3.1 Motor Skills

“A motor skill is an activity that involves voluntary muscular movement with the correct degree of muscular control to complete a reasonable complex predetermined task” A motor skill is a task that involves sequences of movements that are reasonably complex to the individual performing them

In order to perform a reasonably complex motor skill successfully one needs to be able to breakdown the skill into components or parts these are subroutines

Occurs when all of the subroutines of a skill are performed the correct sequence with the correct timing

A skill may be seen as a whole plan that specifies the timing and sequence of the total movement. The whole plan is the motor program A motor program is the set of instruction held in memory that is sent to muscles A motor program is an organised set of indivisible motor skills or subroutines that result in the correct production of a specific skill

The classification is based on whether the movement has a specific beginning and end Discrete Continuous Serial

Involve movements of brief duration Have a distinct beginning and end Throw, catch or kick

Are a series or group of discrete skills string together to create a more complicated skill or action Gymnastics routine, triple jump

Motor skills that bring together in a movement sequence and usually are repetitive and do not have a clear beginning and end

Closed motor skill - skills that are performed in a predicative environment The skill performed has usually been predicted Closed skills are internally paced meaning they are determined by the performer Gymnastics, darts, baseball pitch

Skills that are performed in an environment that is constantly changing This open environment forces the athlete to constantly adapt their basic

This classification is based on the number and or size of muscles or muscle groups that are involved in an activity

Cooperative use of small groups of muscles Sight and touch senses engaged Balance the cue of force and fine touch Handwriting, archery

Cooperative use of large muscle actions that result in a coordinated movement Dancing, throwing, footy tackle

Many activities are made of a combination of both fine and gross motor skills Throwing a ball is a gross motor skill however throwing a curve in baseball involves precise manipulation of the ball

Some skills can be classified as more open or more closed A skill that is open can be very different to another skill that is also open

Closed skills are easier to learn. The environment is more predictable and the learner can focus on the subroutine without having to worry about external factors. Can be performed at performers on pace

When learning a open skill the skill should be closed down as much as possible. Remove as many external factors as possible

Classifications of motor skills as open or closed depends on the performers adjustments to the environment in which the skills are to be performed skills may lie n a continuum between the 2

Learning can only be observed over a period of time Practice should progress through gradual levels of difficulty and should only progress further if shown consistent achievement at that level. To practice under game situations I’d of critical performance Very important to replicate game like performances as much as possible for effective learning to take place Sometimes not at all learning translates into the development of a sound motor program. Learning incorrect or inefficient actions may be learned

There are three distinct stages of learning that an individual will go through. The stages in order are Cognitive Associative Autonomous

“What to do” Conveyance and acquisition of new information Trial and error Verbal visual motor Learning skill objectives Processing environment variables Understanding skill

“How to do it” Translation of declarative knowledge into procedural knowledge Difficult and awkward Practice phase Eliminating mistakes Improving selective attention

“Do it” Performance Cognitive demands minimal Attention focus can be external Ability to self correct Unconscious

Age and maturity Gender Heredity Motivation Quality of instruction