Practical Performance and Performance Analysis

Performing at your best

Half of this course is marked on how you actually perform in a sport, and this part of your revision is about understanding what makes a performance strong and how to make yours better. A good performance is far more than being fit. It brings together well-practised skills and technique, sensible tactics and decisions in the heat of the moment, the way a routine or game is put together, and a fair, determined attitude within the rules. Just as important is the ability to look honestly at your own performance, work out what is going well and what is holding you back, and then practise the right things to improve. This module covers both sides: what goes into a quality performance, and how to analyse and evaluate one so that you keep getting better. The performing itself happens in the sports hall, but the thinking behind it can be revised here.

Performance words

Learn these terms before the parts of a performance are matched up. They name the ideas used in this topic.

Match each part of a performance to what it is

Practising with a purpose against just playing

Two performers can spend the same hours on a sport and improve at very different rates, and the difference is how they practise.

How do you find what to improve?

A performer wants to get better but is not sure what to work on. What is the best way to find out?

• Watch or record the performance and analyse it honestly
• Guess and hope for the best
• Just play more games without ever reflecting
• Ignore mistakes and only do the easy parts

Room to grow, not a verdict

When you look honestly at a performance you will always find things that are not yet good enough, and that is completely normal, even for the best athletes in the world. It helps to see an area to work on for what it really is: the next thing to master, not a black mark against you as a person. Everyone, at every level, has parts of their game that need developing, and the ones who improve fastest are simply those who face those parts calmly and get to work. So be honest but kind with yourself and with others. Name what is going well and give it credit, then pick one thing to develop and practise it with real focus. Progress in sport comes from treating gaps as room to grow, and returning to them again and again until they are gaps no longer.

Pick what makes a strong performance

Select every thing that helps make a performance in a sport strong.

• Well-practised skills and technique
• Sensible tactics and good decisions
• Applying the right fitness for the sport
• Breaking the rules to win
• Refusing to practise the hard parts

Order how to improve a performance

Put the steps of improving your own performance into a sensible order.

• Perform, and record it if you can
• Watch it back honestly
• Pick one area to work on
• Plan and do focused practice on it
• Perform again and check the progress

Complete the performance facts

Performing a movement correctly and efficiently, such as a clean pass or a controlled dive, shows good _____. The plans and choices a performer uses to outwit an opponent are their _____. Something a performer already does well is a _____. An area a performer needs to work on, set as a clear goal, is a _____.

Tap the two parts of a performance

Read these four things. Tap the TWO that are genuine parts of a sporting performance.

• good technique in the skills
• sensible tactics and decisions
• the colour of the kit
• the size of the crowd

Recording your own practice

One of the fastest ways to improve at anything physical is to film yourself doing it and then watch it back. In your head a movement can feel smooth, yet the video often shows something you never noticed: a foot in the wrong place, a rushed swing, a moment of hesitation. A musician does the same, recording a piece to hear the notes that slipped, then drilling just those bars rather than playing the whole thing again. A performer who watches their own footage can stop guessing and see exactly the one thing to work on next, practise that on purpose, then film again to check it has changed. It feels strange at first to watch yourself, but honest eyes on your own performance turn vague effort into real, measurable progress far quicker than simply doing it over and over.

The performance run

Answer each one correctly to keep your lives. Choose the best answer.

Advise each performer

Read each situation and choose the best advice.

• A footballer keeps giving the ball away under pressure. What should they do to improve?
• A gymnast has strong skills but keeps forgetting the order of the routine. What should they work on?
• A player realises one part of their game is weak. How should they think about it?

Build a point about performance

Choose the word for each gap to complete one point about performance.

Explain how to perform and improve

A friend wants to raise their practical mark in PE. Using what you have learned, explain how to perform well and how to improve.

• Explain two things that make a performance strong besides fitness
• Explain the difference between technique and tactics
• Explain how to analyse your own performance honestly
• Explain how to turn a weakness into a target and improve it
• Explain why an area to work on is a chance to grow, not a criticism