Preparing and Performing: Skills, Decisions and Rules
Being able to do a skill is only half of performing. Revise how to prepare, how to choose and adapt skills and tactics in a real game, and how the rules and health and safety shape every decision, as a performer or as a coach.
Justify the choices, the way you are assessed
Free interactive practice on the decisions the assessment actually asks you to justify.
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Right skill, right moment
In a practice drill you know what is coming next. In a real game, match, race or routine you do not, and that is the setting your performing is assessed in: a full and competitive context. ⭐⭐ A perfect skill used at the wrong moment is still a poor decision. Performing well means carrying out skills and techniques AND choosing which one to use, when to use it, and changing the plan when it stops working. ⭐ This module covers three things: PREPARING before you perform, DECIDING while you perform, and doing both WITHIN the rules and requirements of the activity, including health and safety. ⭐ You do not need a club, a private coach or special kit to revise this. The thinking is the same in any activity, and it can be practised in ordinary lessons. Looking back afterwards, analysing and evaluating a performance, has its own module on this course. So does the psychology of performing. ⚠️ Carry one question through every step: what is happening right now, and what is the best thing to do about it?
Before, during and within
Every performance has three parts to get right. Read down each column.
Tap the two decisions
Two of these describe a DECISION a performer made. The other two describe how well a skill was carried out. Tap the TWO decisions.
- Seeing the defender step up, she lifts the ball over the top instead of passing short.
- Her passing action is smooth, balanced and accurate.
- Losing heavily at half time, the team switches to a new plan for the second half.
- He keeps his eyes on the ball as he strikes it.
Losing the rallies
In a racket game, every shot a player hits is well struck, yet her opponent keeps winning the rallies by returning everything sent to one side of the court. What is the best change to make during the match?
- Aim more shots at the other side and keep checking whether it works
- Keep hitting the same shots to the same side, only harder
- Wait until the match ends and practise the shots then
- Accept the result, since her technique is already good
The language of deciding
Six terms for the thinking side of performing. None comes with an example, on purpose: judging the examples is your job in the steps that follow.
Pair each game situation with its best decision
- Late in a race you still feel strong and the others are fading
- Every route to goal through the middle is blocked
- Your team is narrowly ahead with very little time left
- You slip on one planned element of a gymnastics routine
- An opponent is lying hurt near you while play goes on
- Push on now, because the moment to go has arrived
- Move the ball out wide to look for space
- Keep hold of the ball and avoid needless risks
- Recover and link smoothly into the next element
- Make the official aware at once, since safety comes first
Two true things about the rules
Select the TWO statements about rules and requirements that are true.
- Rules keep a contest fair and protect everyone taking part
- Knowing the rules well helps a performer choose options that are allowed and avoid giving away penalties
- Rules only matter to officials, not to performers
- Health and safety is a concern for the teacher only, never for the performer
If you take the coaching route
One of the performances in this unit can be replaced by coaching. The decisions do not disappear; they move from your own play to a group you are leading. ⭐⭐ A coaching session has three components: a warm-up, skills and drills, and a cool down. It should be PROGRESSIVE, building in difficulty, and planned for the needs of that particular group. ⭐ Your coaching skills are communication and organisation: clear instructions, and a well organised group and space. ⭐⭐ The coaching decisions mirror the performing ones: which activity or drill to select, when to step in with an intervention, and how to adapt when the group finds the task too easy or too hard. The rules of the activity and health and safety still apply, and now you are responsible for the group as well as yourself.
Build a progressive session
A coach is planning a session to teach one skill to a group. Put the parts into a progressive order.
- Warm up the group
- Introduce the skill in a simple drill with no pressure
- Make the drill harder, with less time or less space
- Use the skill in a small game-like practice
- Cool down and recap what was learned
Build a decision point
Choose an option for each gap to build one sentence that links a situation to a decision and a reason.
Name the preparation
Five ways to prepare. Decide which kind of preparation each one is. Three lives.
A busy night in a kitchen
Leave sport aside for a moment. Picture a cook running a busy kitchen on a Saturday night. ⭐ She can make every dish on the menu perfectly, and that alone does not make the night go well. Before service she plans the whole evening: which dishes to prepare early, who works at which station, and what happens if it gets busy. ⭐⭐ Then the night arrives. A large table walks in unannounced, and a delivery turns up missing one ingredient. She does not stick to the plan out of pride. She moves a helper to the busiest station, and quietly takes one dish off the menu for the night. Each of those moves was chosen for that moment. The same perfect cooking, at the wrong time or in the wrong order, would have left diners waiting. ⚠️ Hold that picture. A real game is the same: being able to do something well only counts when you pick the right thing for the moment, and change course when the moment changes.
Finish each deciding line
The overall plan for a whole game or event is the _____. A specific action used at one point to gain an advantage is a _____. Choosing which skill to use at a given moment is skill _____. Changing what you do when the plan is not working is _____ your performance. In a routine with no direct opponent, choices about content and order are _____ ideas.
Three decisions to make
Three situations are described. For each one, choose the best response.
- Midway through a match, your team keeps losing the ball because every long pass is being intercepted by opponents who have dropped deep.
- You are coaching a group, and the drill you planned turns out to be far too hard: most of the group cannot complete it.
- A classmate says performing is not for them, because they have never belonged to a club or had any coaching outside school.
Explain how a performer prepares and decides
Choose one sport or physical activity you know. Explain how a performer prepares for it, and how they make good decisions during a full and competitive performance within the rules. Do not name real players or teams.
- Explain one physical, mental, technical or tactical way to prepare
- Explain how a skill is selected to fit a situation
- Explain the difference between a strategy and a tactic
- Explain how a performer adapts when the plan stops working
- Explain how the rules and health and safety shape decisions