Analyzing Sport Skills

    Here you'll find advice on how to break a skill into smaller parts. This process will make it easier when you critically observe your athlete's performance.
    One of the greatest challenges you'll face as a coach is watching your athlete perform and deciding which aspect of the skill needs correction. If you don't have a well-planned approach, you're likely to be overwhelmed by the complexity and speed of the skill you are trying to analyze. You won't know what aspect of the skill to look at or what error to correct first. In fact, you may see so many errors at once that you throw your hands up in the air and in desperation give vague coaching tips such as "Hit harder" or "Be more aggressive!" Advice like this is of little assistance to your athlete. What you need to do is gather background information about the skill before you start, and come to each coaching session with a precise plan to guide your observation, your analysis, and your correction of errors. If you understand the mechanics of the skill your athlete is performing and you know how to go after major errors, your athlete benefits immensely and quickly improves in performance.
    The following steps provide the information you need before you start correcting errors:
        Step 1: Determine the objectives of the skill.

        Step 2: Note any special characteristics of the skill.
        Step 3: Study top-flight performances of the skill.
        Step 4: Divide the skill into phases.
        Step 5: Divide each phase into key elements.
        Step 6: Understand the mechanical reasons each key element is performed as it is.
    If you work your way through each step, you'll learn how to break a skill into important parts (or phases), and you'll know how to use your knowledge of sport mechanics when you analyze each phase. You'll find out how much easier it is to analyze each phase of a skill separately rather than concentrate on the total skill and then try to recollect what happened.
    Don't think that you must go through each step every time you teach a skill. Once you have read this chapter, you'll understand what in­ formation you need, and with a little practice, you'll be able to carry out most of the steps in your head. To begin with, however, write down on a clipboard the information that's required. Then take this material with you and use it as a guide during your coaching sessions.

Step 1: Determine the Objectives of the Skill

    The rules of the sport and the conditions that exist when a sport skill is performed determine skill objectives. Most skills have more than one objective. It's good to be aware of these objectives because they determine the technique and mechanics that your athlete must use to perform the skill successfully. Let's look at some sport skills to see what we mean by skill objectives.
    The dominant objective for an athlete competing in the discus event is to throw the implement as far as possible. The farther the discus travels, the better. However, the discus must land within a sector, so accuracy of flight is an important objective as well. The distance thrown is not counted if the discus lands outside the sector lines. In addition, if the thrower loses balance and falls out of the ring, the throw is declared invalid even if the discus lands within the sector lines.
    The objectives of distance and accuracy determine what mechanical principles to keep in mind when you coach your athlete in the discus. The overriding importance of distance tells you that the dominant mechanical objective in the event is maximum velocity at release. This means you should concentrate on teaching your athlete how to make the discus leave the throwing hand as fast as possible.
    How the discus leaves an athlete's hand and how it spins determine its flight characteristics and its distance. So you cannot forget that an optimal spin and trajectory are important objectives too. Remember as well that the body positions your athlete uses during the throw influence the distance and flight of the discus and the athlete's stability after the discus is released. It would be heartbreaking if your athlete threw a world record distance only to have it declared a foul because he fell out of the front of the ring or stepped on the rim of the ring during the throw.
    In a volleyball spike, your athlete has to jump high enough to strike the ball over, around, or off the blockers. The prime objective of a spike is to make the ball hit the floor in the opponent's court. To achieve this objective, jumping ability and timing are tremendously important and so is accuracy in directing the ball.
    In addition, your athlete must take care not to contact the net. Keep these objectives in mind when you coach spiking skills. Work on the mechanics of the approach, the jump, and the spiking action and then on control of the body after the ball has left your athlete's hand.
    Compare the objectives of the volleyball spike with those required of a high jumper. Height is obviously a prime objective in high jump just as it is in a volleyball spike. However, a high jumper is also required to cross a bar an objective not required of a volleyball player. So a high jumper needs to jump both vertically and horizontally, then rotate in the air to get into a good bar clearance position. It's no use producing great height if the athlete knocks the bar off on the way up or on the way down.
    In Olympic weightlifting, the prime objective of both the clean and jerk and the snatch is to hoist a barbell to arm's length above the head. A secondary objective is to demonstrate control over the barbell once it's in this position. This second criterion is necessary for the judges to pass the lift. Even though the barbell must be held steady for a relatively short time, control and stability are important objectives that must be taught for your athlete to achieve success in this skill.
    Whatever sport you coach, whether it is an individual or team sport, be aware of all the objectives required of each skill. If you coach to satisfy one objective and forget or deemphasize another, you'll limit the success of your athlete. What use is it if a water polo player learns to fire the ball at phenomenal velocity if no emphasis is placed on controlling and directing the path of the ball? Similarly, what use is it if you teach a diver how to get great height and spin if the entry into the water is a disaster? So be aware of all the objectives required by a skill, and remember that all these objectives play a part in determining the technique that you teach your athlete.

