Every sports commentator, athlete, coach and fan know that skill is the fundamental element of any sports. When it comes to football it is passing and kicking the ball, in baseball and cricket it is throwing, in swimming and fishing, it is turning and diving, in rugby it is passing and tackling, and in netball and basketball it is shooting and passing.
The foundations of sports coaching are practising, learning, and the mastering of basic skills, although mastering the basics is only the first step. Athletes never fail due to a poor skill level. They fail because their ability to perform that skill is poor and that is due to poor coaching.
Sports Skill
The definition of a sports skill is that it is the ability to perform any sporting skill consistently well under fatigue, at speed, and pressure condition in a competitive environment. Perfection is to find a coach, learn how to and then to practice till you perfect it, what every athlete want is to learn the basics, perfect that and then to master the sports skill so that they can enhance their personal performance no matter the conditions. In mastering a sport, practice is no longer all it takes, it is learning the sports skill, and this is where a great coach can do wonders. Once the athlete can perform the skill well at speed, technical perfection comes with adding under pressure and under fatigue to the equation.
Coaching to Perfection
Coaching is even more needed when the athlete manages to perform the skill perfectly well during speed, under pressure and under fatigue as this is when it is necessary to record how many times the ball was dropped, the number of errors made at critical moments, how many times the ball was missed. This is also where mental pressure and emotional stress have a huge impact, and the coach working through the process with the athlete can make all the difference.
Champions Enjoyed Real Coaching
The next step is to check that the athlete can perform the skill perfectly under fatigue, at speed, and under pressure, this time consistently is added to the list. Being able to achieve perfection under all the mentioned conditions could be luck but being able to perform it consistently is the sign that a real champion is in the making. It is what many refer to as the no-compromise training approach. It is training the brain that poor skill, sloppiness and inaccuracy is not accepted. As the next step in training is adding competition conditions to all the other areas of perfection. It is entering the athlete level where competitors have already mastered the skill, the level of competing against champions, where the slightest misjudgement or losing of focus could cost you the game. It’s a level only available to sports superstars that enjoyed the luxury of being trained by a real sports coach.