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Skill acquisition in sport: Some applications of

an evolving practice ecology
Craig Handford , Keith Davids , Simon Bennett & Chris Button
Published online: 07 Feb 2011.

To cite this article: Craig Handford , Keith Davids , Simon Bennett & Chris Button (1997): Skill acquisition in
sport: Some applications of an evolving practice ecology, Journal of Sports Sciences, 15:6, 621-640

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 Jour nal of Sports Sciences, 1997, 15, 621- 640

Skill acquisition in sport: Some applications of an

evolving practice ecology
C R A IG H A N D F O R D,* K E IT H DAV ID S , SIM O N B E N N E T T and
C H R IS B U T TO N
M otor Control G roup, Departm ent of Exercise and Sport Science , C rewe + Alsager Faculty, The M anchester
M etropolitan University, H assall Road, Alsager ST7 2HL, U K

This paper builds on recent theoretical concerns regarding traditional conceptualizations of the skill acquisition
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process. The implications for the process of practice in sport contexts are explored with reference to the
information-processing approach to motor behaviour and the newer ecological paradigm. Issues are raised with
current principles of practice based on traditional theoretical ideas. A practice strategy that gives greater weight
to the guided exploration of the practice workspace jointly de® ned by the properties of the individual’s
subsystems, the speci® c task and the environment is advocated. Such a constraints-led perspective supersedes
previous distinctions between rudimentary and voluntary skills. Sports scientists, coaches, teachers and
m ovement rehabilitation therapists are invited to review current practices in the light of recent theoretical
advances from the ecological perspective.

K eywords : dynamical systems, ecological psychology, information processing, skill acquisition.

