Lesson video

Hi there, and welcome to today's lesson.

My name's Mr. Swaithes, and I'm really looking forward to teaching you today.

So today's lesson is called Characteristics of skilful Movement, and it's from the Sports Psychology Skill and Ability Unit.

And what I'm really hoping to do in this lesson is get you to start to explore some of those psychological factors that influence participation in sport before we delve into the detail of what a skilful movement looks like.

So I wonder before we get going, can you think about what is a skilful movement? When you see someone perform sport, what makes you think that skilful? And when you watch someone else, you think, well, that's not skilful.

I can think of plenty of examples where I've been very unskilful in my performance, and certainly in my early learning of some skills.

So by the end of today's lesson, you're gonna be able to explain with practical examples the characteristics of skilful movement.

And the key words for today's lesson are motor skill, skilful movement, and aesthetically pleasing.

I wonder, have you come across that term aesthetics before? We often talk about it in a sense of perhaps gymnastics or dance routines, so we say that it's aesthetically pleasing, i.

e.

it is visually attractive or beautiful to the eye, but it's not held just for perhaps dance and gymnastics activities.

You can also have a really aesthetically pleasing tennis serve, for example.

Today's lesson is split up into two parts.

In the first part, I'm gonna get you to explore the broad area of sport psychology to help you understand and value that alongside physiology in trying to perform well at sport.

And then we'll get into the second part of today's lesson, where you're gonna be able to explain the characteristics of skilful movement.

So hope you're ready, let's get going.

So Aisha's got a question for us to start us off.

What is sports psychology? Do you know? Andeep is wondering, well, how does it help a sports performer? Any thoughts on that one? Well, sports psychology is the study of how psychological factors affect performance and participation in sports and physical activities.

It involves understanding mental processes, so I guess what's going on in your head, and applying strategies to improve motivation, to improve focus, to improve your technique, and therefore, to improve your athletic performance as well as your overall wellbeing.

So let's do a quick check.

Which of the following aspects of performance are influenced by sports psychology? Notice it's spelt very similar but actually very different to sport physiology, which is about the body and how it works.

So psychology is more connected with the brain.

What do you think? Is it A, motivation, B, focus, C, strength, or D, technique? And more than one of these might be correct.

That's right, because it's connected with the brain and how we think, motivation, focus, and technique are all related to sports psychology, whereas strength is one of those physiological factors along with flexibility and cardiovascular endurance, et cetera.

So here, we've got a brain, and our brain is responsible for making really important decisions, but also for how we feel.

Consequently, it has a massive impact on your performance in sports.

Many would argue it has more impact on performance than physical skill at the elite level.

So when we look at those world class or GOAT performers, greatest of all-time performers, we often think what sets them apart from everyday, good-quality sports people is what's going on in their head, what they're able to do psychologically, because actually in terms of the performance of their skills, their physiology and also some of their technique, it's very similar to others at that top end, but what is it that sets them apart? Often, it's what's going on between the ears.

So sports psychology plays a really important role then, doesn't it? At all stages of participation and certainly at the performance end of sports.

Here's a few examples.

So for everyday participation, so prior to participating in sport, I guess psychology provides that motivation to turn up.

During participation, it provides that kind of focus to try hard, and then post-participation, that feeling of positivity about the experience.

So Jacob's wondering, what about elite performers then? What's different for them in pre-participation, during participation, and post-participation do you think? Well, let's have a look.

So pre-competition, I guess it's the motivation to train hard, the same as it is for the rest of us.

Focus to learn new skills or maybe break down their skills and relearn them with a different technique.

I dunno if you've ever tried to change your technique in a sport that you play, but it's really hard to break it down and change it.

And then setting goals to support improvement.

And then just before competition, sports psychology plays a really important role in calming your nerves and I guess setting that sense of believing in your own ability.

Also, positive thinking in the moment and stress management and positive mindset.

So those things that help you get relaxed and ready for competition, that help you perhaps sleep the night before and not be too nervous on the morning of an event.

And then during that big competition, sports psychology helps you relax and be able to focus on the really important cues.

So the things that are going on and not get distracted by the school, the crowd, the officials and their decisions, or other participants.

But also, mental rehearsal.

So I'm sure you've seen, I'm a big rugby fan and when I watch rugby and there's a penalty, you can really see the players going through that mental rehearsal, where they're rerunning in their mind through a successful kick before they take their kick, and that really helps improve the performance.