Step 2: Note Any Special Characteristics of the Skill

    Sport skills can be divided into different types based on the manner in which your athlete per­ forms the skill and the conditions under which your athlete performs the skill. Both manner and conditions are interrelated, and both dramatically influence the methods you use when you coach. For example, if you consider the manner in which skills are performed, you'll see that some skills are performed once, then a totally different action occurs next. Other skills are different because they repeat cyclically (i.e., over and over). These two types can be called Nonrepetitive and repetitive skills.
 The conditions under which athletes perform skills also differ considerably. Some conditions are controlled and predictable. You know how the conditions will be before the competition starts. Other conditions vary considerably and are unpredictable, and it's difficult to know how they'll be when the competition begins. Let's first look at Nonrepetitive and repetitive skills and then at predictable and unpredictable conditions.
 

Nonrepetitive Skills
    Nonrepetitive skills are often called discrete skills in that they have a definite beginning and an end-even though they can be repeated more than once in a sporting situation. Examples include a tower dive, a shot put, or a baseball bunt. Skills such as these do not repeat in a cyclic pattern. Instead some other action occurs immediately afterward. If your athlete is a diver, she'll land in the pool, climb out, and wait for her turn in the next round of dives. A similar situation occurs for the shot-putter, who after throwing must wait for other competitors to complete their throws before he can perform again. The baseball player follows a bunt with a totally different action. In most cases it's a sprint to first base.
    You can easily teach Nonrepetitive skills as separate entities. Once the athlete has learned and mastered the skill, add some other skill or action to lead into it or to lead out of it, similar to the baseball player bunting and sprinting to first base or a gymnast performing a handspring followed by a dive roll.
 

Nonrepetitive Skills in Sequence

    Frequently, the momentum generated in one Nonrepetitive skill will carry over and assist in beginning another Nonrepetitive skill. A young gymnast builds a floor exercise routine in this manner. A front handspring may join a front somersault, and the somersault leads into another skill. Similarly, a triple jumper hops, steps, and finally jumps. The three jumps differ, yet the skill of triple jumping depends on the synchronization of all three skills. For an excellent distance, the hop must contribute to the step, and the step to the jump.
    When you coach Nonrepetitive, or discrete, skills in sequence, it's a good idea to teach each skill separately. Then teach your athlete to adapt to the rhythm pattern and changes that occur when two or three skills are performed in sequence. Be aware that two or three skills in sequence present additional difficulties for your athlete. Novice triple jumpers frequently perform an immense hop only to collapse at the end of it and have nothing left for the step or the jump. There is no balanced effort or flow from the hop to the step and finally to the jump.
    In gymnastics, a young athlete can learn to perform a back somersault by itself. Then you can teach her to perform a round-off that leads into the back somersault. If correctly performed, the round-off makes the performance of a back somersault easier. Performed poorly, the round­ off positions the gymnast incorrectly for the
takeoff into the back somersault. This makes it difficult for the gymnast to get around and safely complete the somersault.
 

