Year 11 - Physical education
The difficulty and environmental continua
Sport psychology: skill and ability
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit develops understanding of what skillful movement looks like and how it can be classified on different continua. It builds on the basic understanding that psychological factors can affect sporting performance in the same way physiological factors influence it.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to classify skills based on their characteristics and place them on the environmental and difficulty continua.
Key Notes
- Skills can be classified along continua based on their charactersitics.
- The difficulty continua classifies skills between simple and complex based on how difficult they are to perform.
- The environmental continua classifies skills between open and closed based on the level of environmental influence.
Vocabulary To Learn
- simple skill: a skill which is quickly learned as there are very few decisions to be made when performing the skill
- complex skill: a skill which requires a lot of focus and decision making to perform
- open skills: skills affected by the environment and predominantly perceptual as they must be adapted to suit the environment. These are usually externally paced e.g. a pass within a game situation in football
- closed skills: skills that are performed in a predictable environment e.g. a player taking a line out in rugby
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- A very common mistake made when classifying skills is to name a sport without the skill. For example, trying to classify 'rugby' rather than one of the many different skills within rugby.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
Skills can be classified along continua based on their charactersitics. The difficulty continua classifies skills between simple and complex based on how difficult they are to perform.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'simple skill'
a skill which is quickly learned as there are very few decisions to be made when performing the skill.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: A very common mistake made when classifying skills is to name a sport without the skill. For example, trying to classify 'rugby' rather than one of the many different skills within rugby. Correction: Ensure pupils understand that specific skills are required and that they can name multiple examples of skills from different sports.
More Lessons In This Unit
Browse all guides in the Year 11 Physical education guide library.