Sport Memory TechniquesSport memory involves learning and retaining sport skills. Skill learning techniques can accelerate the acquisition process.Principles for learning motor skills are based in psychology and applied to movements used in sports. The following techniques can facilitate sport skill memory and retention: 1. Help athletes learn skills correctly the first time. Initial learning is most impressionable. Coaches should monitor and guide athletes as much as possible in the early stages of learning. A skill learned incorrectly is often difficult to re-pattern. 2. Teach skill rhythms first, then refine the movements. Athletes can learn and recall rhythmic movements more quickly than isolated movements, just as rhymes are more readily remembered in verbal learning. 3. Chunk movements. Movements can be learned and processed if they are “chunked” or grouped into larger movements. This grouping increases an athlete’s capacity to learn and perform sport skills. Break skills down only as much as is necessary.
4. Make new skills meaningful. Explain and demonstrate new skills so that the athlete understands what the skill requires and why it is executed that way. Also make clear how a skill applies to sport performance.
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