Introduction practice environm ents are m anaged. Finally, we exam -

T his paper is aim ed at sport and exercise scientists
interested in current theoretical modelling of processes
of skill acquisition and m ovem ent rehabilitation. It
starts by raising a num ber of concerns regarding the
robustness of present interpretations of skill acquisition
from the established approach in cognitive science,
w hich em phasizes information-p rocessing activities of
the m ind. The m ain focus of the paper is on the eco-
logical approach to the acquisition of co-ordination and
its implications for pedagogical practice in the sport
and exercise sciences. Our com mentary focuses on four
m ajor areas, beginning with a brief account of the
implications of perception- action coupling. We m ove
on to consider the treatm ent of perform ance variability
by the ecological approach and discuss a num ber of
issues which m ay profoundly affect the way in which
the perform er- perform ance relationship is viewed. This
is followed by an introduction to the concept of `con-
straints’ (Newell, 1986), with a discussion which elab-
orates on the likely im plications for the ways in which
* Author to whom all correspondence should be addressed.
0264 - 0414/97 © 1997 E & FN Spon
ine the progressive developm ent of skilled behaviour
from the ecological perspective, highlighting in particu-
lar the consequences for traditional conceptions of ped-
agogical processes.
M ost sports and exercise practitioners im plicity or
explicitly use a conceptual m odel of hum an perform -
ance as a basis for practical activity. The intention is to
provide m ore objective structuring of learning environ-
m ents and m ore effective use of practice and therapy
tim e. In m any cases, the theoretical standpoint adopted
exerts a strong in¯ uence on perceptions of the learner,
the learning environm ent and the interaction between
the two. Traditionally, the inform ation-processing
approach has dom inated theories of skill acquisition,
emphasizing the developm ent of prescriptions for
m ovem ent production (see Schm idt, 1982; Carello
et al., 1984; K elso, 1995). The hum an m ind has been
conceptualized as a capacity-lim ited device, into which
raw sensor y inform ation is channelled and then acted
upon through the realization of a stored motor plan (for
com prehensive reviews, see Beek and M eijer, 1988;
Abernethy and Sparrow, 1992; W illiam s et al., 1992;
D avids et al., 1994). T his popular view of the perform er
 622
has been established as the working m odel for m any of
those working w ith m ovem ent and skill acquisition in
sport and exercise settings.
The com puter m etaphor
H istorically, the m ain in¯ uences on the cognitive
sciences have been the philosophical theory of indirect
realism , and the engineering and com puter sciences
(C arello et al., 1984; Kelso, 1995). The adoption of the
com puter m etaphor for the human brain led cognitive
psychology to eschew the biological sciences in m odel-
ling hum an m otor behaviour. Cognitive scientists
believe that people attain knowledge com posed of sym -
bolic representations (see Edelm an, 1992). For them ,
cognition involves m anipulating the symbols that com -
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pose these representations in a rule-based manner.
O perating according to these rules is known as `com pu-
tation’ . Therefore, the m ind is seen as a com puter
which `reads’ sym bolic representations sem antically.
T his is the essence of cognitivism (Edelm an, 1992).
Traditional theorizing on hum an m ovement behaviour
has emphasized the representation and com m unication
of inform ation w ithin the m ind. T he favoured analogy
has been that of a hierarchical `control system ’ from
system s engineering (Kelso, 1992). Typically, therefore,
cognitive scientists have attem pted to explain ordered
m ovem ent with reference to internalized know ledge
structures and m otor program s represented w ithin the
central nervous system (C N S). T hese m echanism s have
been invoked to explain how the hum an body is `con-
trolled’ by the m ind (Newell, 1985). T he role of the
perceptual subsystem s has been conceptualized as pro-
viding the necessary stim ulus which acts to `release’ an
appropriate program me of action or to contextualize a
m ovem ent representation.
C oncerns with the traditional infor mation-
processing approach
Philosophical issues: W hy minds are not like computers
An im portant question for sport and exercise scientists
is w hether biological nervous system s function like
control engineering system s (Davids et al., 1994). T he
m ajor criticisms proposed are that: (1) the brain is not
a com puter and (2) that psychologists have been guilty
of idealizing the mind rather than studying it within the
framework of physical biology (C arello et al., 1984;
Kelso, 1995). The Turing m achine, which provided the
form al basis for the developm ent of com puter system s,
should be considered as `an ideal m athem atical object’
(C arello et al., 1984, p. 230). It cannot be applied to
H andford et al.
the study of organic m aterial like the brain unless the
physical laws and constraints operating in the natural
physical world are considered. T he established philo-
sophical view, however, proposes that the m ind is
com posed of a special substance which cannot be
understood within the fram ework of the physics of mat-
ter. C artesian dualism is the philosophical standpoint
that prom otes the belief that the mind is a special organ
which controls the physical m achinery of the body.
However, a fundamental issue concerns the traditional
acceptance of the existence of internalized representa-
tions as control m echanism s in the perceptual and
action systems, a priori to scienti® c investigation (see
W illiam s et al., in press). Just because an algorithm can
be written for a m achine to carr y out a task, this does
not constitute an explanation for behaviour in bio-
logical system s. As Edelm an (1992) has argued, such a
view has failed to recognize that biological organisms
have an evolutionary history w hich m ust be considered,
since it has constrained the developm ent, function and
form of system com ponents. As a result, traditional
psychological exp lanations have been accused of pro-
m oting a rather m echanistic view of hum an m ovem ent
behaviour (see D avids et al., 1994, for a m ore detailed
review ).
In support of these argum ents, som e explanatory dis-
com fort exists for traditional accounts in the great flex-
ibility of perform ers in accomm odating variable task
demands. Recent ® ndings have suggested that per-
form ers m ay be better able to adapt to changes in the
available inform ation than previously believed. For
exam ple, work in our laborator y on one-handed catch-
ing (e.g. Bennett and D avids, 1996) has provided kine-
m atic data indicating that successful catchers are able
to adapt to a change in environm ental information by
organizing a kinem atically different, but still successful,
m ovem ent response (see also Lacquaniti and Maioli,
1989). Similar results have been reported by other
researchers with a range of tasks varying from m anual
aim ing (Paulignan et al., 1991) to speech production
(Abbs et al., 1984). T he notion of such a ¯ exible sys-
tem causes problem s for the traditional inform ation-
processing account of the hum an perform er. The ability
to adapt successfully to changes in the environm ent
would require an incredibly fast processor capable of an
enorm ous number of computations per second. Highly
integrated, parallel processing m achines have been
forwarded as the latest answer to such a problem (see
Bullock and Grossberg, 1988; Jordan, 1990; M arteniuk,
1992). H owever, although m im icking som e of the
structure of the hum an brain (Edelm an, 1992), these
m achines are at present far from being able to deliver
the prom ise of highly skilled, co-ordinated, multi-
degree-of-freedom actions.
 Skill acquisition in sport
Criticism s of an inform ation-processing approach
are levelled at the `loans on rationality’ (Dennett, 1991,
p. 12) required if such vast am ounts of inform ation
regarding contractile states and lim b orientation with
respect to gravity are speci® ed, a priori and ongoingly,
by an existing prescription for m ovem ent. C onsider
the task of acquiring skill in a tennis forehand stroke,
the problem for the learner is one of co-ordinating the
m any independent m uscles of the upper and lower
body (800) which are acting around num erous joints
(100) (values taken from Wells, 1976). T his huge num -
ber of system degrees of freedom actually represents a
`curse’ for com putational accounts of skill acquisi-
tion and perform ance (Kugler and Turvey, 1987). T he
problem is com pounded when we consider the vari-
abilities in anatom ical and m echanical properties and
physiological processes induced by the rapidly chang-
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ing contexts typical of sport and exercise activities (see
D avids et al., 1994). Detailed analysis of experim ental
m ethodologies and the evidence supporting the appli-
cation of an information-p rocessing approach to sport
skill acquisition provides a general cause for further
concern.
M ethodologic al issues
T he developm ent of principles of practice from within
the inform ation-processing approach has been substan-
tiated by a myriad of data from motor skill psychology,
the application of which has ® ltered through to the
coaching and rehabilitation literature (for com prehen-
sive treatm ents, see Gentile, 1987; Schm idt, 1991;
Archontides et al., 1994; Sharp, 1992). M any coaches,
athletes and sport scientists have freely accepted the
traditional view and its prominent predictions have
been extensively applied, virtually unquestioned. How-
ever, the information-processing establishm ent has
recently been subjected to profound criticism (for
reviews, see Beek and M eijer, 1988; Abernethy and
Sparrow, 1992; W illiam s et al., 1992).
Traditional theories of skill acquisition and perform -
ance have been considered `unprincipled’ and based on
em pirical work em phasizing arti® cial laboratory para-
digm s (Bootsma, 1988; Tur vey, 1990; W illiam s et al.,
1992). For m any students of skill acquisition, this prob-
lem is related to the dependence of cognitive science on
the computer m etaphor to describe m ental processes
and its underlying im plications for the design of m otor
learning research program m es. The goal of internal
validity, cherished in experim ental psychology, has
resulted in much research on single-degree-of-freedom
tasks in isolated laboratories (e.g. linear positioning,
reaction tim e and pursuit rotor). Such approaches are
clearly not representative of the com plex co-ordinated
m ovement patterns that are characteristic of the
623
dynam ic environm ents of m any sporting activities. Fur-
therm ore, the philosophy of dualism has resulted in
independent treatm ents of perception and action and a
preoccupation w ith outcom e or error scores as per-
form ance measures. M ore seriously, Van Rossum
(1990, p. 428) has argued that `the usage of various
error scores seem s to be justi® ed m ore by their avail-
ability than by their appropriateness to the research
question at hand’ . Assessm ent of m ovem ent in this way
provides little direct inform ation relating to the under-
lying m echanism s of skill acquisition and, conse-
quently, evidence of learning is often by inference.
M any com plex sport skills are rather arti® cial and
stylistic (e.g. racewalking, high hurdling, fast bowling
in cricket), and it has been argued that the intention of
the system in such skills is constantly competing against
the powerful constraints of natural structural design
and m usculoskeletal properties (Jensen et al., 1989). In
other words, evolution has provided a system with a
highly functional anatom ical architecture, the resources
of which can be exploited for such im portant acts as
locomotion, but w hich m ay be less well suited to the
perform ance of the Triple-Salchow or Tsukahara vault.
This reasoning supports the comm on belief that the
development of pro® cient perform ance in sport is an
extensive process, requiring m uch repetition, often
spanning m any years of practice (Ericsson et al., 1993).
In contrast, m any of the experim ental tasks used in
the m otor skills laboratory are easily acquired in short
periods of tim e (Newell, 1985). For m ore com plex
tasks, the use of short-term acquisition periods (typic-
ally 3- 14 days) m ay have restricted perform ers to the
early stages of skill acquisition, with the consequence
that a high level of skill is rarely developed in the tim e
available. Furtherm ore, the scheduling of practice trials
in m any studies fails to replicate typical sports training
program m es. Trial blocks and intervals between prac-
tice sessions are often condensed to alleviate the time
demands placed on data collection. This has resulted in
practice schedules that are clearly unrealistic and
im practical when applied to real-world settings, with
som e obvious im plications for aspects of m ovem ent
pattern retention. In addition, m any previous studies of
skill acquisition have examined perform ance only dur-
ing the practice phase and this m ay not necessarily
re¯ ect a perm anent learning effect (see Salm oni et al.,
1984). Equally, an exam ination of only transfer or only
retention perform ance ignores the m echanism of acqui-
sition and, consequently, evidence of learning is
by inference. Finally, the failure to include a control
or discover y learning group questions the validity of
experim entally m anipulated learning conditions in
m any of the previous investigations.
 624
Theoretical issues
Existing experim ental support for the m ain tenets of
inform ation-processing theory has recently been chal-
lenged on a num ber of fronts. We conclude this section
by selectively focusing on three issues, from schem a
theory (e.g. Schm idt, 1982) and the speci® city of learn-
ing hypothesis (e.g. Proteau, 1992), to exem plify the
problem s with traditional theoretical explanations for
m otor learning.
The invariant relative timing hypothesis. Gentner
(1987) has called into question the key notion of stored
invariants of a given m ovem ent class. For exam ple, he
has suggested that, because the tim ing sequences of a
m ovem ent are uniquely individual, the use of m ean
data calculated across groups is inappropriate in pre-
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vious investigations of the invariant relative tim ing
hypothesis. A num ber of recent studies (e.g. Gentner,
1987; Burgess-Lim erick et al., 1992) have failed to
uphold the generalized m otor program m e position in
m ulti-degree-of-freedom activities. A good exam ple
was recently seen in a m anipulation of take-off condi-
tions for exp ert and novice triple jum pers. M araj et al.
(1993) demonstrated signi® cant non-proportional dif-
ferences in relative tim ing and distance during both the
¯ ight and stance phases, inconsistent w ith the existence
of a generalized motor programm e.
The variability of practice hypothesis. A further question
m ark hangs over this other m ain prediction of schem a
theory. T he sim plicity of this idea has attracted a great
deal of research attention (e.g. M oxley, 1979; Shapiro
and Schm idt, 1982; Lee et al., 1985), resulting in wide-
spread claim s for strong em pirical support. However,