Repetitive Skills
    Repetitive skills have a cyclic, continuous nature. For example, the actions that make up the movement pattern of sprinting repeat continuously during the race. This repetitive, continuous feature occurs in many sports such as race walking, cycling, swimming, speed skating, and cross-country skiing.
    The most important aspect of repetitive skills is that one complete cycle of the skill immediately leads into the next. This means that a follow-through (which slows down and dissipates energy in a Nonrepetitive skill) becomes a recovery in a repetitive skill and is essential for maintaining continuity and rhythm.
    In competitive swimming, athletes aim for a fast arm recovery when they perform their strokes. The arms complete their pull in the water, then quickly cycle forward into the next propulsive action. There is no braking action or dissipation of energy as occurs in the follow-through of a discus or javelin throw. Like a cyclist who wishes to keep the pedals spinning at a high rate, a competitive swimmer wishes to do the same thing with the arms after each arm pull.
    Repetitive skills are frequently taught to young athletes in much the same way as Nonrepetitive skills. The freestyle stroke is broken down into leg action, arm action, and breathing. These components of the stroke are taught separately and then molded together to build the complete skill. The number of repeats, or cycles, of the total skill is progressively increased as the athlete's ability improves.
 

Skills Performed in Predictable Environments
    Many skills are performed in a precise and predictable environment. These types of skills are frequently described as closed skills. In this situation, your athlete can get on with the job of performing the skill without having to make quick decisions because of a sudden change in conditions. A clean and jerk in weightlifting and the skills in a synchronized swimming routine are examples. The fact that your athlete can concentrate on the lift or on the skills in the routine without worrying about the actions of opposing players or changes in weather conditions makes practice sessions easier for you to plan and training easier for your athlete.
 

Skills Performed in Unpredictable Environments
    Many sport skills are performed in an unpredictable environment. These skills are often described as open skills. The most frequent cause of an unpredictable environment is the presence of opposition whose prime purpose is to make your athlete fail in whatever he is trying to do. Consequently, your athlete must respond according to the conditions that occur in any instant during the competition. In baseball, your batter responds (in less than half a second!) to whatever pitch is thrown. Your volleyball player responds according to the serve that comes over the net. Her response is going to be different for a floater serve than for a fast topspin spike serve. In freestyle wrestling and judo, your athlete at­ tacks or defends according to the maneuvers of the opponent. In soccer, a goalkeeper reacts ac­ cording to the maneuvers and shot fired by an attacking player.
    Wind, waves, rain, sun, and varying field and court conditions can also cause uncertainty and unpredictability. A surfer must assess the nature of the wave and perform surfing skills accordingly. Each wave needs to be considered individually when it occurs, and the surfer must develop an ability to cope with these conditions. The variability that exists in all the sports we've mentioned, from baseball to wrestling, forces your athlete to make sudden decisions and to perform skills at varying velocities. The ability to judge the situation and to react quickly is obviously an important element of success.
    When you coach open skills, which are performed in unpredictable conditions, begin by making the situation as predictable as possible. For example, wrestlers work repeatedly on the same defensive maneuver against an opponent who is required to repeat the attacking move. In baseball and tennis, players face balls fired repeatedly and predictably from pitching and serving machines, and in rugby, football, and field hockey, athletes practice set plays without opposition. Then other team members work as opposition and the same plays are repeated. In this way the mechanics of a particular skill are practiced in a predictable situation until the quality of the skill performance is good. Then more unpredictability is introduced.
    How soon unpredictability is introduced depends on many factors, one of the most important being how fast the athlete learns the required skill. Many coaches like to move quickly to unpredictable situations. Others mix it up so that in some drills the athlete learns rapidly how to judge what should be done, and in other drills the athlete works on a particular skill repeatedly under predictable conditions.

Step 3: Study Top-Flight Performances of the Skill

    Watching elite athletes perform is an activity that you and your young athletes can do at any time. It doesn't necessarily have to be step 3 in the sequence that has been offered in this chapter. But it's certainly worthwhile to watch the best perform the skill or event that you are coaching. For example, when you watch top-class athletes perform a skill, you get a picture of the speed, rhythm, power, body positions, and other characteristics that make up a quality performance. This helps you understand the basic movement patterns in the technique of the skill you intend to coach. Use a video camera to tape these performances from various angles. Then you can watch the skill repeatedly at normal speed and in slow motion. You'll soon notice that, in spite of differences in body type, the techniques top athletes use all show common features. Elite golfers shift their body weight and rotate their hips in much the same way. Great throwers in track and field use similar throwing positions and activate their muscles in a similar sequence. Top-class divers use a similar hurdle step, and they drive up off the springboard with similar arm and leg actions. These identical features exist because top-class athletes use good mechanics. Their coaches taught them to use actions in their performances that produce the optimal force, velocity, spin, and so forth required by the skill.
    As you progress through steps 4, 5, and 6 in this chapter, you'll get used to associating mechanical principles with technique. You'll start using your knowledge of mechanics when you look at an elite performance, so that you can say to yourself, "I understand the mechanical reasons these champion athletes shift their weight and rotate their hips when they drive a golf ball, and I understand why their arms are extended when the club head contacts the ball." You'll realize that these technical features are necessary actions that must be taught to all young golfers irrespective of their shape, size, and build. The same principles apply to the skills of any sport. Elite performers use good technique based on sound mechanics and so provide you with a model on which to base your coaching.

