Whole and Part Practice
Some skills are relatively easy to learn and taught as whole practice, which involves learning the skill as one element. An example of this whole practice would be doing a handstand. However, some skills have multiple elements, which must be combined to correctly execute this skill. This makes a skill more difficult to learn. Therefore, a coach may choose to divide the skill into individual elements for teaching purposes known as part practice. When each element is mastered the learner combines these to execute the whole skill. An example of this would be a forward flip. The steps involved include: 1. Learning to do a handstand; 2. Learning to go into a bridge; and 3. Learning how to kick out of the bridge. Once these three steps have been achieved the athlete can then perform them as one skill in a continuous motion. |