an extensive review of the pertinent literature by Van
Rossum (1990) casted considerable doubt on the con-
sistency of support from investigations conducted over
the last decade. Follow ing the rejection of those studies
in which no im provem ent over practice was recorded,
only 12 adult and 11 child studies were considered to
actually test the original hypothesis. O f these, only two
adult and four child experim ents provided supportive
evidence for the hypothesis. Furtherm ore, although
schem a theory presents a clear prediction regarding the
effects of variable practice, it rem ains silent on the
exact scheduling of practice sessions to facilitate learn-
ing. That is, variable practice regim es m ay be scheduled
in different ways, depending on the level of random iza-
tion of practice conditions. Recent research on practice
organization has dem onstrated that random scheduling
of variable practice trials (high cognitive interference)
leads to better test performance than blocked schedul-
ing (low cognitive interference) in a variety of m otor
skills (e.g. M agill and H all, 1990; W risberg and Liu,
H andford et al.
1991). Horak (1992) argued that both the elaboration
and reconstruction accounts of this contextual inter-
ference effect pose problem s for schem a theory. It
would appear that the speci® c structure of the variable
practice regim e has a greater effect on test perform ance
than variability itself. T hat is, conditions which could
potentially disrupt the schema-form ation process seem
to be m ore advantageous to learning than those w hich
prom ote reliable schema developm ent.
The speci® city of learning hypothesis. In the traditional
m otor learning literature, it is not uncomm on to ® nd
references to the speci® city of learning hypothesis (for a
detailed review, see Proteau, 1992). This approach
states that the learner becom es increasingly dependent
on the speci® c sources of inform ation available during
practice. Removing or adding a source of inform ation
in transfer would, therefore, result in perform ance
decrem ents. H ence, the practice condition should
m atch as closely as possible the transfer condition (e.g.
the com petition environm ent). The im plication of such
a view is that of a rigid, non-¯ exible system that can
only act successfully when there is equivalence between
the available and exp ected inform ation. The notion of
speci® city of learning does not ® t with the principles
espoused by the variability of practice hypothesis.
Blocked practice would provide continuous availability
of the information that the speci® city of learning
hypothesis demands. However, such an approach to
practice organization contradicts the em phasis of the
variability of practice hypothesis on the random ization
of practice conditions.
In sum m ary, concerns for the com patibility between
inform ation-processing theories and the acquisition of
sport skill have emerged from philosophical, theoretical
and em pirical standpoints. M any of the traditional
principles of practice appear to be less than robust
despite their `gospel’ status in the traditional literature
base. This state of affairs recently led Glencross et al.
(1994, p. 33) to lament:
. . . the lack of advance in the understanding of motor skill
acquisition that nearly a quarter of a century of m otor con-
trol research has provided. Indeed a perusal of m ajor
contemporary textbooks on motor control and learning
(Magill, 1989; Schmidt, 1988) suggests that we have not
progressed m uch beyond the level of description in the
m otor learning ® eld so that more important tasks of under-
standing and explaining the learning process have seldom
been addressed.
It is clear that appropriately designed empirical work
is urgently required if we are to gain some insight into
the unique skill acquisition problem s generated by
sport. Future sport-related research should consider
novel, real-world, m ulti-degree-of-freedom tasks for
 Skill acquisition in sport
which m ovem ent patterns, rather than outcom e scores,
are m easured over extended periods of practice, reten-
tion and transfer trials (see Anderson and Sidaway,
1994, for a rare exam ple). T his requires an accom m o-
dating theoretical foundation that will allow for eco-
logically valid exp erim ental design and task selection,
one that will also perm it sport and exercise scientists
to pursue the interdisciplinary study of m ovem ent
co-ordination and skill acquisition. We argue that
such a theoretical paradigm exists in the ecological
app roach.
O verview of the ecological approach
T he philosophy of direct realism underpins the eco-
logical approach to m ovem ent co-ordination and skill
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acquisition (Carello et al., 1984; Turvey, 1990). D irect
realists do not subscribe to the view that biological
organism s need highly developed, detailed internal rep-
resentations to ascribe m eaning to the inform ation sup-
plied by the sensory system s (e.g. Turvey, 1990). T heir
fundam ental philosophy rejects the traditional tend-
ency to conceptualize the m ind from a non-m aterialist
perspective. The traditional theories of m otor learning
and control that idealize the m ind as a kind of em -
powering com puter tend to neglect the role of the
environm ent in shaping actions. Actions may be best
understood as a highly specialized relationship between
a biological organism and its speci® c environm ental
habitat. T he ecological approach is less focused on
the internalized knowledge structures or executive
regulators which form an integral part of traditional
inform ation-processing theories. According to ecolog-
ical theorists, the study of the relationship between per-
ception and action should be aim ed at `. . . phenom ena
within the organism - environm ent synergy rather than
within the organism per se’ (Beek and M eijer, 1988,
p. 160). In the words of Kugler and Turvey (1987,
p. xii):
Ecological Science, in its broadest sense, is a multi-
disciplinary approach to the study of living systems, their
environm ents and the reciprocity that has evolved between
the two . . . Ecological Psychology . . . [emphasizes] the
study of information transactions between living systems
and their environments, especially as they pertain to per-
ceiving situations of signi® cance to planning and executing
of purposes activated in an environment.
A system s perspective is emphasized. Ideas from
m odern scienti® c paradigm s such as chaos theory and
non-linear dynam ics have been integrated with theoret-
ical developm ents in physics, chem istry, biology and
m athematics to re-shape our understanding of the
function of the perceptual systems and m ovem ent sys-
625
tem s in biological organism s (see Beek and M eijer,
1988; D avids et al., 1994). Michaels and Beek (1995)
propose that a com m on feature of the theoretical
approaches under the ecological um brella is that they
emphasize the `circular relations’ that exist between the
perceptual system s and the m ovement system s. They
argue that perceptual information, in the form of
energy ¯ ow s, can constrain the co-ordinated move-
m ents which emerge during functional, goal-directed
activity. Since perceptual inform ation is also created by
the speci® c m ovem ents of the perform er, it can be used
to `guide’ the evolving dynam ics of the neurom uscular
system towards the m ost adaptable pattern necessary
for successful task execution. The overarching in¯ uence
of the ideas of Bernstein (1967) on the fundam ental
problem of the regulation of the biom echanical sys-
tem ’s degrees of freedom , and of Gibson (1979) on the
direct perception of inform ation for on-line m ovem ent
regulation, have been well docum ented in the literature
(see Turvey, 1990, for a detailed review).
Direct perception
D irect perception theorists argue that the environm ent
is constituted of a set of affordances (opportunities for
action) that are speci® ed by the invariant energy pat-
terns available to be picked up by, for exam ple, the
sm art (purpose-designed) perceptual m echanism s of
the sport performer. These invariants act as inform a-
tion which is speci® c to the environm ent. Gibson’s
(1979) view of affordance argues that the environm ent
is described in `perform er-relevant’ terms of capacity
for activity or action possibilities. T his inform ation m ay
be speci® ed directly by the structure of the optic array
(Fitch and Turvey, 1977; Fow ler and Turvey, 1978).
For exam ple, as a basketball player dribbles a ball, the
distribution of light energy is lawfully patterned as it is
re¯ ected from the surrounding surfaces (opponents’
shirts, ball, backboard, etc.). T he intensity, wavelength
and phase of the light are speci® c to the properties of
the re¯ ecting surface (slant, texture and colour) w ithin
the speci® c circum stances created by the perform er-
environm ent interaction. The generation of a unique
and invariant optical ¯ ow speci® es the player’s forward
m otion and rate of approach and, consequently, the
affordance of an interception by an opponent.
Such a conceptualization provides the basis for direct
control of action. For exam ple, in relation to the tim ing
of interceptive actions, Lee (1976) demonstrated that
inform ation from the optic array, in the form of optic
variables such as `tau’ (the inverse of the relative rate of
dilation of the im age of an approaching object on the
perceiver’s retina), can be used to specify directly the
rem aining time-to-contact between an observer and
an approaching object (tau-m argin). Although Wann
 626
(1996) has raised som e im portant questions regarding
the data from studies of the tau-m argin during natural
tasks, his proposal that the j ratio (or the proportionate
relationship between the instantaneous distance of an
approaching object and its start position) be considered
as, at least, a viable alternative to the tau-m argin for
tim ing control, does not invalidate the principle of the
optical speci® cation of action. Theoretically, the tim ing
of interceptive actions such as running to step on a
surface or punching a ball m ay be precisely and directly
geared to critical values of the tau-margin (see Lee et
al., 1982, 1983). Sim ple laws of control m ay be derived
to describe the interactions between a perform er and
the environm ent (Warren, 1990; Bootsm a and Peper,
1992). C om putational accounts of tim ing behaviour
involve m emorial representations of physical properties
(e.g. object size, distance, velocity) gained in sim ilar
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instances from the past experiences of the perform er
(W illiam s et al., 1992). T hese ideas have been regarded
as unnecessarily com plex and prone to errors in judge-
m ent (Lee, 1980). Furtherm ore, som e evidence sug-
gests that hum ans prefer to constrain action through
optic variables rather than physical variables (e.g. Todd,
1981).
However, the role of tau in constraining perception-
action coupling during the acquisition of skills is as yet
unclear. Bootsm a et al. (1991) chose to address this
issue using a table tennis forehand drive, which
required subjects to strike balls as quickly and accu-
rately as possible onto a target positioned on the
opposite side of a table tennis net. Two groups of inex-
perienced subjects received either static training, where
the ball was suspended in an airstream , or dynamic
training using a moving ball feed. The dynamic training
group had tim e-to-contact inform ation available during
the learning period, which was produced by the relative
rate of expansion of the retinal im age of the oncoming
ball. After 1600 practice trials over a 4-day period, both
groups were shown to have im proved when transferred
to a dynam ic test. Although the static training group
developed a stronger consistency in initiation point of
the drive, this did not lead to a m ore consistent location
of bat- ball contact. The im portant point here is that
control of the bat- ball contact, shown to be the m ost
im portant determ inant of success in expert perform -
ance of m any striking tasks, was not achieved through
the strategy of developing a highly consistent m ove-
m ent pattern, as proponents of an inform ation-process-
ing approach would suggest (Fig. 1a). T his ® nding is
further supported by the variability in acceleration pro-
® les following the training period (Fig. 1b). From Fig.
1b it is apparent that the funnel-like control strategy
identi® ed in previous work w ith exp ert perform ers (e.g.
Bootsm a and Van W ieringen, 1990) was evident during
the learning phase. However, strictly speaking, the lack
H andford et al.
of an interaction between the type of training (w ith and
without a dilating im age of an approaching ball) and
perform ance accuracy, and the kinematic pro® le of
action in pre- and post-training tests, did not statis-
tically support the proposal that tim e-to-contact infor-
m ation is im portant during the learning of interceptive
actions. Enough additional data from the study sug-
gests that further investigations are warranted on the
acquisition of extrinsic tim ing behaviour from the
action system s perspective. For exam ple, there is som e
evidence that training in dynamic com pared to static
conditions engendered differential developm ent of the
coupling between perception and action system s.
Dynamical systems theor y
The dynam ical systems approach to m otor co-
ordination has also gained increasing popularity w ithin
the ecological cam p during the last decade. T he theo-
retical basis of this perspective is that the hum an bio-
m echanical system m ay be m odelled as a com plex,
dynam ical system (e.g. W illiam s et al., in press). Com -
plex system s in nature exhibit m any fundam ental
attributes, including: m any independent degrees of
freedom (rough ly com ponent parts) which are free to
vary; m any different levels to the system ; non-linearity
of behavioural output; a capacity for stable and un-
stable patterned relationships between parts of the sys-
tem (i.e. co-ordinated states) to em erge through system
self-organization; and the ability of subsystem com po-
nents to constrain the behaviour of other subsystem s
(for detailed reviews, see Yates, 1979; Kugler and
Turvey, 1987; K auffm ann, 1993; C lark, 1995; Kelso,
1995). How order em erges in the behaviour of com-
plex, dynam ical system s is the fundam ental problem
for scientists studying natural phenom ena within this
fram ework of analysis. It is worth noting how, in the
area of m otor behaviour, this issue has been encapsu-
lated in what has becom e known as Bernstein’s (1967)
degrees-of-freedom problem . Bernstein’s sem inal de® -
nition of m ovem ent co-ordination neatly captures the
fundam ental problem for the ecological group. Co-
ordination is viewed as `the process of m astering redun-
dant degrees of freedom of the m oving organ, in other
words its conversion to a controllable system ’ (Bern-
stein, 1967, p. 127).
A wonderful description of dynam ical system s theory
has been provided by the theoretical biologist Stuart
Kauffm ann (1993). H ere we provide a sum mary of his
outline, w hich is related to the co-ordination problem
in hum an m ovem ent behaviour. T hink of an exam ple of
a highly integrated, dynam ical system in nature. Im ag-
ine the dif® culty in describing its behaviour at any one
tim e. H ow could it be done? A mathem atically rigorous
way is to break down the integrated system into its n
 Skill acquisition in sport 627

