{"id":34846,"date":"2026-05-08T10:46:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T09:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/?post_type=article&p=34846"},"modified":"2026-05-08T10:53:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T09:53:27","slug":"skill-acquisition-an-ecological-approach","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/skill-acquisition-an-ecological-approach\/","title":{"rendered":"Skill Acquisition: an Ecological Approach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 8 May 2026 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Skill Acquisition: an Ecological Approach<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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How skill emerges from an interaction of the athlete with the task at hand, coaching instruction and the training environment.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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By John Portch<\/h6>\n
The complex nature of skill acquisition was nicely summed up by Mo Bobat, the Director of Cricket at both Royal Challengers Bengaluru and London Spirit.<\/h6>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about how skills are practised within context, how they\u2019re practised in an environment of graded exposure to challenge and pressure,\u201d he told the Leaders Performance Institute when we caught up with him for our Trend Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It\u2019s about] pressure-testing the skill, rehearsing it, with enough repetition for it to become and feel a little bit more instinctive and automatic. It\u2019s also the right decision-making and execution and relationship with risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

The importance of skill acquisition is obvious when you spell it out, but often it is misunderstood or underappreciated.<\/p>\n

Last month, we hosted the first of two virtual roundtables focused on the topic. The Leaders Performance Institute members present identified four common tensions and challenges<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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  1. Skill acquisition is multidisciplinary in nature:<\/strong> a weakness in terms of where it sits and where it resonates.<\/li>\n
  2. It is less visible and less tangible:<\/strong> it\u2019s harder for coaches to see progress.<\/li>\n
  3. Training can be unrepresentative of competition:<\/strong> fail to capture competition demands and you fail to prepare your athletes.<\/li>\n
  4. Head coaches can feel threatened:<\/strong> they feel skill acquisition specialists are treading on their toes.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Coaches and practitioners have encountered each of these tensions in some shape or form and the solutions sit with everyone, not just those tasked with skill development.<\/p>\n

    Below, we bring you examples from the worlds of Formula 1, rugby union and netball that address those tensions that can hinder skill acquisition through a combination of environmental, structural and personal approaches.<\/p>\n

    More than Equal: the search for Formula 1\u2019s first female world champion<\/strong><\/p>\n

    More than Equal, which was co-founded in 2022 by former F1 driver David Coulthard and philanthropist Karel Kom\u00e1rek, is a global talent identification and development organisation that has set itself the task of finding and developing Formula 1\u2019s first female world champion.<\/p>\n

    You can read more about the challenges that face any young female driver here<\/a>. Skill acquisition is certainly part of it. \u201cThe idea of identifying talent based on building a whole profile of a driver, physiologically, cognitively, psychologically, that hasn\u2019t really existed to date,\u201d said Fran Longstaff, the Head of Research at More than Equal, at Leaders Meet: the Talent Journey in 2025. That goes for all drivers. \u201cWe don\u2019t know what a racing car driver should be doing and look like at 16 versus 18.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Such profiles \u2013 for male and female drivers \u2013 would be multidisciplinary in their scope, help make the vague tangible, and enable coaches to design training scenarios more representative of a racing environment.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    More than Equal also commissioned two PhDs; one to research the impact of hormones on performance, particularly cognitive function; another to build \u201cphysiological, psychological, cognitive training and anthropometric profiles from drivers all the way from karting to F1.\u201d<\/p>\n

    More than Equal, as Longstaff explained, is \u201cbuilding the road as we walk\u201d. As more and more useful datapoints emerge, those different threads will have to be woven together to help paint pictures of progress (or stagnation) for each athlete.<\/p>\n

    England Rugby: how progress is tracked from talent pathways to the senior team<\/strong><\/p>\n

    England Rugby\u2019s coaches and performance personnel can call upon a range of objective and subjective datapoints. It is partially the role of individuals such as Kate Burke<\/a>, the Lead Player Development Scientist, to draw them all together in a meaningful way.<\/p>\n

    \u201cEveryone has a different role to play, from our coaches and medics to strength & conditioning and the psychologist. Having those people in the room to talk around everyone\u2019s IDP is key,\u201d Burke told the Leaders Performance Institute.<\/p>\n

    Rugby is a world where the outliers \u2013 those destined for great things and those who aren\u2019t perhaps good enough \u2013 stick out.<\/p>\n

    Burke was particularly keen to help those who occupied the middle ground; neither outstanding nor struggling. \u201cTypically, pathway staff have tended to spend time talking about the players that are doing well or the players who are not doing as well. How do we ensure that we are talking about the players who are just staying constant? What do they need for their development?\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of data in this space, but the pathway especially is hugely context-driven around where the player is in a lot of areas \u2013 technically, tactically, psychologically and physically.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Again, it\u2019s a multidisciplinary concern; and if Burke and her colleagues can find the metrics that matter, there will be implications for training design.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u201cWe also need to look at where they are, where they\u2019re playing, what their playing programme looks like in order to monitor and plan for the player effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Leinster Rugby and the Northern Mystics: self-reflection for athletes and coaches alike<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Longstaff, a chartered psychologist, and Burke, a sports scientist, illustrate the importance of the athlete experience in skill acquisition, but it is not always something that coaches clock.<\/p>\n

    Too often with coaches, as Simon Broughton explained, \u201ceverything\u2019s been delivered, the meeting\u2019s happened and then we\u2019re straight outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

    The Academy Manager at Leinster Rugby was speaking at Leaders Meet: Teaching & Coaching<\/a> at Millfield School in 2024. \u201cWe don\u2019t actually give the players the space to reflect.\u201d<\/p>\n

    The implications for skill development can be significant. \u201cReflective practice helps with recall and then planning for what they want to get better at next.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Reflective practice is vital for skill development; and it\u2019s not just critical for athletes either. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    Helene Wilson, during her time as Head Coach of the Northern Mystics netball team in New Zealand between 2017 and 2022, organised reflective sessions with her players and staff that enabled the group to reach a consensus (known as \u2018w\u0101nanga<\/em>\u2019 in M\u0101ori).<\/p>\n

    \u201cMy orientation as head coach was always what do others know first rather than bringing my expertise to the table. I needed to be the last one talking in the room,\u201d she told the audience at Leaders Meet: Driving Step Change in Female High Performance<\/a> in 2023.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIt could look similar to a team meeting but it can take many forms and w\u0101nanga happens in many ways,\u201d she continued. \u201cI put a concept on the table, a picture of performance that I may see as a head coach, or someone else may put it there depending on who\u2019s taking a lead that day, and the w\u0101nanga<\/em> takes the form of questions, from multiple perspectives, and we keep going until we get some sense of alignment. It doesn\u2019t come with any level of expertise or experience, it comes with everybody\u2019s level and everybody contributes.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Wilson had cultivated an environment where neither she nor anyone else in the Mystics setup felt threatened. They would also go on to win the ANZ premiership in 2021.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u201cMy learning was to sit at the back and know that my knowledge was not sufficient; that the knowledge was in the room and I was there to sense the problem and the w\u0101nanga<\/em> would sort out what that problem was.\u201d<\/p>\n

    What to read next<\/strong><\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    \u2018Ultimately, Skill Is Technique Performed Under Pressure\u2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n