Skill, Technique & Ability

A question often asked is what is the difference between skill, technique and ability?

What is a skill?

Skill is an athlete's ability to choose and perform the right techniques at the right time, successfully, regularly and with a minimum of effort. Athletes use their skill to achieve athletic objectives e.g. sprinting a 10.0 second 100 metres. Skill is acquired and therefore has to be learned.

Types of skills

• Cognitive - involves thought processes
• Perceptual - involves interpretation of information
• Motor - involves movement

Psychologists have categorised human behaviour into three broad domains:

• Cognitive skill (knowing) - know and understand the vital aspects of the sport
• Affective behaviour (feeling) - success at the sport depends on mental attitude and developing psychological skills to cope with stress
• Psychomotor skill (doing) - excellence in sport requires the execution of precise, fluent and effective movement patterns which require the combination of perceptual and motor skills

What is Technique?

Techniques are the basic movements of any sport or event e.g. a block start in a 100 metre race is a technique. We combine a number of techniques into a pattern of movement e.g. triple jump - running and then the hop, skip and jump phases.

What is ability?

Ability is the make up of an athlete that we inherit from our parents. Abilities underpin and contribute to skills. Abilities can be essentially perceptual, essentially motor or a combination of both. Most abilities to do with action are a combination and are referred to as psychomotor abilities. Now there is no definitive list of psychomotor abilities.

Stallings L M (1982 - Motor Learning from theory to Practice) identified the following psychomotor abilities: Muscular power and endurance, flexibility, balance, coordination and differential relaxation (selective adjustment of muscle tension).

Fleishman E A (1972 - The structure and measurement of psychomotor abilities.) identified the following nine psychomotor abilities (referred to as gross motor abilities): Extent flexibility, dynamic flexibility, explosive strength, static strength, dynamic strength, trunk strength, gross body coordination, gross body equilibrium and stamina.

If you are of average height, strong, good coordination and have an abundance of fast twitch fibres in your legs then you have the natural ability to be a sprinter.

Relationship between skill, ability and technique

SKILL = ABILITY + TECHNIQUE

Associated Pages

The following Sports Coach pages should be read in conjunction with this page:

• Articles on Skill training
• Biomechanics
• Levers
• Running Economy
• Skill Development
• Skill Classification
• Skill, Technique and Ability

• Training Books
• Training Products

Associated Books

The following books provide more information related to this topic:

• The Biomechanics of Sports Technique, J.G. Hay, ISBN 0 13 084534 5
• Advanced Studies in Physical Education and Sport, P Beashel et al., ISBN 0 17 4482345
• Physical Education and the Study of Sport, B. Davis et al., ISBN 0 7234 31752
• Essentials of Exercise Physiology, W.D. McArdle et al., ISBN 0 683 30507 7
• Physical Education and Sport Studies, D. Roscoe et al., ISBN 1 901424 20 0
• The World of Sport Examined, P. Beashel et al., ISBN 0 17 438719 9
• Advanced PE for Edexcel, F. Galligan et al., ISBN 0 435 50643 9
• Examining Physical Education, K. Bizley, ISBN 0 435 50660 9
• Sport and PE, K Wesson et al., ISBN 0 340 683821
• PE for you, J. Honeybourne, ISBN 0 7487 3277 2