(a) Pre-test Post-test

1.5 1.5
Contact Contact

1.0 1.0
Position (m)

Position (m)
0.5 0.5

0 0

± 0.5 ± 0.5
± 200 ± 150 ± 100 ± 50 0 50 ± 200 ± 150 ± 100 ± 50 0 50
Time (ms) Time (ms)

(b) Pre-test Post-test

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150 150
Contact Contact

100 100
Acceleration (m s± 2)
Acceleration (m s± 2)

50 50

0 0

± 50 ± 50
± 200 ± 150 ± 100 ± 50 0 50 ± 200 ± 150 ± 100 ± 50 0 50
Time (ms) Time (ms)

F igure 1 Typical position (a) and acceleration (b) traces demonstrating variable movement patterns for subjects in the group
learning in static training conditions. Reprinted with permission from Bootsm a et al. (1991).

com ponent parts and to plot the system ’s behaviour as
it changes over tim e - yielding an n-dim ensional state
space. T hat is, over one sm all period of time, the n
com ponents of the system can all change in value, to a
greater or lesser extent. A picture em erges of a system
with its m icrocom ponents all capable of increm ental
change. T he description is of a system w hich typically
¯ ows slowly through the state space com posed of all its
possible coordinate points. It you join the lines between
the coordinate points (rather like a child’s join-the-dots
picture book), the system provides a trajectory which
describes its behaviour in the form of a ¯ ow. T he trajec-
tor y that a system could take is entirely selected by a
num ber of key constraints (environm ental and internal)
outlined in the next section. N ow im ag ine the state
space area that the system could ¯ ow around as a topo-
logical landscape (workspace) with rocky peaks and
smooth hollow s (see Fig. 2). T he hollow s are sm all
regions which the system could eventually settle into,
som ewhat like a m arble rolling around an ashtray. The
rugged regions are unstable and dif® cult for
the ¯ owing system to ® nd a lasting foothold. The
workspace for a dynam ical system only ever offers tem-
porary stability at most. These regions of tem porary
stability are known as `attractors’ in the m athem atical
language of dynam ical system s theor y. Attractors repre-
sent system states in which com ponent parts are
brought into relation w ith each other. At any instant, a
dynam ical system is either tem porarily settled into an
attractor or is ¯ ow ing to an attractor.
If one im ag ines the hum an body as a system w ith n
coordinates that are capable of changing in value over
tim e, then the attractors are rough ly equivalent to a
state of co-ordination between the parts of the body
(Kelso and D ing, 1993). T he organizational state of the
body can be m ore sim ply described by an `order
param eter’ when it has ¯ owed to an attractor point.
Order param eters describe the structural organization
 628 H andford et al.

Collective
variable

Collective
variable
lines

Time
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Stability
(depth)

F igure 2 A graphic illustration of the perceptual- motor workspace as a dynamical landscape. The deep regions represent
attractor states in which the system achieves co-ordination, whereas more shallow regions are less stable. Reprinted with
permission from Thelen (1995a).

of a com plex system ; for exam ple, the relative phasing
of potential and kinetic energy in the lim bs during dif-
ferent types of locom otion. O rder param eters are key
variables which are essential for capturing the co-
ordination or collectivity in a dynam ical system (Kelso,
1995).
How does the system `decide’ which attractor to ¯ ow
onto during its journey? This is a job for the `control
param eters’ . Changes in control param eters, like en-
vironm ental inform ation or oscillator y frequency of
lim b segm ents, can lead to signi® cant changes in the
overall pattern of the dynam ical system . T his is why
they have been termed `control parameters’ (Haken
and Wunderlin, 1990). The function of control para-
m eters is to `move’ the system through its many differ-
ent states. Som etim es a sm all change in a critical
control param eter, such as the oscillatory frequency of
the lim bs during locom otion, has little effect on an
order parameter, perhaps described by the phasing of
potential and kinetic energy during walking and run-
ning. However, there com es a point (actually called a
`bifurcation point’ ) when a sm all change in the control
variable will specify a dram atic shift in the order para-
m eter, w ith signi® cant consequences for the system
state. For instance, in the locom otion exam ple, the
system may change autonom ously from an attractor
describing walking to an attractor for running as a
function of the injection of kinetic energy into the lim bs
for locom otion. T his is known as a `phase transition’
and describes how self-organization occurs in living
system s. A nice analogy for understanding the relation-
ship between control and order param eters has been
 Skill acquisition in sport
provided by Roberton (1993). She argues that in the
dynam ical system s approach, qualitative change in
m otor patterns:
. . . is seen as a post hoc result of change in another vari-
able, known in dynamical systems parlance as a `control
param eter’ . . . (the latter is sim ilar in concept to an
`independent variable’ except that nature has no scientist
manipulating the control parameter). When scaled past
some critical value, the control parameter causes reorgan-
isation of the dependent variable (known as the essential
or collective variable) . . . An everyday example is the
changes that occur in the state of H 2 O molecules as tem-
perature is increased: the macro `states’ shown by m ol-
ecules form a `developmental sequence’ from ice to water
to steam. No pre-program med directions, either genetic or
com puted, are contained in the tem perature- m olecule sys-
tem; yet, the changes are observable, predictable and
ordered (Roberton, 1993, p. 97).
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M ovem ent perform ance m ay be characterized as the
body (conceptualized as a dynam ical system) searching
for relevant states of co-ordination as it engages in
functional activity. Skill acquisition m ay, therefore, be
viewed as a process of `hollowing’ out a functionally
appropriate attractor well into which the system can
settle during a task or activity. T hat is, it m ay be a pro-
cess of m aking a tem porary state of co-ordination m ore
resistant to the environmental forces which could per-
turb the stability of the system . In other words, learning
is the process of enhancing the tem porary organization
of the system when it has found a useful niche in the
landscape to settle into (e.g. Zanone and K elso, 1994).
Such a description should m ake it clear that attractor
wells for m ovements do not need to be stored or sym -
bolically represented in the higher centres of the CN S.
Attractors are irresistible as they evolve over tim e as a
consequence of the constraints on the system behaviour
in any given context. If the constraints were different,
the attractors would be located in a different region of
the landscape.
Im plications of the ecological approach for
spor t and exercise scientists
Variability
Traditional m otor behaviour theories are based on the
idea of the storage of invariant characteristics of m ove-
m ents within the CN S to em phasize the order and
regularity in m ovements. For exam ple, im plicit in the
generalized m otor program m e concept is the notion
that certain relative features of a movem ent pattern
rem ain invariant despite changes in absolute param eter
values. This has resulted in a tendency to view variabil-
ity in observed or m easured m ovem ent outcom e as a
629
negative feature of skill acquisition. Response variabil-
ity, usually exp ressed as the standard deviation of the
distribution m ean of a relevant variable, is often inter-
preted as a re¯ ection of the level of `noise’ in the system
(see K elso, 1992). As such, it is thought to be a good
indication of m otor program m e developm ent and sys-
tem stability (Schm idt et al., 1990). It follows that a
highly variable m ovem ent pattern is undesirable at
all stages of learning. T he goal of successful skill
acquisition program m es, whether im plicit or explicit, is
believed to be the reduction, and ultim ately the elim -
ination, of system noise. D espite the intuitive appeal of
this line of reasoning for sports skill acquisition, this
view of perform ance variability has only been substan-
tiated for tasks in w hich a reduction in m ovem ent vari-
ability is essentially the goal. In tasks involving m ultiple
degrees of freedom w ithin a dynam ic environm ental
context, it has been shown that an initial rigid coupling
between system com ponents gives way to a m ore ¯ ex-
ible regim e characterized by an increased variability in
joint m otion (Vereijken et al., 1992). From this stand-
point, variability m ay be indicative of a functional level
of independence between com ponents of the body that
all contribute towards the achievem ent of a task goal.
Therefore, a m ore appropriate line of investigation for
m otor control theorists interested in sport would be a
redirection of attention towards the variability in m ove-
m ent dynam ics w hich are responsible for task out-
com es (Newell and C orcos, 1993).
A functional role for a control strategy emphasizing
adaptive variability in sport was identi® ed earlier in the
context of tim e-to-contact and the table tennis study of
Bootsm a et al. (1991). Sim ilar exam ples demonstrate
variability in backswing duration of exp erienced ® eld
hockey players (Burgess-Lim erick et al., 1991) and,
m ore recently, the volleyball spike (Sardinha and
Bootsm a, 1993). In that study, it was noted how highly
variable inter-trial m easurem ents of hand and shoulder
velocity, acceleration and phase durations at the start of
the action were show n to end with extrem ely consistent
values at the all im portant point of hand- ball contact.
Bootsm a and Peper (1992) have termed this form of
control strategy `funnel-shaped’ . T hese ® ndings appear
to support the notion of a bandwidth for variability,
outside of which the system becom es unstable or settles
into a different attractor state. The suggestion is that
individuals involved in skill acquisition should be more
or less tolerant of variable m ovem ent patterns depend-
ing on the task at hand. Latash (1993) discussed in
som e detail a dynam ic pattern generation approach to
such variability, which offers a straightforward explana-
tion based on the notion that working conditions can
never be exactly reproduced because of an under-
lying instability of the control system (e.g. neural and
m echanical structures). As a consequence, m ovem ent
 630 H andford et al.