It's something that back in the days of Jonny Wilkinson, his coach really supported him with, and that's been something that we've seen since that day with almost all number tens or fly halves that are taking kicks in rugby penalties, but it'll happen in football penalties and obviously other sports as well.

So Jacob's wondering, can you think of any others? So there are lots more examples of where sports psychology plays a part.

Let's do a quick check.

So true or false, peak performance in sport is only determined by physical skills or your physiology? What do you think? That's right.

It's false, isn't it? And can you tell me why? Yeah, so physical skills are important, but the brain and body are super connected, and equal efforts need to go into training your brain as well as training your muscles to perform at your best.

I wonder when did you last put time into training your brain, or do you prioritise training your body, your physiology? Okay, well, interestingly, Matthew Syed, so he's a famous table tennis player, and he recalls how he choked in the Olympics in 2000, and he's written a lot about it since then.

A great book called "Bounce," another one called "Black Box Thinking," and he had done all of the preparation in the lead up to that Olympics.

He had been the England number one for almost a decade, and three-times Commonwealth Champion.

He had all the skills and was in the form of his life, so absolutely playing at his peak.

There was nothing wrong with his body.

However, when the big moment came, he says that he really suffered paralysis by analysis and lost all ability to hit even the simple shot.

So his brain almost just started to try and take over, and some of those skills that he almost did automatically without thinking during less important matches, his brain was trying to take over and trying to overthink how to hit the different shots and what decisions to make, and as a consequence, he had an absolute catastrophic crash in his ability.

So that brings us nicely in today's first practise task.

I'd like you to populate the following table to suggest at least one psychological challenge that prepares performers, and I guess that they might face at each of the different times, of pre-competition, just before competition, and during a big competition.

And then once you've done that, I'd like you to research an elite sports performer of your choice, or maybe a team, and I want you to find one that's been impacted by psychological factors that have resulted in a poor performance.

And I want you to describe the situation and the outcome and I want you to suggest reasons for that poor performance and what perhaps could be done next time or by the coaches or the players themselves to avoid a similar situation in the future.

So a really nice task here to get you exploring and discovering some of the wonderful world of sports psychology.

Pauses the video now whilst you do that and come back to me when you are ready.

And you know what, Laura's got a tip.

If you can't find an example from elite sport, perhaps if you've not got access to the internet or you can't think of any examples, then maybe you can think of something that's happened in a PE lesson or in a school sports fixture instead and describe that situation, describe why that poor performance happened.

Enjoy.

Okay, great, so hopefully you've come back to me 'cause you're ready to hear what my thoughts were on this one.

So that first task of populating the table, let's have a look at the pre-competition.

So we talked, didn't we, about how psychology helps with motivation to train hard about being focused to learn new skills or modify technique or goal set to support improvement.

So I hope you've got one of those ideas down.

And then just before competition, sports psychology plays an important part in calming your nerves, believing in your own ability, positive thinking, and then stress management and positive mindset.

Perhaps you've got one of those down, and if not, add it to your notes now.

And then thirdly, during that big competition, sports psychology plays an important role in helping performers relax and focus on the important cues, helps 'em not get distracted by the school, the crowd, the officials' decisions or other participants.

And then perhaps instead, you put mental rehearsals, so the example I shared about penalty kickers in rugby and how they go through this little routine before they take their kick to make sure they're in the best state possible to take it.

And what about the second task then? So there's lots of examples and here's just a few.

So Simone Biles withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics, do you remember that? And it was due to mental health concerns and are conditioned known as the twisties, which if you're involved in gymnastics you will have heard of.

So that's where you have this kind of mental block through fear of failure and hurting yourself, and therefore, some of those crazy moves that she does off the vaults, she was really put off and thought she was going to have an accident trying to do them, so she had to stop.

Well, the great news is Simone went back to basics and took her time to build back her confidence to achieve three golds in Paris in 2024.

What a turnaround that one was.

And then maybe you remember the three footballers that missed their penalties in the Euro 2020 final to lose to Italy.

So maybe arousal, selective attention, and fear of failure issues contributed towards that.

And the the manager, Gareth Southgate, changed the team culture to try and help build that psychological safety so that no player felt left out on their own as they were taking that penalty with the world's eyes on them and all of those England supporters ready to jump up and blame them for perhaps missing that penalty, and that pressure just became too much.

