SKILL, ABILITY AND

PERFORMANCE

FRANCIS FRIMPONG
 Objectives

Learner’s should be able to:

■ understand what is meant by the term “skill”
■ be able to place skills into categories
■ be able to analyse the factors underlying skilled
performance
■ Demonstrate understanding of the theories of
ability.
 SKILL

■ A motor skill is function involving precise

movement of muscles with a predetermined
certainty to perform a specific task.

■ A skill is an activity but not all activities are

skills.
 SKILL cont’d

Skills are:
– learned
– consistent
– goal-oriented
– specific
 SKILL cont’d

■ Skill is the consistent production of goal-

oriented movements, which are learned and
specific to the task.
 Classification of Skills

Sport and physical activities require different

sets of skills.

Skills are categorized depending on the

environment, complexity and pace of the skill
which is carried out.
 Classification Continuums

■ Muscular involvement

■ Continuity

■ Difficulty

■ Environmental influences

■ Pacing continuum
 Muscular involvement

This continuum is concerned with the precision

of movement and the type of muscle group
involved in executing the skill.

■ Gross motor skill

■ Fine motor skill
 Gross motor skills

■ involve large muscle movements,

■ major muscle groups are involved
■ use of large space.
■ include many fundamental movement
patterns.

E.g. walking, running and jumping.

 Fine skills
■ involve intricate movements
■ use of few limbs and small muscle groups,
■ undertaken in limited space
■ generally involve high levels of hand-eye
coordination.

E.g. writing, typing, sewing, playing the piano,

snooker, using game controllers etc.
 Continuity
This deals with how well-defined the beginning
and end of the skill is.

■ Discrete
■ Serial
■ Continuous
 Discrete skills

■ Brief well-defined beginning and end

■ Single and specific action

Example: penalty flick in hockey, free-kick in

soccer
 Serial skills
■ group of discrete skills joined together
■ definite beginning and ending,
■ one component leads into another

Example: The sequence of skills in triple jump.

 Continuous skills

■ no obvious beginning or end.

■ the skill is repeated in a cycle.
■ can be started or stopped anytime.

Examples: Swimming, Running, Cycling.

 Difficulty Continuum

The difficulty continuum concerns with the

level of mastery needed to complete a skill.

■ Basic/Simple

■ Complex
 Basic or Simple skills

■ straightforward skills with few subroutines

■ requires little concentration
■ less demand in information processing

Examples: walking or running, jumping.

 Complex skills
■ involve a high level of decision making
■ require more attention or practice,.
■ require a number of (interlinked) subroutines

Different perception on complexity.

Examples: a gymnastic floor exercise.

 Environmental Influence

This continuum is in relation to the effects of

the environment on the skill. The choice of
technique depends on the situation in which the
skill is performed.

■ open skill
■ closed skill
 Open skill
■ affected by the sporting environment (external
paced)
■ require much information processing
■ performer make decisions in response to their
surroundings.
■ constantly changing requiring technique
modifications.

Example: passing in football

 Closed Skills
■ happens in a same or very similar environment
■ same technique can be used repeatedly.
■ movements follow set patterns due to known routine.
■ requires relatively less decision making
■ usually self-paced

Examples: free throw in basketball, serving in squash or

tennis.
Closed or Open skill?
 Ability

■ Generally, it describes either the skills we

posses or how well we can perform a skill.

■ Basic innate actions that underline skillful

performance.
 Characteristics of Ability

■ Naturally acquired as one develops.

■ Limited improvement can be attained through

practice.

■ The type and amount possessed determines

proficiency in particular skills.
 General Motor Ability

What do you say ?

■ Is there any such thing as ‘born’ sports person?

■ With training, can everyone have the ability to

perform all skills?

■ Can we say abilities are genetic?

■ According to Franklin Henry (1968), abilities
are specific and unique.

■ Fleishman proposed his theory, also called

factor analysis hypothesis.
– Some abilities are correlated and could be
grouped into clusters.
 PSYCHOMOTOR FACTORS PHYSICAL FACTORS
1. Control precision ( control over fast, accurate movements 1. Static flexibility
using large areas of the body)
2. Multi-limb coordination 2. Dynamic flexibility
3. Response orientation (selection of appropriate response 3. Static strength
4. Reaction time 4. Dynamic strength
5. Speed of arm movement 5. Explosive strength
6. Rate control (coincidence-anticipation) 6. Trunk strength
7. Manual dexterity 7. Gross body coordination
8. Arm-hand steadiness 8. Gross body balance
9. Wrist-finger speed (coordination of fast wrist and finger 9. Cardiovascular fitness
movements
10. Aiming

11. Postural discrimination (coordination with closed eyes

12. Response integration

 Ability – skill interaction

■ Importance of different abilities on skill

performance differs for individuals.

■ skill execution is likely to be different for two

persons with equal levels of performance.
 Ability – skill interaction
■ A change in the demands of the task may require
different abilities. – changing task model
– From grass to astroturf
– From division-one to premier league

■ A morphological change may lead to a change in the

need for certain abilities – changing person factor
– Changes in height, weight, limb length etc.
– Injuries may cause reduced range of motion etc.
 Performance
■ Measure of skill execution.

■ A complex mixture of biomechanical function,

emotional factors, and training techniques.

■ Qualitative and quantitative.

 Performance

■ Neuromuscular factors
■ Environmental factors
■ Mental control and the related psychological
factors
■ Coaching and external support 
 Determinants of performance

■ Abilities
■ Nature of skill

These keep changing therefore using abilities to

predict performance is difficult.