patterns produced in any particular task are always
different, even if initial external constraints can be
reproduced exactly.
W hat are the consequences of viewing variability not
as a peripheral lim iting factor, but as an inherent deter-
m inative property of the dynam ical action system ? T he
m essage for sport and exercise scientists seem s to be:
value it! If we accept that learning is the process of
continually searching for regions of stability or attrac-
tion within the geom etric layout of an individual’s
workspace, variability in m ovem ent dynam ics enhances
the search process. To test the robustness of a possible
task solution, the perform er m ust be allowed to m anip-
ulate the controlling variables, thus disrupting the sta-
bility of the attractor state, causing it to adopt a new
state. In this way, perform ance variability takes on a
constructive role in the control and self-orga nization of
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texts, a m ajor task is to discover the control param eters
which act to constrain the order parameters of the body
as a dynam ical system . This is not an easy task, given
the highly integrated nature of com plex system s. A
constraints-led explanation of skill learning and devel-
opment has enorm ous im plications for our current
understanding of these processes. For m otor behaviour
specialists, a radical im plication of the previous discus-
sion is that m ental states, ideas, perceptions, m em ories,
intentions, plans or program m es may be better con-
ceived not as ill-de® ned representations residing som e-
where in the CN S, but as dynam ic, self-organizing,
m acroscopic patterns form ed from the m olecular con-
stituents of the system during goal-directed activity
(Edelm an, 1992; K elso, 1995; Thelen, 1995b). In this
context, internal and external constraints are im portant
in¯ uences, shaping and guiding the co-ordination pat-

com plex system s (K elso and D ing, 1993). The learning

terns which em erge when an organism perform s
process m ay be characterized as the system undergoing
im portant functional and speci® c tasks in its natural
transition from one stable state to another. O bserva-
habitat. They are integral to descriptions of `order for
tions of variability in system behaviour m ay re¯ ect the
free’ in biological system s that need to m ove between
readiness of the system to change and m ay be exploited
m ultiple states of stability (Kauffm ann, 1993). The
by the coach (Clark, 1995). T herefore, variability in
m ovem ent patterns resulting from free exploration original stim ulus for the idea of constraints in the study
should be viewed as a very natural and necessary con- of m ovem ent co-ordination was proposed by N ewell
sequence of m ovem ent control and learning in som e (1986). He argued that the m ajor constraints are
skills. For skill acquisition, exploration - whether suc- organism ic, environmental and task-related, and that a
cessful or not (in term s of perform ance outcom e) - is triangulated effect guides the organization of the free
always useful in restructuring task solutions. Experi- variables of the neurom uscular system into an attractor
ence of what is incorrect is important to the discover y state during the course of goal-directed activity (see
of what is correct and is a vital com ponent in the Fig. 3).
learner’s exploration of the workspace. Equally, a lack Organismic constraints can be physical, m ental or
of any observable im provem ent in perform ance out- emotional. For sport perform ance, custom ary patterns
com e is not necessarily considered indicative of an of thinking, levels of practice or defects in the visual
absence of learning. It is for this reason that W hiting
et al. (1990) emphasized `behavioural potential’ in their
de® nition of m otor learning. F rom this perspective, the
aim of skill acquisition program m es should be to facili-
tate exploratory behaviour, not elim inate it. A m ajor
issue for em pirical effort is whether transitional peri-
ods, in which it has been well docum ented that the
system is at its m ost unstable, are rich phases for the
exp loration of m ovem ent pattern dynam ics. W ith this
in m ind, the structure of the exploration environm ent
now becom es a critical issue for the coach, teacher or
parent.

