A skill is a learned ability to perform an action with predetermined results, often with good execution and efficiency. These abilities can range from simple movements to complex sequences of actions. Within the study of human movement and motor learning, skills are often categorized based on the environment in which they are performed. This categorization helps in understanding how different skills are acquired, practiced, and applied in various contexts.
Understanding Open Skills
Open skills are performed in dynamic, unpredictable, and externally paced environments. The performer must constantly adapt to changing conditions, as there is no clear beginning or end to the action. These skills heavily rely on perception, requiring quick interpretation and decision-making.
Consider sports like soccer, basketball, or surfing, where players must react to opponents’ movements, the ball’s trajectory, or shifting waves. Driving a car in traffic also exemplifies an open skill; the driver continuously adjusts speed, direction, and braking based on other vehicles, pedestrians, and road conditions.
Understanding Closed Skills
In contrast, closed skills are performed in stable, predictable, and self-paced environments. The performer can plan and execute their movements in advance, with minimal external interference. These skills have a clear beginning and end, allowing for consistent repetition and refinement of technique.
Examples from sports include bowling, archery, or a gymnastics routine, where the environment remains constant and the athlete controls the timing of their actions. Everyday activities like writing, typing on a keyboard, or brushing teeth also represent closed skills.
Practical Applications of the Distinction
Understanding the difference between open and closed skills is important for skill acquisition, training methodologies, and performance analysis. It helps individuals and coaches design practice environments tailored to the skill’s demands. For instance, a skill like dribbling a soccer ball can be a closed skill during isolated practice but becomes an open skill in a competitive match due to the presence of opponents and changing game situations.
Training for open skills incorporates variable practice, emphasizing decision-making, adaptability, and responding to diverse scenarios. This might involve drills that simulate game conditions, forcing the performer to react to unexpected stimuli and make quick adjustments. Conversely, training for closed skills focuses on fixed practice, involving repeated execution of the same movement pattern to perfect technique and ensure consistency. This distinction also influences feedback strategies; feedback for closed skills centers on the technical aspects of movement, while for open skills, it focuses on the performer’s ability to adapt to environmental changes and use perceptual cues effectively.