Skill Acquisition in Sport ─ Research, theory and practice

Success in sport depends upon the athlete's ability to develop and perfect a specific set of perceptual, cognitive and motor skills. Now in a fully revised and updated new edition, Skill Acquisition in Sport examines how we learn such skills and, in particular, considers the crucial role of practice and instruction in the skill acquisition process.

Containing thirteen completely new chapters, and engaging with the significant advances in neurophysiological techniques that have profoundly shaped our understanding of motor control and development, the book provides a comprehensive review of current research and theory on skill acquisition. Leading international experts explore key topics such as:



attentional focus


augmented Feedback


observational practice and learning


implicit motor learning


mental imagery training


physical guidance


motivation and motor learning


neurophysiology


development of skill


joint action.

Throughout, the book addresses the implications of current research for instruction and practice in sport, making explicit connections between core science and sporting performance. No other book covers this fundamental topic in such breadth or depth, making this book important reading for any student, scholar or practitioner working in sport science, cognitive science, kinesiology, clinical and rehabilitation sciences, neurophysiology, psychology, ergonomics or robotics.

Nicola Hodges is an Associate Professor with the School of Kinesiology, UBC, Canada, where she studies motor skill learning and correlates of expert performance. She has contributed to the understanding of processes involved in learning from observation and instruction and practice behaviours for elite performance.
A. Mark Williams is Professor of Motor Behaviour in the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. He has published widely in areas related to expertise, skill acquisition and motor control and learning.

Preface - NICOLA HODGES and MARK WILLIAMS I. PRESENTING INFORMATION 1. The roles and uses of augmented feedback in motor skill acquisition - RICHARD MAGILL and DAVID ANDERSON 2. Mixing it up a little: How to schedule observational practice - NICOLE ONG and NICOLA HODGES 3. Attentional focus affects movement efficiency - KEITH LOHSE, GABRIELE WULF and REBECCA LEWTHWAITE 4. Advances in implicit motor learning - RICHARD S. W. MASTERS and JAMIE POOLTON II: OPTIMIZING PRACTICE CONDITIONS 5. Scheduling practice - TIMOTHY LEE 6. Mental imagery, action observation and skill learning - AIDAN MORAN, MARK CAMPBELL, PAUL HOLMES and TADHG MACINTYRE 7. Ecological dynamics and motor learning design in sport - KEITH DAVIDS, DUARTE ARAÚJO, ROBERT HRISTOVSKI, PEDRO PASSOS AND JIA YI CHOW 8. The representation, production, and transfer of simple and complex movement sequences - CHARLES SHEA and DAVID WRIGHT 9. Physical guidance research: Assisting principles and supporting evidence - NICOLA HODGES and PAUL CAMPAGNARO III: ISSUES IN MOTOR LEARNING 10. Motor learning through a motivational lens - REBECCA LEWTHWAITE and GABRIELE WULF 11. Motor skill consolidation - MAXIME TREMPE and LUC PROTEAU 12. Critical periods, readiness and skill learning - DAVID ANDERSON, RICHARD MAGILL and REGIS THOUVARECQ 13. Mechanisms of skilled joint action performance - TERRY ESKENAZI, ROBRECHT VAN DER WEL and NATALIE SEBANZ 14. Motor skill learning and its neurophysiology - KATIE WADDEN, MICHAEL BORICH and LARA BOYD IV: SKILLED PERFORMANCE 15. The development of skill in sport - JEAN COTE, JENNIFER MURPHY MILLS and BRUCE ABERNETHY 16. Experts have all the time in the world - BRUCE ABERNETHY, DAMIAN FARROW, ADAM GORMAN and DAVID MANN 17. Perceptual expertise: what can be trained? JOE CAUSER, CHRISTOPHER JANELLE, JOAN VICKERS and A. MARK WILLIAMS 18. Embodied cognition: from the playing field to the classroom - CARLY KONTRA, NEIL ALBERT and SIAN BEILOCK 19. Especial skills: generality and specificity in motor learning - GAVIN BRESLIN, RICHARD SCHMIDT and TIMOTHY LEE V: RESEARCH, THEORY & PRACTICE: CHALLENGES & SOLUTIONS 20. Translating Theory into Practice: Working at the ‘Coal Face’ in the UK! - A. MARK WILLIAMS, PAUL FORD, JOE CAUSER, OLIVER LOGAN and STAFFORD MURRAY 21. Working in the field: A Southern hemisphere perspective - CHRIS BUTTON and DAMIAN FARROW