Step 4: Divide the Skill Into Phases

    Your next task is to divide the skill you're interested in coaching into phases. This process is important because it makes your job much easier when you look for errors in your athlete's performance. Quite simply, it stops you from becoming confused by trying to watch too much of the skill at the same time.
    Most skills consist of several phases. A phase is a connected group of movements that appear to stand on their own and that your athlete joins together in the performance of the total skill. Many skills, for example, can be broken down into the following four phases:
    1. Preparatory movements (setup) and mental set
    2. Windup (also called backswing)
    3. Force-producing movements
    4. Follow-through (or recovery)

    If you look at a golf swing, a hockey slapshot, or a baseball pitch, preparatory movements and mental set make up the first phase in the skill, however brief they might be. The second phase consists of the windup (or backswing) and is followed by the third phase, which includes the force-producing movements. The fourth phase, the follow-through, completes the skill (see figure 7.4). Each phase, starting from the preparatory movements and mental set, leads into and influences the next phase in line like a
chain reaction. This common characteristic tells you that errors occurring during an early phase of a skill are bound to affect all the phases that follow. So when something goes wrong at the end of a skill, examine not only the last phase but also earlier phases to see if the root of the problem lies there. For example, if a golfer makes an error in setting up and addressing the ball or if he performs the backswing incorrectly, the effect of the error carries into the remaining parts of the drive and, of course, into the flight of the ball. Don't be deceived by thinking that all errors stem from the phase in which they occur. Check out earlier phases---the problem often lies there!
    Let's look at each phase individually to see what specific contributions they make toward the performance of the total skill.
 

Preparatory Movements (Setup) and Mental Set
    Preparatory movements and mental set include the motions and mental processes that your athlete goes through when setting up and getting ready to perform. A golfer takes up a stance and addresses the ball. A tennis player gets herself ready to serve and mentally decides where to direct the ball. An offensive lineman will crouch with his muscles in a static-stretch position. When the ball is snapped, his muscles respond with an explosive thrusting motion that immediately leads into the next phase of the skill.
    Cyclic, repetitive skills may require preparatory movements at the start of the skill, after which they normally don't occur. For example, a butterfly swimmer doesn't establish a static stance before each propulsive action. She flows immediately from each arm pull and leg beat into the next.
 

Windup (or Backswing)
    Many skills use a windup, or backswing, in preparation for the movements to follow. Whatever name is given to this phase, the objective remains the same-to stretch the athlete's muscles and establish a position from which she can apply force over an optimal distance or time frame. Examples include the rotary windup of a discus thrower, the backswing in golf and baseball, and the backward extension of a javelin thrower's arm. In a tennis serve and a volleyball spike, the dropping back of the hitting arm to the rear of an athlete's body fulfills a similar purpose to that of a thrower. In kayaking, the forward reach of the paddler before thrusting the blade in the water acts as a windup.
 

Force-Producing Movements

    Force-producing movements are the specific actions that your athlete uses to generate force. They usually involve the athlete's whole body and may include an approach, but in finer, more discrete actions (such as archery or throwing a dart), they may require use of only the arm and shoulder muscles and minimally involve the muscles of the rest of the body.
    Force-producing actions are tremendously important for creating the desired effect of a skill. Your athlete's muscles need to apply force in the correct amount, over the correct range and time period, and in the correct sequence. You'll find that force-producing actions come in many types. They include such sequential actions as the approach, pull, and push of the pole-vaulter; the body extension and arm flexion of the rower; the rotating spins and throwing actions of the hammer thrower and discus thrower; and the approach, takeoff, and arm actions involved in a basketball lay-up. In contrast, in a power lifter's deadlift, the force-producing actions occur almost simultaneously, with the athlete's leg, back, arm, and shoulder muscles pulling at the same time.
    In all skills an important and critical instant in time occurs at the end of the force-producing movements. It happens when a baseball is struck, a takeoff occurs, or an implement is released. At this instant, the athlete has applied the optimal amount of force and set its direction. At this point, there is nothing more that the athlete can do to upgrade the skill.
 

