Gross& Fine Motor Skills•Thegross-fine skills continuum concentrates on the precision of movement.•GrossMotor skills involve large muscle movements therefore, these skills are notvery precise and they include many of the fundamental movement patterns, likewalking and jumping. Examples of skills which are predominantly gross are theshot-put, swimming and running, etc.•FineMotor Skills involve more intricate movements using muscle groups. These skillstend to be precise in nature and generally involve a high degree of hand-eyecoordination. An example of a fine motor skill is a snooker shot or the bowlingaction in cricket where the sporting action is focused on smaller muscles likethe wrist extensors and wrist flexors creating the flexion movement at thewrists.Open& closed Skills•Theopen-closed skills continuum is concerned with the effects of the environmenton skills.

•Openskills are affected by the environment and are, therefore, predominantlyperceptual. The movements have to be adapted to the environment and the skillis mostly externally paced – for example, a pass in football or dribbling pastyour opponent in a match. •Closedskills are not affected by the environment ad are predominantly habitual.Movements follow a set pattern and have a definite beginning and end.

So, theseskills tend to be self-paced. An example of a closed skill is a free throw inbasketball or completing lay up drills in training facing no competition oropposition.•Thiscontinuum is often used in conjunction with the open-closed continuum andrefers to the timing of movements.•Self-pacedskills occur when the performer controls the rate at which the skill isexecuted. Self-pacing involves proaction by the performer. Self-paced skillsare usually closed skills – an example is a javelin throw or a discus throw asyou don’t change how you perform whether it be in training or a competition.

•Externally-pacedskills are to do with the environment, which may include your opponent, thatcontrols the rate of performing the skill. This type of skill involves areaction and is usually an open skill, such as receiving a serve in badmintonor a striker taking a shot against a goalkeeper in a match trying to score.•Thisis concerned with how well defined the beginning and the end of the skill are.•Discreteskills have a clear beginning and end a clear end, therefore the skill can berepeated but the performer must start again from the beginning. A discreteskill is single and specific. For instance, a penalty flick in hockey is anexample of such a skill.•Serialskills have several discrete elements which are put together to make anintegrated movement or sequence of movements – for example, the sequence ofskills in a triple jump.

•Although,continuous skills have no obvious beginning or end – the end of one cycle ofmovement is the beginning of the next. The skill is repeated as a set pattern –for example, cycling.•Forthis continuum skills can be classified according to the types of judgementsand decisions that you have to make to perform the skill.•Ifthere are a lot of decisions to make, then the skill is known as a complexskill and therefore may have to be learned in stages to make it easier for theperformer.

•However,if the skill is a straightforward with hardly any judgements and decisions tomake then it is known as a simple skill and can be taught as a whole and in afairly repetitive way.•Anexample for a complex skill could be a slip catch in cricket, or a pass by amidfield player in hockey who has to make many decisions to be accurate beforeshe passes.•Asimple skill could be a sprint start in swimming, for example, where there arevery few decisions that have to be made to be precise.•Thismeans the type of skill and the way in which it is organised can also beclassified so that effective teaching and learning can take place. If a skillhas elements or sub-routines that Are very difficult to separate, then it isknown as a highly organised skill, such as dribbling in basketball or trying todribble past an opponent in football.•Furthermore,if a skill is split up into sub-routines that are easily identified as separatemovements then it has low organisation, such as a tennis serve.