C onstraints on skill acquisition

In our earlier discussion of the component param eters
of a dynam ical system , we noted that a constraint
which changes in scale, leading to a qualitative change
in system dynam ics, is term ed a `control param eter’ . Figu re 3 How behaviour em erges as a result of the con-
For sport scientists adopting an ecological fram ework ¯ uence of constraints on the performer. Reprinted with per-
to m ake sense of m otor behaviour in speci® c sport con- mission from Newell (1986).
 Skill acquisition in sport
system can shape the way that individuals approach a
particular performance goal. Perhaps the m ost obvious
of these constraints refer to the physical dimensions of
the individual, such as height, weight and body propor-
tions. Such individual, and relatively unique, character-
istics represent resources to be exp loited or lim itations
that lead to speci® c adaptations by the perform er.
T hese constraints are often m anifest in the selection of
sporting activities by individuals: a speci® c position or
role in team sports or a particular event in athletics.
Kelso (1995) has argued that cognitive constraints,
such as intentions, m ay be the m ost in¯ uential of the
organism ic constraints on behaviour. Environmental
constraints on goal-directed behaviour are found in the
contexts of action. T hey can be particularized in the
form of energy ¯ ow s, such as visual and auditory infor-
m ation surrounding the perform er, or in the social con-
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texts of behaviour (e.g. C lark, 1995). An important
task for sport and exercise scientists is to develop an
understanding of environmental constraints and in par-
ticular the inform ation that is being m ade available to
the learner in different practice conditions. Prelim inary
® ndings from our exp eriments using the volleyball
serve appear to show that the inclusion or exclusion of
a sim ple source of optical information (an opposing
receiver) has substantial effects on target aim ing per-
form ance. Although there have been few experim ental
attem pts to m anipulate such variables, the physical
location of an act m ay also be considered to be a con-
straint on action. Consider the different m ovem ent
possibilities in accomplishing the sam e task perform ed
on land or on ice, or under the different gravitational
forces exerted in mid-air or in water (see Shik and
O rlovsky, 1976; Thelen, 1995a).
Although perform er- and environm ent-based con-
straints are less likely to ¯ uctuate signi® cantly in any
given task, the constraints associated with the task are
perhaps m ore obviously in¯ uenced through the inter-
vention of scientists and coaches. Task constraints
include the rules constraining spatial and tem poral pat-
terning of the m ovem ent dynamics during an activity
that m ay be open to interpretation, as in gym nastics,
diving or ice-skating. T he three-point boundary in
basketball provides a clear example of an im posed rule,
which, in interaction with organism ic and environ-
m ental constraints, in¯ uences the range of possible
m ovem ent solutions. In m ost cases, the perform er is
constrained to shoot using a high trajector y as the con-
straints do not afford a dunk! An im portant m essage
here is that individuals concerned with the acquisition
of skill should consider the manipulation of signi® cant
constraints to facilitate a desired response. For ex-
am ple, a soccer coach m ay guide the search for a m ove-
m ent solution by im posing a rule constraint that only
allow s shots from outside the penalty area. Sim ilarly,
631
changing the court dim ensions or net height in an
activity m ay constrain the range of possible m ovem ents
from side to side, or back to front, or from high to
low.
T he goal of the task, and im plem ents such as
raquets, bats and sticks, are also considered to be task
constraints. D uring goal-directed activities such as
sport, the achievem ent of a task goal remains para-
m ount. T he m otor behaviour of an individual organism
m ay vary, even within seemingly highly consistent
activities such as a gym nastic vault, a long jump
approach run or a golf putt, sim ply because the goals of
the perform er m ay var y from perform ance to perform -
ance. T he im position of constraints through instruc-
tions or goal-setting has been shown to in¯ uence the
interrelation between three fundam ental m ovem ent
param eters: speed, distance and accuracy (see Latash,
1993). This was necessarily accom panied by differing
levels of m ovem ent variability, w ith reproduction of
® nal position exhibiting less variability than m ovem ent
speed, w hich is, in turn, less variable than reproduction
of m ovement time. It seems logical that exp osure to a
m ore expansive workspace, through the variation of
task constraints, generates additional inform ation, per-
m itting a m ore extensive search and probing of states of
system stability. As a result, a m ore elaborate construc-
tion of the layout w ill be form ed offering the possibility
of m ultiple task solutions w hich characterizes the
behaviour of sports perform ers as adaptive com plex
system s. U sing this approach, it is possible to account
for im proved transfer perform ance following random -
ized variable practice (high contextual interference)
without recourse to traditional inform ation-processing
explanations (Newell and M cDonald, 1991).
Approaching practice in this way offers a structure
in which to de® ne the lim its and properties of the
perceptual- motor workspace with an understanding of
the inform ation being m ade available to the perform er.
Furtherm ore, it is possible to m ake decisions regarding
the transfer of skill learning in variable practice regim es
based on the compatibility of task constraints and
workspace topology (Newell and M cDonald, 1991).
From this perspective, practice is considered to be the
continuous search for solutions to a m ovement prob-
lem in a perceptual- m otor workspace, which is gen-
erated by the com bined constraints of the learner, the
environm ent and the task (Newell, 1986; M cD onald
et al., 1995). T he suggestion is that there are m any pos-
sible m ethods of discovering an appropriate solution to
any particular task. T he search process involves the
m odi® cation and perfection of movem ent solutions
from trial to trial without identical perform ance, a type
of `repetition without repetition’ (Bernstein, 1967;
Vereijken and W hiting, 1990).
 632
Recently, these argum ents have been allied to the
ideas of Edelm an (1992) on learning as selective pat-
tern form ation in the brain. A constraints-led perspect-
ive of learning indicates that, once a functional task
goal for a perform er has been speci® ed, then a process
of random exploration eventually results in an appro-
priate solution to the task, given the instantaneous
constraints on the individual. The emergence of a
m ovem ent pattern that succeeds in achieving a task
goal results in the strengthening of neural pathways
connecting different parts of the brain by a chem ical
neurotransmitter acting as a `value system’ . T he tem -
poral synchrony exhibited between the successful
achievem ent of a functional task goal, and the diffusion
of the neurotransm itter by the value system , facilitates
a pattern of neural connections as a neural attractor
state. T he `successful’ network pattern gains increas-
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ing strength as practice progresses, while other less
successful patterns stim ulated during the random
search are discarded. From this perspective, the self-
organizational process in skill acquisition m ay be con-
sidered as `selection under constraint’ (Thelen, 1995a).
Tur vey and Fitzpatrick (1993) suggest that the system
exp lores different states of co-ordination in attempting
to satisfy task constraints. For this reason, they argue
that the search process involves `chaos plus feedback’ .
T he explorator y process resem bles the determ inistic
randomness which de® nes a chaotic system , since there
are boundary lim its to the states of co-ordination which
can emerge under constraint.
However, the role of the coach or teacher is all
im portant as the learner searches the dynam ics of the
task. In the ecological view, the organization of practice
sessions becom es a m ethod by w hich environm ental
and task structure are m anipulated to channel the
search through the workspace. D irected coaching m ay
be de® ned as a very narrow search process, w hereas, at
the other extrem e, random unguided discovery learn-
ing theoretically encom passes the whole workspace.
H ighly directed coaching does not allow learners to
learn how to search. C om pletely random searching of
the workspace could be tim e-consum ing, possibly
unsafe and m ay lead to losses of con® dence and m oti-
vation in learners. An im portant role of the coach, from
this theoretical position, would be to support the search
process by manipulating constraints so that exploratory
activity occurs over an optim al area of the perceptual-
m otor workspace.
One important feature that em erges from this
approach is that the nature of the constraints which
interact to form the m ovem ent problem dictate that
each search, and eventually each solution, is individual-
speci® c. T he perform er has m any important sub-
system s (e.g. cognitive, emotional, perceptual, action)
which develop at different rates during the life-cycle
H andford et al.
and w hich are interconnected as a dynam ical system .
All subsystem s can constrain the global behaviour of
the system in a particular context. H owever, one or
m ore subsystem s are capable of acting as the executive
by providing the key control param eters to regulate
behaviour on speci® c occasions. For example, T helen
(1995a) has argued that the emergence of walking as
the dom inant form of locom otion in infants seem s to
be dependent on the developm ent of up to eight sub-
system s, nearly all of which are related to the processes
of perception and action. Because of the intertw ined
nature of these subsystem s of perform ance, the rate
at which one develops m ay lim it the progression of
locom otory skills in infants.
T here are a num ber of im portant im plications here
that are worth a brief m ention. First, this explanation
for the onset of infant walking exempli® es why it would
be theoretically and methodologically unsophisticated
for sport and exercise scientists to decouple the proces-
ses of perception and action in studying sport-related
m ovem ents. Secondly, it appears that a constraints-
led perspective suggests that the traditional distinction
between phylogenetic and ontogenetic skills should be
considered theoretically irrelevant (Newell and Van
Em m erik, 1990). T hat is, an understanding of the con-
straints surrounding the learner (at w hatever stage of
the hum an life-cycle) rem ains param ount and the
identi® cation of the key constraints w hich act as `rate
lim iters’ (Thelen, 1995a) is a m ajor task for sports
pedagogists. Finally, in the context of sport, it is worth
investigating how a constraints-led theoretical perspect-
ive could provide a useful explanation for the `gam es
for understanding’ approach (Thorpe et al., 1986),
which has gained m uch recent recognition as a
pedagogical approach. D iscovery learning appears to
underpin the success of the m ethod but it has never
been m ade clear exactly how the strategy works.
Although there have been som e attem pts to embed the
strategy within a cognitive theoretical fram ework, it is
unclear whether learning w ith this m ethod is believed
