycho – motor skill
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Making a pass in Rugby
Driving the ball in golf
Free throw in basketball
Facing a face bowler in
cricket
Putting a 10m shot in golf
Making a tackle in Rugby
Taking a penalty in football
Centre pass in netball
Lay up in basketball

21. IMPORTANCE OF SKILL ACQUISITION FOR
COACHES

Do you think this information is important for
coaches?

Do coaching sessions work on all the types of skill?

Are some sessions just focused on technique rather
than skill?

22. KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER….