Hierarchical Organization

1. Hierarchical Organization • A skilled act may be thought of as following a hierarchical organization pattern, whereas an unskilled act lacks such organization

2. Skill Phases

3. Phase 1 • Preliminary movements • get ready for skill • footwork, balance, posture, • “ready stance”

4. Phase 2 • Back-swing or recovery movements • take place just before force-producing movements, prepping body for force • i.e. back-swing in badminton or golf

5. Phase 3 • Force-producing movements • executed to produce force for impact or propulsion • i.e. forward swing of leg in soccer kick or of arm and stick in hockey slap shot

6. Phase 4 • Critical Instant • point that determines how effective execution of a skill is ultimately going to be • i.e. when foot hits ball in soccer shot, tennis racket hits ball in backswing or hand hits volleyball in serve • Cannot make any adjustments at critical instance to alter its effectiveness, must make changes beforehand • Passes so quickly that it is almost unobservable (but possible using videotape analysis)

7. Phase 5 • Follow Through • Takes place after critical instant. Crucial to a skill being completed successfully • i.e. basketball jump shot (follow through with hand in “cookie jar” • it slows body parts down and is therefore important in preventing injuries that can occur when abruptly stopping.

8. Classification of Skills

9. Possible classification systems: team vs. dual vs. individual; summer vs. winter, etc. • A more comprehensive classification of motor skills: • According to the effects of environment on learning and executing skills

10. Closed Skills • performed under constant, relatively unchanging conditions • the movement form itself is often the goal of the skill • e.g., gymnastics routines

11. Teaching Strategies for Closed Skills • Goal: stereotyped movements that consistently produce the desired response • Strategy: learning environment structured so that the desired response will occur • Repeating the selected movement pattern consistently without allowing external influences to affect the performance • e.g., noise

12. Open Skills • Environments are continually changing and require performers to adjust and respond to the environment around them • Responses cannot be made effectively far in advance • Demand the capacity to adapt, anticipate, and be flexible in responses

13. Teaching Strategies for Open Skills • The learning environment should closely approximate the environment in which the skill will take place • Learners should exercise variability and adaptability and different scenarios that approximate real environment • Learners may be wise to identify patterns in the environment that provide information about the movement of objects and players

14. Open-Closed Continuum Open skills Closed skills

15. Learning Progression For Open Skills Along the Open-Closed Continuum • Start learning with making the skill more closed (e.g., one pitch speed) • Once a certain level of proficiency has been achieved, make the skill more open (e.g., live pitch) • i.e., remove a component of uncertainty of the skill in order to simplify its overall execution

16. Enhancing Your Learning Potential • Clear understanding of: • Anatomical structures in limiting human movements • Biomechanical principles affecting movement • How the body moves most efficiently • Where our energy comes from • How to maintain healthy, injury-free body • etc.