The Athletic Skills Model
If the question is how to develop a multi-layered approach to sport-specific training, then the Athletics Skills Model is a solution. The aim is to produce high-performance athletes who are capable of responding to the many and varied physical challenges that athletic performance brings.
If you find a kid who is good at maths, you don’t just focus on maths at the expense of all other subjects through early specialisation.
A sports sampling approach is suggested—multi-lateral skill development with specialisation occurring around age 13-15. This involves fewer training hours focused on one sport and more time spread across different sports.
A child who enjoys moving becomes a multi-faceted good mover, and that multi-faceted good mover becomes an athlete. Finally, they develop expertise in their chosen sport and become a specialist.
Right now, kids move less in general and have reduced exposure to varied movement. It’s this wide base of athletic skills that is missing—adding specialism to this narrow base of experience is believed to increase injury risk and reduce athletic lifespan.
It is the search for and discovery of functional performance solutions that should be the subject of repetition, not a specific movement pattern. Transfer of learning, sports sampling, and reduction in deliberate practice are at the heart of the Athletic Skills Model.
To understand how we arrived at this situation, we must critically assess both the learning environment and coaching expectations.
The challenge for coaches is to have the relevant understanding and skill to create organised learning programs in very challenging situations (children are at different developmental stages at any given chronological age group).
The question is, what is repeated? Repetition of play versus repetition of practice.
Exploring the most valuable information sources to regulate actions enhances transfer specificity—improving decision-making quality by being selective about which information sources children use.
This approach helps learners adapt their movement behaviours to different environmental contexts.
In the younger years, a child takes classes not by choice but by coincidence in the environment, to fit the culture of the parents. Enthusiastic, competent coaches aim to make the sport enjoyable. Parents are enablers, and the peer group is supportive.
In the middle years, it becomes about the accuracy of acting. Coaches are demanding. If younger children encountered these demanding coaches prematurely, they would likely quit—strict coaching has no place in the early years.
Parents’ role changes with children displaying greater independence and social relatedness. Training is typically between 10 and 20 hours a week.
In the later years, talented individuals create their own performance style. Coaches move to a mentor role. Creating lifestyle patterns that support their particular area of expertise. Note the role of parent and coach changes, although it’s poorly understood.
The Developmental Model of Sports Participation (DMSP) focuses on Performance, Participation, and Personal Development using three stages of development:
Sampling Years (6-12):
- Characterised by trying different sports and positions within sports, allowing children to explore their skills
- Emphasised deliberate play, enjoyment, and multi-sport exposure
- Focus on fun, peer relationships, and broad skill development
- The trainer avoids a dominant role
Specialising Years (13-15):
- Gradual focus on fewer sports
- Transition period where specialisation begins to occur
- Balance between deliberate play and deliberate practice
Transfer of skills – basic skills of different sports overlap, accelerating perceptual motor development.
Investment Years (16+):
- Commitment to one sport for elite performance
- High levels of deliberate practice
- Performance-oriented training
While some sports require early specialisation (gymnastics, tennis, figure skating) and others favour late specialisation (team sports, athletics, basketball), an athlete-centered approach consistently emphasises dexterity, enhanced functionality, problem-solving capacity, and adaptability regardless of the specialisation timeline.
The rush to match children for biological age, not chronological age, needs to be considered – adaptation to stronger and faster opponents could be advantageous for late developers, provided it is safe.
Growth Patterns During Adolescence
Sequential Order of Growth:
- Feet, hands, and head grow first
- Arms and legs lengthen
- Trunk develops
- The width of the trunk expands last
This sequential pattern explains why adolescents often appear “gangly” or uncoordinated during growth spurts.
Key Growth Concepts
Peak Height Velocity (PHV): The period when a child experiences their fastest growth during the adolescent growth spurt
Age at PHV (APHV): The specific age when an individual reaches their maximum growth rate
Growth Spurt Onset: Typically begins approximately one year before PHV occurs
Monitoring Development
Assessment Focus:
- Timing of growth spurt onset
- The speed at which growth is occurring
- Individual variation in development patterns
Methods for Determining Biological Age:
- X-ray examination of epiphyses (growth plates)
- Assessment of secondary sexual characteristics
- Tracking age at PHV
Female-Specific Considerations
Menstruation Timeline:
- Typically begins about one year after PHV
- Average age: 12-13 years
- Additional growth of approximately 6cm occurs after menstruation begins
Training Impact on Development:
- Heavy training can delay first menstruation by 1-3 years
- Influenced by genetic predisposition
- Related to the critical fat hypothesis (minimum body fat needed for menstruation)
Training Implications
Individual Approach: Training programs should be individualised based on each learner’s unique growth patterns and constraints, rather than chronological age alone.