Follow-Through (or Recovery)

    Follow-through and recovery actions occur immediately after the force-producing motions are complete. In throwing skills, the implement has been released, and in hitting skills, the impact has been made. In many skills it is impossible and even dangerous for an athlete to come to a complete stop immediately after completing the force-producing actions. The momentum generated causes your athlete's limbs to continue along their original pathway. The follow­through acts to safely dissipate the force of these actions.
    In a swimming stroke, a skill in which the movement pattern is repeated in a continuous and cyclic fashion, the recovery of the arms leads quickly to the next repetition of the arm pull. In these repetitious skills, momentum and rhythm are an essential part of the cadence of the complete skill. The recovery actions help maintain balance and continuity of motion. In addition to the swimming stroke, other examples include the leg and arm recovery in sprinting, speedskating, and cross-country skiing.

Step 5: Divide Each Phase Into Key Elements

    When you have chosen the most important phases of a skill, direct your attention toward the task of dividing each phase into its key elements. Key elements are distinct actions that join to make up a phase. Try to view a skill as a building that you are erecting. Phases are the walls of your building, and the key elements are the bricks you use to make each wall.
    How do you choose key elements? Identify the distinct actions that are essential to the success of each phase in the skill (the same way you identify phases that are essential to the success of the skill as a whole). A windup phase will have its key elements, as will the force-producing phase and the follow-through.
    The following examples will give you an idea of what key elements are, although we haven't listed every key element in the phases we've chosen. You'll see these key elements in the techniques used by all top-flight athletes. Why? Because they are essential for good technique and contribute mechanically toward the success of the skill. Without them, your athlete could not produce an optimal performance.
    • In the force-producing phase of a golf drive, your athlete shifts his body weight to the rear foot and from the rear to the forward foot. He rotates his hips into the drive and has extended arms when the club contacts the ball. Key elements: weight shift, hip rotation, head position, arm extension.
    • In a high jump approach, your athlete leans into the curved path of her approach, which is part of the force-producing phase of a high jump. At the completion of the approach she leans back and lowers her center of gravity when stepping into the takeoff position. Her arms are positioned to the rear of her body in preparation for swinging forward and upward at takeoff. Key elements: backward lean, lowering of the center of gravity, arms to the rear of the body.
    • In the force-producing phase of a javelin throw, your athlete makes his approach, leans back, and steps forward into a wide throwing position. He then rotates his hips and chest toward the direction of throw. Simultaneously, the athlete shifts his body weight from the rear to the forward leg. (See figure 9.4 on page 187.) Key elements: approach, backward lean, wide throwing stance, hip and chest rotation, weight shift.

    • In a football punt, after stepping forward with the supporting foot, the athlete swings the kicking leg through a long arc. The kicking leg, which starts partially flexed, is fully extended on contact with the ball. The athlete simultaneously shifts his body weight forward and upward into the punt. His arms, which fed the ball onto the kicking foot, are extended sideways to maintain balance. Key elements: extended base, weight shift, long kicking arc, leg extension, arm extension.
 

    Remember that there are more key elements present in each of these skills, and the sequence in which these elements are performed is an important factor in itself. In some phases of a skill, key elements are performed almost simultaneously. In other situations, there is a definite flow from one to the next. With practice and careful observation of elite performances, you will be able to pick out all the key elements for each phase of a skill and understand the timing of their performance. Your next job is to understand the mechanical reasons key elements exist and what purpose they serve. This is the final step.

Step 6: Understand the Mechanical Reasons Each Key Element Is Performed As It Is

    Understanding the mechanical basis behind each key element is a tremendously important step in your sequence. Chapters 2 through 6 showed you how mechanics form the foundation of all sport techniques. All the fundamental actions an athlete makes in technique are founded on mechanical principles. In other words, technique is based on mechanical laws. So once you've picked out the key elements in the skill you are analyzing, you have to understand the mechanical purposes behind each element. You must be able to answer questions of the following nature with responses like the ones listed here.
 

