Skill Classification Continua

Three continua, and only three

On this specification a skill is classified on three continua: Open to closed - how much the environment affects the skill. Basic (simple) to complex - how many decisions the performer has to make. Low organisation to high organisation - how easily the skill breaks into separate parts. ⚠️ You will have heard of two others, and they are not on this board. Gross against fine, and self-paced against externally paced, belong to another exam board's specification. They turn up constantly in revision guides and videos, and writing about them here earns nothing at all. If a question asks you to classify a skill, it wants one of the three above. And note the word: continua. Not categories. A skill sits at a point on a line.

What each continuum measures

Five terms. The last one is what the third continuum is really about:

Match each term to what it means

It is a line, not a box

This is the idea the word continuum exists to carry, and it is where the marks are. A skill is not open OR closed. It sits somewhere between the two, and saying where - and why - is the answer. "A football pass is an open skill" names it. "A football pass sits towards the open end, because the defenders are in different positions every single time\" justifies it, and only the second one is doing the work. A skill can also MOVE along the continuum. A basketball free throw in an empty gym is about as closed as a skill gets. The same throw, with two seconds left and a crowd behind the hoop, has moved towards the open end, because the performer now has far more to deal with. Next you will see a continuum with nothing written on it. The line runs from completely closed on the left to completely open on the right, and the two ticks divide it into thirds.

Where does this one sit?

A gymnast performs a vault in a quiet hall. There is no opponent, nothing is moving, and she starts when she is ready. Using the key you were just given, tap the third of the continuum where this skill sits.

Two answers, one mark between them

A question asks you to classify a rugby tackle on the open-closed continuum and give a reason. Which answer scores best?

• Towards the open end, because the ball carrier changes speed and direction and the tackler must adapt to what they do
• It is an open skill
• Towards the closed end, because the tackler decides when to commit to the tackle
• It is a gross, externally paced skill, since it uses large muscle groups and the opponent sets the timing

The one people find hardest

Open-closed and basic-complex are fairly intuitive. Organisation is not, so here it is on its own. It asks a single question: can this skill be broken into parts and practised piece by piece?

Which TWO describe a closed skill?

Select the TWO statements that would place a skill towards the closed end.

• The environment stays the same each time it is performed
• The performer decides when to begin, rather than reacting to something else
• The performer has very few decisions to make while doing it
• The skill uses large muscle groups and produces a powerful movement

Find the sentence that justifies

Here is part of a student answer classifying a netball shot. Three of the highlighted sentences name or describe. Tap the ONE that justifies a position on a continuum.

• A netball shot is a skill used near the end of an attacking move.
• I would classify it as a closed skill.
• The shooter stands in the circle and aims for the ring.
• It sits towards the closed end because the ring never moves and the shooter chooses when to release, although a defender's arm pushes it back towards the middle.
• It is also a fine skill, using small precise movements of the hands.

Rank them along the line

Put these four skills in order along the open-closed continuum, starting with the MOST CLOSED and ending with the MOST OPEN.

• A trampoline routine performed alone in a sports hall
• A tennis serve
• A return of serve in tennis
• Dribbling a hockey ball through two defenders

Say it back

On this specification there are _____ skill-classification continua: open to closed, basic to complex, and low to high _____. A skill sits at a point along each line rather than in a box, and it can _____ along a continuum when the situation changes. To be credited, a classification needs a _____ as well as a label. And the gross-fine and self-paced continua belong to another _____, so they earn nothing here.

Three decisions

Three moments where the obvious answer is not the best one.

• A revision video you found classifies skills as gross or fine and self-paced or externally paced. Your teacher has only taught three continua. What do you do?
• You classify a basketball free throw as closed. The question then describes the same throw taken in the final seconds of a tied match with the crowd behind the hoop. Does your answer change?
• A question asks you to classify a golf swing. You have written "closed". What is still missing?

Classify a skill you know

Choose a skill from a sport you know well, and classify it fully.

• Name the skill and the sport
• Place it on the open-closed continuum, and give a reason drawn from the environment it happens in
• Place it on the basic-complex continuum, and say what decisions the performer has to make
• Place it on the low-high organisation continuum, and say whether its parts separate or flow together
• Finish by describing a situation that would move it along one of the three, and say which way