Skill Classification
The difficulty continuum refers to whether a skill is simple or complex. A simple skill is a skill that does not require much thought processing, much cognition and is easy to do without thinking about how to carry it out. Whereas a complex skill requires a lot of thought processing, information processing and thinking about how to execute the skill. An example of a simple skill would be running and an example of a complex skill would be doing a double back somersault in a trampoline routine.
The environmental influence continuum refers to whether skills are open or closed at the extreme ends. An open skill is a skill which takes place in an environment which is constantly changing and therefore requires the performer to process information in order to carry out the skill. An example of an open skill would be a footballer dribbling around defenders in a football match. A closed skill on the other hand is a skill that takes place in an environment which is stable and which is predictable because it does not change. The environment remains the same every time the skill is carried out and an example of a closed skill would be a dive from a 10 metre board because the environment remains constant every time the skill is carried out.
The pacing continuum refers to whether skills are self-paced or externally paced at their extreme. A self-paced skill is a skill which is carried out by the performer when they are ready to start the action and the performer controls when to start the skill and rate at which the skill is carried out. An example of a self-paced skill is a tennis serve. On the other hand an externally paced skill is a skill in which the performer does not have control over when to start the skill and an example of an externally paced skill would be receiving a tennis serve.
The muscular involvement continuum refers to skills that are gross at one end of the continuum and fine at the other end. A gross skill is a skill which uses large muscle groups and carries out explosive, ballistic movements, whereas a fine skill involves intricate movements focused on precision and accuracy and uses small muscle groups. An example of a gross skill is throwing the shot put, whereas an example of a fine skill is squeezing the trigger in clay pigeon shooting.
The continuity continuum involves three elements. At one end of the continuum are discrete skills and at the other end are continuous skills. In the middle, there is a third element which are serial skills. A discrete skill is a skill that has a clear beginning and end. Whereas a continuous skill is a skill that has no clear beginning or end and a serial skill is a skill which has a number of discrete skills that are combined together in order to make up the serial skill. An example of a discrete skill is catching a ball and an example of a continuous skill is the leg action in running. An example of a serial skill is the triple jump, where the three discrete skills are the hop, the step, and the jump. When they are combined together they create the triple jump.
The organisation continuum refers to whether skills are high in organisation or low in organisation. A high organisation skill is a skill which is hard to break down into subroutines, whereas a skill with low organisation is easy to break down into subroutines. An example of a high organisation skill is a golf swing, because it is hard to break a golf swing down into subroutines. An example of a low organisational skill is a tennis serve, because it is made up of a number of subroutines and it is easy to break the skill down into these subroutines.