Why cock and uncock the wrists during a golf drive?
    Cocking and uncocking the wrists during a golf drive causes the golfer's arms and club to simulate the whiplash, or flail-like, action of the high-speed tip segments of a whip. When the wrists are cocked and uncocked, they act as an additional axis around which the club can rotate. The velocity developed from the swing (and length) of the golfer's arms is multiplied along the length of the club shaft. Without the cocking and uncocking action, the arms and club move as a fixed unit. This would not allow the head of the club to reach optimal velocity.
 

Why should a sprinter's legs and arms thrust and swing parallel to the direction of sprint during a 100m sprint?
    If a sprinter's arm swing and leg thrust are in any direction other than parallel to the direction of sprint, the forces that the sprinter applies to the earth in the direction of sprint are reduced. In reaction, the force that the earth applies against the sprinter is lessened as well. The result is that the sprinter doesn't run as fast as possible.
 

Why should a freestyle swimmer pull with the hands and forearms along a line parallel to the long axis of the body rather than emphasize an S-shaped "out-in-up-down" pattern of pull?
    Emphasizing an S-shaped "out-in-up-down" motion with the hands during the freestyle stroke is now considered to generate less propulsive force than pulling straight back against the water. A modified S-shaped motion still occurs during entry and exit of the swimmer's hand, but these actions occur more from body roll and the anatomy of the swimmer's body than from efforts to generate more propulsion. It is now considered correct technique to pull back against the water as far as possible parallel to the long axis of the body. Under water, the arms flex at the elbows so that the swimmer's hands and forearms provide the major propulsive surfaces.
 

Why must athletes have their center of gravity positioned behind the jumping foot as they enter a high jump takeoff, or behind both feet as they prepare to jump to block or spike in volleyball?
    Positioning the athlete's takeoff foot ahead of her center of gravity gives the athlete more time to apply force with the jumping leg at takeoff. The athlete rocks forward, up, and then over the jumping foot. This large arc of movement gives the athlete time to drive down at the earth. The earth in reaction drives the athlete upward. The same principle applies to a volleyball spike, a volley­ ball block, a basketball lay-up, and a basketball block.
 

Why is it important for athletes to rotate the hips and thrust them ahead of the upper body during a golf drive, shot put, and discus or javelin throw?
    Rotating the hips ahead of the upper body and toward the direction of throw serves three purposes:
    1. It shifts the athlete's body mass in the proper direction (i.e.., toward the direction that the golf club, discus, shot, javelin, or baseball bat will be accelerated). This action extends the distance and time over which the athlete applies force.
    2. The rotation of the hips acts as an important link in the sequential acceleration of the athlete's body segments. The movement of the athlete's legs and hips toward the direction of throw (or impact with the ball in golf or baseball) simulates swinging a whip handle ahead of the rest of the whip so the tip of the whip will crack.
    3. The rotation of the hips stretches the muscles of the abdomen and chest so that they pull the shoulders and throwing arm in slingshot fashion toward the direction of throw.
 

Why should athletes extend their kicking legs when contacting the ball in a football punt?
    When the athlete extends his kicking leg, it puts the part of the foot that contacts the ball farther from the kicker's axis of rotation (Le., the hip joint). Because of this increase in radius, the kicking foot is moving faster than any other part of the leg when it contacts the ball. The flex­ ion of the kicking leg before contact with the ball, together with its extension at impact, simulates a whiplash action.
 