Female Athlete Concerns
Menstrual Irregularities by Sport Type:
- Aesthetic sports: 21% experience irregular menstruation
- Endurance and strength sports: 10%
- Risk increases with excessive training and low body fat
Female Athlete Triad:
- Eating disorders
- Menstrual problems
- Osteoporosis
Eating Disorder Prevalence:
- Female athletes: 15-62%
- Non-athletes: 3%
Long-term Health Impact:
- Eating disorders + menstrual issues → increased osteoporosis risk in later life
- Oestrogen plays a critical role in calcium uptake
Peak Height Velocity (PHV) Timing
Boys: 12-15.8 years (average: 14 years) Girls: 9-15 years (average: 12 years)
Assessment Focus: Identify if individuals are early or late maturers compared to group average
Growth Phase Characteristics
Gender Differences:
- Girls: More balanced growth (hips and legs develop together)
- Boys: Shoulder development creates a higher center of mass, which is less balanced
Peak Weight Velocity (PWV):
- Occurs during or slightly after PHV (can be a few months later)
- Girls: Typically 6 months post-PHV on average
Growth Plate Vulnerability: Epiphyses are most vulnerable during maximal growth periods
Growth Cessation: 2-4 years after PHV, both genders stop growing
Maturation Phases
P1 Phase: One year before PHV onset
P2 Phase:
- Boys: Onset to 3 months after PHV (includes PWV)
- Girls: Onset to average 6 months post-PHV
P3 Phase:
- Boys: 2-4 months post-PHV to 1.7 years later
- Girls: 3-9 months post-PHV to 1.4 years later
Total Range: Approximately 4 years from start to finish
Training Implications
During Growth Phases:
- Reintroduce Basic Movement Skills
- Focus on posture and stability
- Account for individual variation in development timing
- Monitor for signs of overtraining, especially in female athletes
Learning Theories
Bandura’s Social Learning Theory
Learning occurs through modeling and imitation through three channels:
- Picture (Visual) – observe the movement
- Talk (Auditory) – verbal instruction and cues
- Deed (Physical/Kinesthetic) – practice the skill
Show → explain → practice.
Information Processing Model
Sequence: Perception → Decision Making → Effector (Action)
A cognitive approach to understanding motor control viewing the brain as a computer-like processor of movement information.
Motor Program Theory
Core Concept: Motor learning involves organising and developing motor programs- stored movement templates in the Central Nervous System.
Program Types:
- Generalised Motor Programs – adaptable templates for similar movements
- Specific Motor Programs – exact movement blueprints
Programs contain all the necessary information for executing the movement and can be adjusted during execution based on:
- Incoming sensory information
- Stored information in the Central Nervous System (CNS)
- Feedback loops
Traditional motor learning approaches assume instruction and teaching are essential, versus allowing implicit learning through:
- Observation
- Discovery
- Acquisition of tacit knowledge (knowledge gained through experience that is difficult to express verbally)
Ecological Dynamics Approach
Key Principle: Human and environment are functionally related, not separate entities
We act on the information we have. A volleyball toss compared to a volleyball serve is a different movement solution – turns out the end point (hitting the ball with your hand) plays a crucial role in movement coordination. Information in the environment specifies possibilities for action.
All movements occur within specific contexts containing unique information sets.
Optimal solutions to a movement emerge from the interacting constraints of each individual and the specific sport or activity.
Learning Strategies
Errorless Learning
- Achieve a high success rate before progressing. For example: Score from 10 yards, then 20 yards, etc.
- Reduces errors and explicit rule development
Metaphor and analogy Learning
- Metaphors are used instead of explicit rules
Differential Learning
- Practice multiple variations of a skill
- Allows natural emergence of optimal solutions
- Reduces reliance on rigid technique prescriptions
Practical Implications
If you want to bring about change, don’t rely solely on instruction. Focus on the result (external focus); too much talking can shift attention towards an internal focus, i.e., execution of the skill. Reduce verbal instructions to a minimum when you demonstrate a movement.
Implicit learning trumps explicit learning. Organise the learning environment in such a way that it facilitates focusing of attention; the use of colours is helpful. Use the task and environment that encourages certain coordination patterns to emerge – think parkour.
Add variability to repetition – differential learning.
Transfer of Learning
The traditional view of motor learning holds that skills are specific to task and context. The idea of transfer of learning is that previous experience enables positive or negative transfer – a key concept in the Athlete Skill Model (ASM).
ASM holds the belief that “it’s all human movement, only with different surfaces, rules of games, and materials.” One must look for similarities and differences between sports to see if that sport or activity can positively or negatively contribute to the target sport.
Multisports refers to sports sampling.
Donorsports actively contribute to the performance of the chosen sport. For example, judo for rugby players.
Movement Transfer: For example, an overhead throw will positively affect Javelin or Badminton.
Perceptual Transfer: Decision-making on a hockey pitch looks a lot like that of a football pitch. Both are invasion sports with a similar number of players and two goals.
Conceptual Transfer: Tennis and Padel, for example, have very similar rules.
Physiological or physical conditioning transfer: For example. If you are fit enough to play rugby, football won’t be too much of a stretch for you.