And then we've got Emma Raducano.

So I'm a massive tennis fan, and she came from nowhere to win the US Open in 2021, and after that, kind of set up to be the next big thing.

she was just in the middle of her A level, so not much older than you, and after that big win, followed a series of poor performances.

Well, perhaps she wasn't quite ready for that jump to stardom at age just 18 and expectations that followed that.

So she certain is invested a lot of time and energy in psychological support.

So she's employed a psychologist, as well as she's struggled a bit with some injuries, so some connection with physiology there as well.

And then I've got one more example for you.

So just before recording this lesson, George Ford missed a drop kick in the Autumn Internationals of rugby against New Zealand in 2024.

And he did that and lost the last play of the game.

So it is a drop kick that I really felt that he was fully capable of scoring, a`nd you know what, it was a big reminder of when England won the World Cup with Jonny Wilkinson's drop kick.

I could almost see that play recreating itself, but you know what, in the moment, the pass that he received was not optimal.

It wasn't a good pass, but he'd perhaps already decided that the plan was to do that drop kick to win the game, whereas maybe he needed to adjust in the moment and play another phase, and that would've been a smarter choice than what was already pre-planned in his head to go through.

And maybe more mental preparation to think calmly under pressure would've helped make the right decision in that moment.

Now, I'd be really surprised if you pick one of those four examples, but hopefully you came up with one and enjoyed researching it.

Let's move into the second part of today's lesson then, where we're gonna help you explain the characteristics of skilful movement.

So skilful execution of specific techniques is essential if you want to achieve peak performance.

You've only gotta watch sports on TV, and you see so many different techniques performed beautifully at that exceptional level.

So I wonder, do you know what the main characteristics of skilful performance are? For example, think about an elite free kick in football or a tennis serve or a dive in swimming, and what are the common features that say that is quality, versus perhaps if you went down to your local park and watched some children, some beginners trying to play those sports, what would theirs look like in contrast? Well, all skilful movements have the following characteristics.

They are fluent, predetermined, aesthetically pleasing.

We mentioned that word at the beginning, didn't we? Aesthetics, when something looks beautiful.

They're coordinated and they are efficient.

And you might wonder, why have I highlighted the first letter of those words and made them bigger? Well, I think it's really helpful to have a sort of an acronym that can help you remember these.

So I've always wanted to drive a jaguar F-PACE It's kind of their four-by-four car, and so I've rearranged these into the order of F for fluent, P for predetermined, A for aesthetically pleasing, C for coordinated, and E for efficient, i.

e.

F-PACE But I wonder, do you know what is meant by each of these terms? Could you perhaps explain what that term means and give a sporting example? That's what Sofia's asking us to do next.

And as I said, think of a Jaguar F-PACE to help you remember them.

F for fluent, P for predetermined, A for aesthetically pleasing, C for coordinated, and E for efficient.

Let's take a look at each of those in turn then.

So for fluency, well, a fluent movement is one that looks effortless and smooth.

For example, this skateboarder linking a number of tricks together without falling over.

What about predetermined then? Well, skilful execution means that the planned outcome is achieved as intended.

For example, a penalty shot in football goes where the striker aims it to go.

If you are skilful, I'm sure you're able to pinpoint where you want to aim something and get it to go there every time, whereas perhaps a less skilful performance would mean it might go anywhere.

What about aesthetic then, or aesthetically pleasing? Well, there's certainly grace and beauty in the performance of skilful movements, isn't there? For example, a diver getting into the perfect body position with their toes pointed as they rotate and enter the water.

And then what about coordinated? Well, effective movements often require that coordination of multiple body parts, so perhaps your arms and your legs at the same time.

For example, here we've got a gymnast spinning their legs around whilst moving their hands on the pommel horse, a really hard skill to learn that requires great coordination.

And then we come on to efficiency.

So skilful performers are able to execute effectively without wasting time or energy or effort.

Are you efficient when you play different sports, when you demonstrate different skills? Well, for example, butterfly stroke in swimming is exhausting, isn't it? And you go nowhere unless your technique is well grooved.

So I know that I'm not an efficient butterfly stroke swimmer.

Here's an example for you.

So my golf does not look like this one in the image.

It does not have the characteristics of a skilful movement.

