8 Enhancing skill and expertise: the role of practice

It is generally agreed that practice forms an essential part of skill acquisition. As F. Posner found in their model of skill acquisition, once the basic technique can be performed (the cognitive stage), the bulk of training will consist of practice (the associative stage). Athletes, coaches or teachers have various decisions to make regarding practice, such as whether it should be massed or distributed, whole or part, and physical or mental [1].

Massed and distributed practice the skill to be mastered is repeated over an extended period. For example, a set of rugby backs might spend a 2 hour session just running the line. The alternative to massed practice is distributed practice, in which practice of the skill to be mastered is interspersed with other training. Massed practice has the advantage that the athlete probably forgets less between practices, but also has the disadvantage of leading to boredom. Too much massed practice with young or inexperienced athletes and there appears the risk of demotivating them and potentially losing them to the sport. In some cases, strain on a joint (such as karate kicks) are best distributed rather than massed.

A second issue concerns whether to practice skills in their complete form (whole-skill practice), or whether to break them down to their component parts (part-skill practice). With continuous skills, this is not an issue – there is little point in practising a single step in running or a single peddle in cycling. However, serial skills can sometimes benefit from separate practice of each part, for example, a combination punches. The combination will not work unless each punch is correct in technique, aim and pace. It is thus well worth perfecting each punch separately. However, if there is too much emphasis on part-skill practice, there is a risk that the flow of the whole skill may be lost.

It goes without saying that physical skills are enhanced by physical practice. However, an interesting issue concerns the usefulness of mental practice, in which athletes visualise themselves performing the skill. In a recent study, D. Smith asked participants to imagine performing a finger exercise 20 times a day for 4 weeks. Finger strength improved by an average of 16%. However, mental practice alone is not equivalent to physical practice. In Smith’s study, participants who actually performed the finger exercise increased their strength by 33%. It is generally believed that a combination of physical and mental practice is most useful to athletes, but that physical practice is the more important and should make up the bulk of training.

As M. Ericsson suggests, effective practice takes place not in isolation, but in the presence of a coach or teacher who can offer guidance. Guidance refers to any information that learners are given in order to help them develop their skills. Guidance can be visual, in the form of demonstrations, diagrams, film, etc.; verbal, in the form of instructions; or manual, in the form of physical support or adjustment of posture. These may of course be used in conjunction. An example of this would be guidance to an archer on the correct posture from which to shoot. The coach may begin by demonstrating the stance, then give verbal instructions to improve the learner’s position, and finally make tiny adjustments by hand. Demonstration is a good general form of guidance, and often a way of beginning a lesson. However, verbal prompts are often needed to improve position and movements. Sometimes, verbal instructions are simply too clumsy, and for fine adjustments manual guidance may be needed.

Feedback is any information that is received after an action. Feedback is important in skill acquisition, as it is the knowledge of how performed action compares to intended action that allows to perfect skills. Feedback can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic feedback comes directly through man’s sense. One can, for example, hear when he hits a tennis ball with the frame of the racket. The jarring sensation in sportsman’s arm will similarly tell him when his golf drive has ploughed straight into the ground. Extrinsic feedback comes from others, and is a particularly important part of coaching. Extrinsic feedback comes in two forms, knowledge of performance and knowledge of results. Performance feedback comes in the form of information about the skill with which an action was performed. Results feedback comes in the form of points, goals, times, etc. The effective coach focuses on performance feedback. In the early stages of skill acquisition, before athletes have learned to use proprioception to tell them whether an action was performed correctly, performance feedback is particularly critical [5].

Conclusion

Sport psychology has existed for around a hundred years, becoming widely accepted in the 1960s, and growing rapidly in influence at present. Sport psychologists conduct research, educate interested parties, such as coaches, and work directly with athletes to improve their performance. Some psychologists draw a distinction between academic and applied sport psychology, but this is controversial. Also controversial is the issue of accreditation of sport psychologists. Currently, there is a move toward accreditation in all the professions; however, there is some resistance in sport psychology, meaning that some of the most experienced practitioners have not sought accreditation.

It is important to understand some basics about the way the subject works, in particular, about the distinction between theory and research, and be familiar with the five approaches to studying psychology and the theoretical orientations psychologists might adopt. Psychology involves critical and creative thinking about theory and research.

When an athlete learns a new sport, he acquires proficiency by making use of his general abilities and acquiring specific skills. Skills are central to sporting proficiency, and they can be classified according to the predictability of the environment, the presence of clear beginning and points to the movement, and the factors that determine the pace at which the action is carried out. Some researchers have proposed distinct stages to the acquisition of skills, beginning with gaining an understanding of the task and progressing with practice. There are significant debates surrounding ability and skill, in particular the existence of superability and the related nature–nurture debate over the relative importance of innate talent and training.

The information-processing approach to psychology allows to break down skills and to analyse them in the same way as the functions of a computer. In particular, the understanding of memory has proved to be useful to understanding skill acquisition. Long-term memory involves two separate stores, one of which, called procedural memory, deals with motor skills. There have been attempts to explain in more detail the nature of procedural memory, including two particularly influential theories, closed loop theory and schema theory. Psychologists have applied their understanding of skill acquisition to the process of coaching, improving our knowledge of practice, guidance and feedback. In particular, it has been important to identify the components of effective practice. Understanding of this area has been influenced greatly by M. Ericsson’s theory of deliberate practice; however, it is important to recognise the limitations of M. Ericsson’s approach.