Intermediate 1 – Methods of Practicing Skills

What does being skilled mean?

Skill is “the learned ability to bring about predetermined results with maximum certainty, with the minimal outlay of time or energy or both”.

For example in basketball, skill will allow you to shoot the ball into the hoop seven times out of ten. Skill means that you were trying to score a basket (it wasn’t a fluke) and you made it look quite easy. Once you have achieved this you are skilled in that part of the sport.

Sport

Sport involves acquiring lots of different skills. Top sportspeople are highly skilled. The number or type of skills you can acquire may influence the sport you choose to play.

Solo

Knowledge worth knowing

Shadow Partner Group Opposed Unopposed By the end of the Intermediate 1 Course you will need to know all these

methods of practice

: • What they are Gradual build up Whole part whole Drills Repetition Conditional games Small-sided games • How to use them • Why they are used • The advantages and disadvantages

Today we are going to learn about a few of them....

• Take notes [key words and phrases] – This will help you when it comes to filling out the next session in your training programme.

Solo Practice

Solo Practice, as the name suggests, involves a performer working on their own. This method of practice is effective when the learner knows how to perform the skill and is in the associative or autonomous stages of learning.

In our gymnastics block everybody in this class has used solo practice in order to improve their performance.

This has taken the form of practicing some parts of our headstand repeatedly, without support .

Partner Practice

Partner practice is another

method of learning skills

which everybody has used in our gymnastics block. Partner practice is particularly effective when a skill can nearly be performed, but some difficulty still remains. Once the learner feels confident, they can progress onto the full skill without assistance.

When you have used a partner to help support you in a balance position, you are using ‘Partner Practice’.

Whole Practice

Whatever type of skill needed, people get better or more skilled with practise.

Whole practise involves repeating the entire skill without breaking it down. A gymnast may practise the run-up, take off, flight and landing of a vault as it is difficult to break down.

Part Practice

Part practise involves the splitting up of skills to practise one at a time. A tennis player may practise the placement of the ball in the air before trying the full serve.

When learning or practicing, we tend to always use a combination of the last two slides...

and we call this ....

……wait for it…….

WHOLE-PART-WHOLE

Fixed/ Repetitive Practice

Fixed practise involved the repetition of the same skill under the same conditions. A rugby player will practise his place-kicking from the same spot time after time.

KEY FACT!!!!

Repetitive practice helps

groove

a skill in order for it to become

automatic.

Unopposed Practice

• Unopposed practice allows us to run through set plays and game situations without the pressure of defence. • Once participants have experienced success here, they become more confident and opposition can gradually be added.

• Who is this method of practice most useful for? - At what

stage of learning?

Passive and Active Practice

• This method often will follow on from unopposed practice.

• It means that you can add defenders but they defend with less intensity [e.g 50%]. This means they are defending but the aim is to allow the attackers to experience success.

• As performers become more effective defenders can be made ACTIVE in order to create a ‘games like’ situation.

• What stage of learning is this generally going to be appropriate for?

Conditioned Game

• Conditioned games allow themes to be emphasised in games situations. In effect we can alter the rules to suit our aims.

• For example, if we want to encourage lay ups, we can make lay ups worth 4 points or if we want to discourage fouling, we can make each foul worth a point.

Variable Practice

Variable practise involves changing the conditions in which we practise. A footballer has a ball thrown at him at lots of different heights so he may improve his control.