So for example, the movement looks jerky and is awkward.

It is not fluent, the F of F-PACE.

Can you explain how my golf, and I'm letting you know now my golf is not good, how my golf is not predetermined.

That's right, the ball does not go where intended.

So the ball goes all over the place.

Every shot, it's disappearing off into the the rough.

What about aesthetics? That's right.

It does not look nice or graceful.

When you see me, you think, ooh, that looks a bit awkward.

He doesn't play golf.

What about coordinated? Can you think? That's right, the arms, legs, and trunk need to be in sync to hit that perfect golf ball.

But instead, I'm hitting chunks of grass, not the ball.

What about efficient? That's right, so it seems the harder I swing, I'm really trying to prepare and get a bigger swing with that driver, and it's almost the harder I swing, the less farther shot goes.

It's like the ball's laughing at me.

Does that resonate to you and provide a nice example of that F-PACE in action for skilful versus non-skilful movement? Well, that brings us nicely into the second and final practise task of today's lesson.

So I'd like you to select either a basketball free throw or a cross in football and use the F-PACE acronym to explain each of the five characteristics of skilful movement.

And then secondly, I'd like you to choose a skill in a sport of your choice and provide another example.

Pause the video now whilst you do that and come back to me as soon as you are ready.

Well done.

So you hopefully selected either the basketball free throw or the cross in football.

Well, let's go through the basketball free throw first.

So its fluency is because the arm movements look effortless and smooth.

That's hopefully something along those lines that you've written.

It's predetermined because the ball bounces off the same spot on the backboard every time as planned by that basketballer.

It's aesthetic, so the performance looks graceful with a nice wave goodbye to the ball at the end.

It's coordinated because the elbow extends at the same time as the wrist flexing, the knees extending, and that gives power from that whole body involvement.

And then it's efficient, so the ball travels almost effortlessly.

It glides towards the basket with what looks like minimal effort applied.

There we go, F-PACE in action for a basketball shot.

And what about that cross then? So fluency, the arm is providing balance and the kicking leg movements look effortless and smooth.

for predetermined, well, the ball travels with pinpoint accuracy to swerve, and it swerves in line ready for a teammate to header it into the goal as planned.

It's aesthetic, it looks beautiful and it's got finesse.

It's coordinated, so the non-striking foot provides that solid foundation next to the ball to allow that full swing and follow through with the striking foot, as well as arm movements to add balance and a little bit of extra momentum.

And then it's efficient, so the ball travels almost effortlessly towards the six-yard box.

I hope you got all five of those for your chosen skill.

And then what about a skill of your own choice? Well, you might have said, when playing tennis, the serve is a complex skill that needs a lot of practise.

And with that practise, you are able to perform it with all of the characteristics of skilful movement.

And then I'm gonna go through each of them for that example of a tennis set, but maybe you picked a different complex skill.

So F, it's fluent, so the ball toss, the racket swing, the body weight transfer, all perfectly timed to hit the ball at that right moment at the top of its flight.

It's predetermined to land in the same area of the opponent's service box to put them under pressure.

Often we see, don't we, with players serving to the backhand side of their opponent.

It's aesthetically pleasing because it looks beautiful.

As I said earlier, you know Roger Federer is an example of such a graceful tennis player where his serve almost looks effortless, but it's going at over 100 miles per hour.

It is well coordinated 'cause it used the arm, the trunk or the back, and the legs all in that movement.

And then it's efficient because of the timing of those combined levers, the energy goes into the ball and it's not wasted perhaps in the wrong timing.

So all of those combine to make a great serve.

Did you use tennis, or perhaps you picked a different example? And that gives me just enough time to summarise today's lesson.

So skill refers to the learned ability to bring about a predetermined result with maximum certainty.

So if you are a skilful performer, you can bring about that predetermined result with maximum certainty, you're most likely to achieve, I guess.

A motor skill is specific movements of the body's muscles to perform a certain task, so for example, walking or a tennis serve.

And then we all picked a skilful movement, didn't we? And we said that it's fluent, it's predetermined, it's aesthetically pleasing, it's C for coordinated, and it's E for efficient.

Well done in today's lesson.

I hope you're able to remember those five characteristics of a skilful movement and apply them to a sporting example.

I enjoyed working with you today, and I look forward to seeing you again next time.

Bye for now.