to aid the developm ent of an internalized knowledge
structure (see Turner, 1996). From a constraints-led,
dynam ical approach, the m anipulations m ade by the
teacher or coach can be categorized as task constraints
which in¯ uence the self-orga nization of the m otor sys-
tem into functionally relevant attractor states. N ewell
(1986) proposed that constraints shape the patterns
form ed in the hum an system to perform a m ovem ent
task, not by determ ining the instructions to achieve a
speci® c behaviour, but by elim inating all but the m ost
functional solutions to a problem . The m anipulation of
constraints could also underpin the developm ent of
tactical and strategic skills in sport; there is a need for
empirical research on the question of whether the
 Skill acquisition in sport
`gam es for understanding’ approach should be sub-
sum ed into the dynam ical theoretical fram ework.
A developmental perspective
T he cognitive emphasis on the stages of learning con-
struct focuses almost exclusively on the development of
a prescription for m ovem ent. We highlighted earlier
that, for coaches and teachers, this has m eant an
approach to m otor skill acquisition and m otor develop-
m ent that is based on an evaluation of perform ance
outcom e m easures, such as error, speed and response
m agnitude (Schm idt, 1988). However, the theoretical
basis of the ecological approach affords a reassessm ent
of learning and presents a very different viewpoint. The
acquisition of skilled m ovem ent describes the naviga-
tion of the system through `co-ordination’ , `control’
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and `skill’ as it m oves from a state of com petition
between task demands and existing dynam ics towards a
state of co-operation.
C o-ordina tion. Early in learning, the perform er’s prob-
lem is to identify and establish basic and broad rela-
tionships am ong the com ponents of the dynam ical
system , assem bling the appropriate relative m otions
am ong body parts in the construction of a goal-directed
action. To achieve this task, the perform er starts by
exp loring the perceptual- m otor workspace in which the
interaction w ith im portant environm ental objects and
surfaces takes place. This involves a perceptual search
for the borders of regions of attraction of equilibrium in
an attem pt to reveal the geom etric form of the work-
space as the existing dynamics com pete with the
demands of the task. The continuous collapse and
rebuilding of unstable regions is a sign of early learning
and often manifests itself in unpredictable and dra-
m atic shifts in m ovem ent form (Newell, 1985; Scully
and N ewell, 1985; N ewell et al., 1989; Schm idt et al.,
1992). T he abruptness of the change m ay be dependent
on the degree of similarity between task demands and
the existing co-ordination dynam ics. If the relationship
is very close, the existing attractor m ay require re-
param eterization and the num ber of attractor states
does not increase. Equally, a m ore continuous adapta-
tion m ay be exhibited as an existing attractor which
is destabilized and absorbed into the new, m ore
functional system state. Alternatively, com pletely new
attractor states m ay be developed, increasing the num -
ber of stable states and causing an abrupt change
in m ovem ent pattern (Zanone and Kelso, 1994). This
initial process m ay be viewed as a re¯ ection of the
learner’s quest for `soft’ assem bly of body segm ents in
such a way that an approxim ate (em ergency) solution
to the m ovem ent problem is realized.
633
T he co-ordination stage is characterized by the tem -
porary ® xation or freezing of the degrees of freedom as
a m eans of reducing the control problem, but w ith the
consequence that movem ent around key joints tends to
be severely lim ited. This feature of novice perform -
ance has been identi® ed in tasks such as pistol-aim ing
(Arutyunyan et al., 1968, 1969), dart throwing (M c-
D onald et al., 1989), handwriting (Newell and Van
Em m erik, 1989), simulated skiing (Vereijken, 1991;
Vereijken et al., 1992) and soccer kicking (Anderson
and Sidaway, 1994). The rigid and in¯ exible function-
ing of novice perform ers is obvious in the early stages
of learning of m any highly dynam ic m ovem ents, such
as the tennis serve or volleyball spike, w hich require the
organization of m ultiple degrees of freedom . N ewell
and McD onald (1994) suggest that the severity of
freezing is highly dependent on the task and the indi-
vidual perform er and, as such, can be considered to
re¯ ect, at a behavioural level, initial conditions. An
additional solution in this early stage m ay be to rigidly
couple m ultiple degrees of freedom into close phase
relations, in an attem pt to reduce control to a sm aller
num ber of `virtual’ degrees of freedom (Bernstein,
1967). The notion of the co-ordinative structure sug-
gests that m uscle collectives are organized into em er-
gent and dynam ic functional units, the behaviour of
which is constrained by the im m ediate environm ental
demands. As a result, each co-ordinative structure per-
form s in an activity-speci® c m anner, w ith sets of co-
ordinative structures com bining to govern sequences of
m ovem ent. C o-ordinative structures are tuned to func-
tion speci® cally in each unique task by environm ental
inform ation. T he hum an body m ay be conceived of as a
dynam ical system com posed of a series of functional
m uscle groupings lawfully constrained by inform ation
in the form of energy ¯ ow ing freely through the en-
vironm ent (Kugler, 1986). In som e activities, an exten-
sion of this control m ethod is fundam ental to the
developm ent of m ovem ent patterns in the search for
optimal organization. Swim m ing provides an excellent
exam ple, where the independent actions of arm stroke
and leg kick are required to be tem porally linked either
in-phase (breaststroke and butter¯ y) or anti-phase
(freestyle and backstroke). C oncom itantly, the arm
stroke and leg kick are also coupled together into addi-
tional phase relations thereby further reducing the con-
trol problem . In support of this notion, Van Ingen
Schenau (1989) demonstrated the unique action of
bi-articular m uscles in the activities of jum ping and
cycling. Evidence was presented to suggest that these
structures act naturally to im pose anatom ical con-
straints that optim ize co-ordination of the segm ents in
these movem ents. These exam ples show how a proper
relation am ong the m any degrees of freedom m ay be
achieved through self-organization governed by sim ple
 634
physical principles (Turvey, 1990). The assem bly of
these temporary co-ordinative structures, leaving only a
lim ited num ber of degrees of freedom unconstrained
by m uscle linkages, is the acquisition of `co-
ordination’ .
W hat is proposed here is in sharp contrast to tradi-
tional approaches to early learning, which em phasize
verbalization, active cognition and a dependency on
feedback from external agents such as a coach. The
proposition is that the learner should be free to explore
system degrees of freedom rather than being shackled
by what m ay be arti® cial constraints im posed by a text-
book approach. As we suggested earlier, the role of the
coach in this context is to ensure the correct `discovery
environm ent’ , through the m anipulation of task and
environm ental constraints in an attem pt to guide
exp loration of the dynam ics of the workspace. In this
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way, the set of possible solutions to a m ovem ent prob-
lem is lim ited by the dim ensions of the workspace
im posed by the coach. If the boundaries of the work-
space are too tightly constrained, regions of stability
m ay be dif® cult to discover. Sim ilarly, if the lim its are
too broad, then m ultiple regions of stability m ay con-
tinually em erge and disappear as the learner searches
inde® nitely. The skill of the coach at this stage is to
constrain the workspace appropriately based on a
knowledge of the param eters which in¯ uence success-
ful co-ordination. The suggestion is that the interaction
between coach and perform er is m inim ized in the ver y
early stages of learning so that the true dynam ics
(im portant controlling variables) of the m ovem ent are
revealed through discovery. C oach inter vention at this
stage m ay well assist in the short-term assem bly of co-
ordinative structures as tem porar y solutions, but the
ongoing process of establishing control m ay be delayed
as a result of inappropriate co-ordination early on. In
other words, the learner m ay com e to rely on these
tem porar y solutions for im mediate perform ance in spe-
ci® c environm ents, but the unique relationships which
in¯ uence long-term perform ance transfer to a variety of
novel experiences will not be established early in learn-
ing. Recently, there has been increasing recognition of
the signi® cance of this type of strategy in the coaching
process. For exam ple, D avids and H andford (1994)
have advocated a `hands-off ’ approach to coaching
based on the idea of m anipulating constraints. Thorpe
(1996) has also warned that coaches must learn when
to rem ain `silent’ and has term ed the over-reliance of
athletes on coaches for solutions to perform ance prob-
lem s, `coach dependency’ .
Support for this perspective is offered by a recent
study that explored the resistance to stress of acquired
golf-putting skills (M asters, 1992). Evidence was pre-
sented showing that a skill acquired in a discovery
learning environm ent was less likely to fail under pres-
H andford et al.
sure than one acquired through explicit know ledge. An
ecological interpretation of these ® ndings would sug-
gest that the m ost stable dynam ics of the skill were
revealed through discovery learning. This approach to
skill acquisition m ay have profound im plications for the
prevention of long-term accum ulative injuries in sport,
which are thought to result from attempts to acquire
techniques early in learning which are often anatom ic-
ally inappropriate for particular individuals. The
current debate on fast-bowling techniques in cricket
provides a clear exam ple in this context (e.g. see Elliott
et al., 1992).
Control. O nce the relationships between body parts
and the co-ordination of basic actions with environ-
m ental objects and surfaces have been established, the
perform er is faced with the challenge of discovering the
laws which govern their control. M ore speci® cally, the
search is for a tighter coupling between body segm ent
relations, previously assem bled, and the force-related
com ponents which are responsible for m ovem ent. T his
now requires the perform er to becom e perceptually
tuned to the consequences of different com binations of
these features (control variables) to channel the search
through the dynam ics of the m ovem ent (Fow ler and
Turvey, 1978). E ach exp loration of the workspace has
perceptual consequences associated with it, and these
are thought to act to tune the action system s directly
until the desired kinem atic outcom es are attained and
the set of task constraints is satis® ed (see Fitch et al.,
1982). A change in inform ation source towards higher-
order derivatives of positional inform ation, such as
velocity and acceleration, is thought to occur at this
stage (see F uchs, 1962; Schmidt, 1987; Cox, 1991),
accom panied by a shift internally through large individ-
ual differences in anatom ical and m orphological con-
straints (Scully and N ewell, 1985).
Exploration of this kind is only possible if the co-
ordinative structures that were assem bled in early
learning are progressively released and allowed to