Competence Transfer: Knowledge, attitude, and skill are transferable from one domain to another. For example, how you communicate.
Basic Movement Skills (BMS)
The foundation of the ASM is Basic Movement Skills, of which there are 10:
Balancing and falling
Romping and fighting
Moving and locomotion
Jumping and landing
Rolling, tumbling, and turning
Throwing, catching, hitting, and turning
Kicking, shooting, and aiming
Climbing and scrambling
Swinging
Music in motion
The 10 Basic Movement Skills of the ASM are connected to Coordinative Abilities (CA) and Conditions of Movement (COM) to create a concentric curriculum. Rather than a linear step-by-step approach (often pre-determined progressions), a concentric curriculum is intertwined.
Hand-eye or foot-eye coordination is treated separately in a linear or lateral development. In a concentric approach, both are developed together in a layered approach to optimise Coordinative Abilities (CA) and Conditions of Movement (COM).
Coordinative Abilities (CA)
Adaptability – variation in practice, could be as simple as changing the size and shape of the ball being used in practice or the surface used.
Coupling ability – the ability to link movements together, the most obvious being combining skills with arms, with skills with legs.
Rhythmic ability – stride length, flight time, and ground contact, for example, all play a part in rhythmic timing.
Kinetic differentiating ability – is your capacity to perceive and distinguish:
- Speed – How fast something (or you) is moving
- Distance – How far something has moved or will move
- Changes in motion – Acceleration, deceleration, direction changes
The ability relies on integration between the visual system, proprioceptive feedback (body awareness), and motor planning centers in the brain. Training can improve this capacity through practice with varied movement patterns and speeds.
Spatial orientation ability – to maintain our body position in relation to people, the environment, and surfaces. Where are you in space in relation to the kit, teammates, and opposition?
Balance ability – activities like ice skating, skateboarding, and trampolining all support the overlapping elements of balance.
Ability to react – fast and appropriate decision making.
It’s important to remember that CA develops at various speeds and not all at the same time. Plan accordingly.
Conditions of Movement Skills (COM)
Agility
Stability
Flexibility
Power
Endurance
The above COMs are related to each other and are not to be considered as separate entities – one has an impact on the other.
Coordinative Ability (CA) remains important throughout athletic development, while the development of COMs is far more important after the age of peak height velocity (APHV). Before that, a focus on fun and play while developing BMS is key.
Asking if this person is a good player for their age is not as helpful as asking if they can master all the movements that are necessary to technically and tactically perform at a later age. And perhaps this is the point of the Athletic Skills Model – a wider perspective, rather than a sole focus on the job in hand, often sports-specific skills. Here, the ASM Model asks us to consider 3 layers: Conditions of Movement (COM), Coordinative Abilities (CA), and Basic Movement Skills (BMS).
What else can you bring into your practice?
Balance
Rhythm
Spatial
Reaction
Adaptability
Coupling – linking actions
Never stray too far from the zone of proximal development; while children learn from what they cannot yet accomplish, starting too far away from what can be achieved is demotivating.
We can further split BMS into four categories:
Sports Specific – developed during sport-specific training
Sports Adaptive – adaptive training with sport-specific technical skills. Change of circumstances, surfaces, rules, and kit used.
Sports Related – for example, a throwing action can be adapted to using a frisbee, javelin, or American football – think donor sports; performing different CA alongside the BMS.
Sport Supporting – Kicking a football is not the same as throwing a ball, yet, if you want to develop hand-eye coordination, then attention should be paid to foot-eye coordination too.
A target sport might only have a few sport-specific BMS, yet the remaining BMS are not ignored, but organised around the development of a well-rounded athlete.
Each sport, position, and individual within the sport will have their own list of donor sports and multisports.
By changing environmental constraints, a single BMS can target different sets of CA.
For 5-9-year-old Boys, 5-7-year-old Girls:
Use a variety of equipment, surfaces, and movements that are linked. Organised sport will focus on sports-specific skills, and this may challenge the time available for free play. Look to other sports and activities to cover BMS that offer adaptability and fun.
For 10-12 year old Boys, 8-10 year old Girls:
This is a golden age for picking up skills fast. Maturation and disproportionate growth are not issues yet in this age group. Introduce more advanced skills with additional challenges, but still with a focus on fun.
For 13-14 year old Boys, 11-12 year old Girls:
This is a transitional period. Variation is ever-present during this phase and offers differential learning opportunities. Faultless learning can play a role in sensitivity to social criticism. Boredom and overwhelm are practice design considerations.
Self Determination Theory (SDT) – Autonomy, Competence and Relatedness. Avoid wasting time and look for meaningful practice. Continue to support the athlete, not the sport.
For 15-18 year old Boys, 13-18 year old Girls:
From here on, the focus is on sport-specific activities (60-80%) of the time spent. Donor sports are used to transfer skills. For example, Futsal for Football, Cricket for Baseball. COMs become a focus. While CA, such as balance, ability to react, and adaptability, remain important.
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