ITF Coaches
Education Programme
Coaching High Performance Players Course
MOTOR SKILL
LEARNING FOR
ADVANCED COACHING
- INTRODUCTION
By Miguel Crespo & Machar Reid
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
MEMORY
ATTENTION
LEARNING
INFORMATION
PROCESSING
INDIVIDUAL
DIFFERENCES
ANTICIPATION
TRANSFER
MOTOR
LEARNING
IN TENNIS
PRACTICE
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
ASSESSMENT
FEEDBACK
In this session we will…
• Explain the definitions of motor skill,
ability
• Introduce the classifications of motor
skills
• Elaborate on the relationships between
motor skills and learning, and learning
and performance
• Explain how to assess learning
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
Definitions
• Motor skill: An act or task that has a
goal to achieve and that requires
voluntary body or limb movement to be
properly performed
• Motor ability: A general trait or capacity
of an individual that is related to the
performance of a variety of motor skills
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
Differences
Abilities
Skills
Inherited traits
Stable and enduring
Developed with practice
Modified with practice
Few in number
Many in number
Underly the performance of
many different skills
Depend on different
subsets of abilities
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
Motor abilities
• Motor abilities are
underlying, foundational
components of motor
skill performance
• Enduring traits that, for
the most part, are
genetically determined
• They are relatively
independent
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• Two types:
– Human perceptualmotor abilities
– Physical proficiency
abilities
Perceptual Motor abilities
• Multilimb
coordination
• Control precision
• Response
orientation
• Reaction time
• Speed of arm
movement
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
•
•
•
•
Rate control
Manual dexterity
Finger dexterity
Arm-hand
steadiness
• Wrist, finger speed
• Aiming
Physical Proficiency abilities
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Static strength
Dynamic strength
Explosive strength
Trunk strength
Extent flexibility
Dynamic flexibility
Gross body
coordination
• Gross body equilibrium
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
•
•
•
•
Stamina
Static balance
Dynamic balance
Eye-hand or eye-foot
coordination
• Visual acuity
• Visual tracking
Motor abilities in the tennis serve
Components of the skill (tennis serve)
Grip
Stance
Toss
Back
swing
Forward
swing
Abilities
Multilimb coordination
Control precision
Speed of arm movement
Rate control
Aiming
Static strength
Etc.
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
Ball
contact
Follow
through
Classifications of motor skills
• According to the precision of the
movement:
– Gross: Involve large musculature, precision
is not too important. Ex. Playing sports
– Fine: Involve small muscles, requires high
degree of precision. Ex. Playing the piano
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
Classifications of motor skills
• According to possibility of defining a clear
beginning and end of the movement:
– Discrete: There are clearly defined beginning and
end points. Usually brief action. Ex. Tennis serve
– Continuous: The movement has arbitrary
beginning and end points. Repetitive fashion. Ex.
Swimming
– Serial: When a discrete skill is put on a series or
sequence. Ex. Shooting an arrow in archery
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
Classifications of motor skills
• According to the stability of the
environment:
Closed skill – Self-paced task
Stable
Stationary
Predictable environment
Open skill – Externally or forced-paced task
Ever-changing
In motion
Unpredictable environment
Playing tennis
Golf
Bowling
Weightlifting
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
Application to tennis
Closed situation
Feeding with a
ball machine
Open situation
Same but
changing heights
Coach feeding
from basket
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Rally among
players
Match play
Information Processing
Stimulus
Detection
Pattern
Recognition
Input
(signals)
Stimulus
Identification
Processing
(The
human)
ResponseSelection
What response to make
ResponseProgramming
Organisation &
Initiation of an action
Output
(Motor
response)
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
Application to tennis
• The player must utilise the process of:
– Perception
– Pattern recognition
– Decision making
– Action
• To adjust the movement, often in a
short amount of time, in response to
changing environmental conditions
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
Motor skill and Learning
• Learning: A change in the capability of
the individual to perform a skill that must
be inferred from a relatively permanent
improvement in performance as a result
of:
– Practice, or
– Experience
• It occurs in stages, is relatively
permanent, is not directly observable
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
Stages of Learning in Tennis
Early stage of learning
Cognitive (trial and error)
Later stage of learning
Associative (homing in)
Autonomous (free and easy)
Verbal motor (more talk)
Motor (more action)
Getting the idea of the
movement
Fixation/diversification (closed
or open skill)
Coordination (acquire the
pattern)
Control (adapt the pattern as
needed)
Early learning
Stiff looking
Inaccurate
Inconsistent
Show, halting
Timid
Indecisive
Rigid
Inefficient
Many errors
Later learning
More relaxed
More accurate
More consistent
More fluid
More confident
More decisive
More adaptable
More efficient
Fewer errors
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
Automatic
Accurate
Consistent
Fluid
Confident
Certain
Adaptable
Efficient
Recognises errors
Learning and Performance
• Performance: The observable behaviour
of a player
• Learning: Internal phenomenon that can
only be inferred from the player's
performance
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
Learning and Performance
• Performance changes during learning:
– Performance of a skill should show
improvement over time
– Performance should become increasingly
more consistent
– Increases in certainty
– Decreases in energy expenditure
– Sometimes decreases in movement time
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
How to assess learning:
Performance measures
• Response outcome:
–
–
–
–
Errors
Time to complete, reaction time
Distance
Trials to completion
• Response production:
– Kinematics: displacement, velocity, acceleration,
joint angle
– EMG: muscle activity
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
How to assess learning:
The example of the serve
• Observing during practice: Coach
records the number of good serves
made by the players during the serve
period of the session
• Practice tests (retention tests): By using
a serve test
• Match tests (transfer tests): By charting
the serve effectiveness during matches
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
Assessment measures
• Represent observable characteristics of
the assessed skill
• Are valid indicators of goal achievement
• Reflect both the outcome and process
• Provide players with meaningful
feedback
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
Control of movement:
Motor Programmes
• Direct the control of movement
• Are abstract representations of the
actions
• Contain information on an action (order
of events, time between events,
muscular force to produce the action)
that allows a movement to be executed:
– Smoothly, efficiently and accurately
• Can be modified by sensory feedback
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
Transfer of learning:
definition and types
• The gain or the loss of a player’s
proficiency on one task as a result of
previous practice or experience on
another task
• Types:
– Near transfer: Occurs from one task to
another very similar task or setting
– Far transfer: Occurs from one task to
another very different task or setting
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009
Transfer of learning:
how to enhance it
• Direct player’s attention to elements of
previous learned tasks
• Provide opportunities for players to
practice tasks that contain elements that
are similar to those of the target skill
• Allow players to practice the skill in
situations which are similar to the
playing context
Coach Education Series Copyright © ITF 2009