Why must athletes extend their bodies fully at takeoff in gymnastic and diving skills?
    Any time an athlete needs to rotate quickly, she must apply an eccentric thrust, or an off­ center force, at takeoff to initiate rotation. The athlete must then pull her body inward from a fully extended position. The large reduction in rotary inertia caused by compacting the body mass around the axis of rotation is rewarded by a huge increase in the rate of spin (i.e., angular velocity).
    All phases and all key elements in a skill are performed for specific mechanical purposes. If you know the mechanical reasons they're per­ formed as they are, you can confidently say to yourself, "Okay, I understand what should occur in the technique of this skill, and I understand the mechanical principles behind the movements that the athlete must perform. I'm ready to watch my athlete, and I'm ready to correct any errors that I find."
    We have asked you to use elite performances as a model when you coach. Don't make the mistake of trying to mold a young athlete in the exact image of an elite athlete. When you watch a series of elite performances, be sure to study the basic technique that these top athletes use-nothing more. With your knowledge of mechanics, you'll see the purpose behind these actions. As you improve as a coach, you'll learn to disregard some actions that a top-class athlete uses because they are personal idiosyncrasies and of no mechanical value. Accept them as something that makes an individual athlete comfortable, but disregard them as a necessity for good performance.
    Remember that the actions an elite athlete performs at high velocity over a great range of movement need to be modified to the maturity, strength, flexibility, and endurance of a young athlete. You cannot and must not expect a young, immature athlete or a novice of any age to assume the body positions or match the explosive actions of an elite athlete. This comes with regular training and good coaching.

SUMMARY

• Six steps are useful in analyzing a sport skill:

    1. Determine the objectives of the skill,

    2. note any special characteristics of the skill (these two steps highlight the objectives and conditions governing the performance of a skill),

    3. study elite performances of the skill (this step recommends careful analysis of elite performances of the skill that you are coaching),

    4. divide the skill into phases,

    5. divide each phase into key elements (these last two steps show the importance of breaking a skill down into phases and key elements), and

    6. understand the mechanical reasons a key element is performed as it is (this step emphasizes the need to understand why the performance of the phases and key elements of a skill should be based on sound mechanical principles).
 

    • The rules of sport and the conditions that exist when sport skills are performed determine skill objectives. Most sport skills have more than one skill objective.
    • Sport skills can be divided into different types based on the manner in which the athlete performs the skill and the conditions under which the skill is performed.
    • Non repetitive skills are also called discrete skills because they have a definite beginning and an end. Nonrepetitive skills are frequently joined in a sequence.
    • Repetitive skills have a cyclic, continuous nature, with the movement pattern repeating continuously.
    • Sport skills can be performed in predictable and unpredictable environments. Skills performed in a predictable environment are also called closed skills. Skills performed in an unpredictable environment are called open skills.
    • A phase in a sport is part of a connected group of movements that an athlete joins together in the performance of the total skill.
    • Many skills can be divided into the following four phases: (1) preparatory movements (setup) and mental set, (2) windup (backswing), (3) force-producing movements, and (4) follow-through (recovery).
    • Key elements are the finer, distinct actions that together make up a phase. Force-producing movements generally contain the most key elements.
    • An understanding of the mechanics of a sport skill's key elements and phases is necessary in order to coach a technically correct performance of a sport skill.

PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES

    1. Identifying objectives for sport skills. Make up a list of 10 different sport skills, and write down the objectives for performing each of these skills. Pick as wide a variety of sport skills as you can and refer to your text for assistance. Remember that many sport skills will have more than one objective.
    2. Identifying fundamental patterns and individual characteristics in sport skills. By watching videos or attending sporting events, watch the performances of five elite or high-level athletes all performing the same sport skill. Write down the fundamental movement patterns that these athletes perform in a similar manner. Then write a list of individual movement characteristics that distinguish these athletes one from the other.
    3. Comparing elite athletes to novices. Compare and contrast elite athletes and novices performing the same sport skill. Choose five different sport skills. List the characteristics of technique that make the elite athlete so much better than the novice performer.
    4. Analyzing high-velocity sport skills. By watching videos or attending sporting events, watch the performance by elite athletes of the following high-velocity sport skills: (a) discus throw, (b) baseball batting, (c) javelin throw, (d) golf drive, (e) tennis serve, and (f) badminton smash. Compare and contrast the sequence of limb movements that the athletes use, how they shift their body weight, and other factors that are characteristic in producing high-velocity movements. In addition, note any outstanding similarities and differences that occur.
    5. Equipment development. List equipment developments and changes that have occurred over the last 10 to 15 years in five sport skills of your choice. When selecting these sport skills, be sure to consider both winter and summer sports. Some excellent examples for consideration are swimming, cycling, speedskating, ski jumping, and golf.
 

FROM: SPORT MECHANICS FOR COACHES by Gerry Carr