Are You Assessing Skill Correctly?
How a 5-level performance assessment model
can help coaches identify appropriate skill assessments
By Dr Nathan Bonney
The current trend in team sport is to assess skill in an isolated manner. Whilst such assessments can be of use, they aren’t often representative of the demands of competition. However, simply observing match play may not be the answer, with factors such as weather, opposition, game strategy and playing position making it difficult to compare between players and teams with regards to skilled performance. Therefore, depending upon the circumstances and the objective of the assessment, a continuum of skill assessments could be more appropriate to consider.
To help coaches identify the appropriate skill assessment, we developed a team sport continuum called the 5-Level Performance Assessment Model (Figure 1). This model orders skill assessments along a performance continuum to assist practitioners when assessing or developing new tasks of technical game based skill. As the tests apply notational analysis (Foundation Stone) and move from Level-1 to Level-5, there is a step-wise progression in the performance demands and integration of the technical, tactical, physical and psychological components to more closely represent match play conditions. For example, Level-1 can provide a detailed, isolated analysis of the skill execution (e.g. laboratory assessment), Level-2 also provides an isolated analysis, but the player is on the sporting field and executing the skill to a pre-determined location. Level-3 is a more dynamic field assessment involving the combination of several performance components (i.e., technical, tactical, physical or psychological), whilst Level-4 integrates all of the components under similar performance demands as match play in a small-sided game. Match play resides at Level-5 as this is the ultimate level of skill assessment, highlighting a player’s ability to perform in the competitive game environment.
Figure 1. 5-Level Performance Assessment Model (Bonney, Berry, Ball, & Larkin, 2019)
When applying this framework to sports, coaches should first consider the outcomes they are trying to identify. For example, Level-1 assessments would be appropriate when investigating specific biomechanical movement patterns; Level-2 assessments would be appropriate when investigating a player’s specific body segment movements under limited performance demands on the playing surface; Level-3 assessments could be used when investigating a particular skill outcome under an integrated approach of the match play components; Level-4 would be appropriate when assessing a player’s ability to perform under a particular tactical playing constraint against opposition; and Level-5 is appropriate when assessing a player’s ability to perform during competition.
In a recent study, we set out to investigate the use of Level-3 and Level-4 assessments as a way of identifying talent in Australian football (Bonney, Berry, Ball, & Larkin, 2020a, 2020b). We found the Level-3 assessment to be moderately accurate in identifying talent with the Level-4 assessment being highly accurate. These findings suggest that increasing the game-like nature of the assessment will likely lead to more accurate insights into player skill, thereby supporting talent identification. Further, both of these studies identified the age groups U14 to U16 as a key timeframe where kicking proficiency may be most impressionable. This suggests that during those years, more time and resources could be applied to support the development of technique so players are more proficient in their skill execution as they move into more senior competition.
In sum, when looking to select a skill assessment, a coach may first consider the desired outcome (i.e., does the coach want to identify a technical error or assess skill under certain conditions?). Once selected, the coach can then proceed to select an appropriate assessment. Results from this assessment can then be used to inform training interventions and match preparedness. Overall, the proposed model provides coaches with an understanding of the potential performance demands, key outcomes and limitations associated with the assessment being used.
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