reform into different con® gurations. T his is character-
ized by the unfreezing of degrees of freedom such that
they are re-constrained by a variable of the perform er-
environm ent system rather than a m uscle- joint synergy.
Perceptual inform ation generated by m ovem ent in
the environm ent becom es critical as the perform er
attem pts to control the newly released degrees of free-
dom . As the learner becom es increasingly tuned to the
perceptual consequences of particular m ovem ents, and
their relationship with stable regions of attraction,
greater control over degrees of freedom is tem porarily
surrendered to certain variables speci® ed by environ-
m ental inform ation (e.g. tau). In this way, the various
constraints form ulate a co-ordinative structure which is
task-speci® c and governed directly by perceptual infor-
 Skill acquisition in sport
m ation, hence perception and action are interfaced.
C ontrol over m ovem ent using only a sm all num ber of
environm entally speci® ed param eters is not capacity-
lim ited and so resolves the storage and novelty prob-
lem s haunting m ore traditional approaches. T here is
som e evidence to suggest that this increase in the num -
ber of independently controlled degrees of freedom
exh ibits directional trends. The studies on handwriting,
dart throw ing and soccer kicking reported that, as
learning progressed, there appeared to be a shift in con-
trol from proxim al to distal segm ents. This m ay be
considered an indication of control exerted at the level
of task space rather than at the level of body space. In
other words, as control develops, exploration at the
performer- task interface is preferred, because the tra-
jectory of this `working point’ is vital for successful
execution of the task at hand (Latash, 1993). Bernstein
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(1967) offers a com plem entar y exp lanation which
assum es that there is som e biomechanical advantage to
be gained from such a directional change in co-
ordination. Indeed, actions sim ilar to jum ping and
throwing that require m axim um velocity of the extrem -
ities, necessarily dictate that segments with relatively
large m om ents of inertia begin m ovem ent ® rst, with
low inertial segm ents moving later and at higher angu-
lar velocities (Van Ingen Schenau, 1989).
It is likely that such a change of control strategy in
favour of external param eters is not perm anent and
m ay regress, if the m otor problem becom es acute as a
result of unreliable environmental information; for
exam ple, poor lighting conditions during a cricket or
tennis m atch, a slippery running surface, or the erratic
¯ ight path of a ¯ oating volleyball serve. Fluctuations in
em otional states, such as anxiety and arousal, have also
been shown to lead to dim inished accuracy of inform a-
tion detection (Bootsm a et al., 1992). Weinberg and
H unt (1976) reported a reduction of sequential m uscle
activity in favour of an energy-expensive, inhibitive
co-contraction of agonists and antagonists in highly
anxious throwers. Increases in muscle tension m ay be
interpreted as efforts to re-freeze degrees of freedom
and to reorganize co-ordinative structures in an
attem pt to regain control. In a later study, Beuter and
D uda (1985) considered the stepping perform ance of
young m ales under low and high arousal conditions.
Exam ination of selected kinematic characteristics
revealed striking inter- and intra-individual differences
in the patterns of ankle co-ordination between arousal
conditions, w hile hip and knee joint dynam ics
rem ained relatively stable. It was concluded that the
proxim al (ankle) joint appeared to be subjected to a
different set of dynam ical rules, which are apparently
in¯ uenced by arousal, thus supporting the regression
hypothesis. Further evidence for the successful re-
635
organization of co-ordinative structures is provided in
the rehabilitation of patients following stroke (Ada
et al., 1993). Im provem ents in standing ability were
re¯ ected in transform ations from irregular m ultiple-
peak to sm ooth single-peak angular velocity pro® les of
the knee and hip after only 29 days of m ovem ent
rehabilitation.
T he interpretation offered here differs considerably
from the traditional approach, which proposes that an
increase in the accuracy, consistency and ef® ciency of
actions is a result of a m ore elaborate and re® ned pre-
scription for movem ent. Here the role of the coach is to
encourage the perform er to becom e aware of the per-
ceptual consequences (visual, kinaesthetic and audi-
tory) of m ovem ent w ithout arti® cially constraining the
degrees of freedom . To be effective, coaches and teach-
ers should seek an understanding of the links between
actions and possible controlling variables in the sport
environm ent, and consider how to introduce these rela-
tionships through appropriate m anipulation of con-
straints and practice design. That is, to assist in the
releasing process, the coach m ust provide the per-
form er with opportunities to explore further their
perceptual- motor workspace. This will not happen if
the perform er is suppressed into strict com pliance with
a particular m ovem ent pattern, so that the laws of
learning are explicitly de® ned and not discovered
(Shaw and Alley, 1985).
G iven the in¯ uential role of inform ation relating to
m ovem ent kinem atics and kinetics, it would appear
that augm ented feedback concerning time-displace-
m ent, joint angles, lim b velocity and acceleration is
likely to be of some bene® t to the learner at this stage.
This view has recently been supported by a renewed
research interest in the area pioneered by N ewell and
colleagues (Newell and Walter, 1981; N ewell et al.,
1985; N ewell and Carlton, 1987). H owever, a number
of lim itations, including the use of sim ple m ovements
and an absence of any transfer or retention tests,
restrict the application of these ® ndings to sport skill
acquisition (see Schm idt and Young, 1991). M ore
recently, a number of investigations using m ulti-degree-
of-freedom , sport-related activities have also dem on-
strated an enhanced perform ance effect following
feedback of this nature (H atze, 1976; Ayalan and Ben-
Siva, 1987; Sanderson and Cavanagh, 1990; Broker
et al., 1993; M endoza and Scholhorn, 1993). Unfortu-
nately, m ost of these studies were aim ed at per-
form ance optim ization rather than feedback, and are
consequently lim ited by sim ilar design lim itations. The
potential of this avenue of investigation is unclear at the
present tim e. However, the ® ndings of Vereijken et al.
(1992) suggest that it m ay be m ore bene® cial for the
 636
coach or researcher to seek a source of feedback infor-
m ation that re¯ ects m ore closely the essential relation-
ships between perform er, environment and task.
Skill. W hen the laws which govern control have been
discovered, the problem for the learner is to assign opti-
m al values to the controlled variables. `Skill’ , or optim al
organization, arises when the com ponents of the con-
trol structure are quantitively scaled such that the re-
active forces of the lim bs become largely responsible
for movem ent. Passive, inertial and m echanical prop-
erties of lim b m ovem ents are then fully exploited. C o-
ordinative structures becom e extremely stable and
additional degrees of freedom are released, increasing
the num ber of controllable param eters and resulting in
m ore ¯ uid m ovement (Bernstein, 1967). For som e
m ovem ents, this increased ¯ uency m ay also allow per-
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form ers to take advantage of elastic energy released by
the tendons during m uscle stretch- shortening cycles
not previously stim ulated. H ence, the acceleration
phase of a lim b follow ing a change in direction m ay be
increased as a result of the stretch- shortening effect.
For exam ple, if the performer separates the two phases
in the transition from the back swing to the down swing
in a golf chip, there is no contribution to the accelera-
tion of the down swing from the stretch- shortening
effect. H owever, a smooth transition will bring this
effect into play (see Schneider et al., 1989), and the
m ovem ent now becom es highly energy-ef® cient.
H ence, intuitive com ments, often based on subjective
observation, that describe the execution of actions by
elite athletes as appearing effortless, may be closer to
the truth than m ight be im agined.
Together w ith energy cost, Latash (1993) discussed
m ovem ent tim e, im pulse and jerk (rate of change of
acceleration) as possible indices of perform ance that
m ay be m inim ized in the optim ization of a sim ple
single-degree-of-freedom system . In addition, the con-
cept of m inimized m ovem ent `effort’ (a function of
joint stiffness, equilibrium position and m ovem ent
tim e) has been introduced as a possible optim ization
param eter (H asan, 1986). Indeed, the combination of
several of these indices in a single complex function has
shown som e promise in predicting kinematic, dynam ic
and EM G patterns (Seif-N araghi and W inters, 1990).
Furtherm ore, system allocation of different `attentional
weightings’ to each com ponent, while m aintaining an
overall m inim ization, m ay contribute towards an expla-
nation of variable muscle forces and joint kinem atics
during successful repetition of the same task. T he need
for a high level of dissociation between co-ordinative
structures can be identi® ed as a characteristic of skilled
performers. H ippolyte (1991) suggested that the big-
gest battle when working w ith athletes is to dissociate
the upper and lower body - that is, the head, shoulders
H andford et al.
and arm s from the legs and hips. T his ability provides
for a technical diversity w hich can have strategic bene-
® ts. Consider a boxer w ho feints a punch to the body
and then aim s for the head, or the tennis player who
prepares to hit a cross-court drive and then plays a
drop shot to the line.
Conclusions
Our focused com m entary on the literature on practice
has show n that the questions w hich intrigue those
interested in sport-related skills and their acquisition
are as pertinent today as they were three decades
ago. D espite som e attem pts at creative application of
research-generated ideas, m any questions, at best, have
incited equivocal reply. O thers have sim ply rem ained
unanswered. T he philosophical underpinning of the
ecological approach has prom pted a re-examination of
traditional theorizing (and supporting evidence) at a
foundation level and with particular reference to sport
and exercise. Evidence supporting a knowledge-based,
prescriptive model for com plex skill learning has been
show n to have som e serious lim itations that affect the
practical application of m uch of the current research-
based knowledge. T he ecological approach has been
proposed as an alternative fram ework, which is sym-
pathetic to the teaching, coaching and study of skill
acquisition in the highly dynam ic environment of mod-
ern sport (see D avids et al., 1994). H owever, despite
m ethodological m oves away from m easures of perform-
ance outcome, few attempts are forthcoming to invest-
igate ongoing changes in m ovement patterns during the
com plete acquisition and learning of m ulti-degree-of-
freedom skills. Although the em bryonic stage of theor-
etical developm ent presently restricts the scope for
serious hypothesis-testing, increased research effort is
needed to evaluate the practical impact of the m ain
tenets of an ecological perspective in the sport and
exercise context.
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