Evaluating the Difference Between Ability and Skills and How it's Affects the Development of

Athletes

Patricia C. Mongaya

2023
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Background/Rationale of the study

A quality or talent that describes a person generally and establishes if they have the

potential to succeed in learning a specific skill. Ability and skills are two crucial factors that

affect how athletes develop. By distinguishing between these two features, coaches, trainers, and

sports scientists may develop effective training programs that concentrate on improving an

athlete's strengths and weaknesses. The interplay between talent and skill and how it affects an

athlete's overall performance will be clarified through this study. This study proposal intends to

evaluate the difference between ability and skill and how it affects an athlete's development. In

this plan, we will discuss the relevance of this research as well as its objectives, research

questions, methods, and expected outcomes. It is essential to comprehend how ability and skill

vary from one another and how this impacts athlete development. Skill is something that is

acquired by work and training, whereas ability refers to a natural talent or genetic tendency.

A person's ability determines their potential, but their degree of competence is defined by their

skill. Athletes develop in a way that is influenced by the relationship between ability and skill.

Athletes may succeed to the greatest extent possible because ability provides a foundation while

skill development via training increases performance potential. Understanding the distinction

between ability and skill is crucial in a variety of situations, such as sports, education, and job

advancement. Ability refers to an individual's intrinsic or natural talent or aptitude, which is

usually influenced by genetic or biological characteristics. On the other hand, skill was
developed via deliberate practice, instruction, and experience in a specific activity or endeavor.

Talent is the conclusion of aptitudes that have been created through continuous development and

progress, whereas aptitude serves as a basis. Distinctiveness is crucial for assessing personal

strengths, identifying areas for improvement, and developing effective goals for both personal

and professional achievement. Reaching our maximum potential in a range of undertakings can

be facilitated by comprehending the distinctions between ability and competence.

THE PROBLEM

Statement of the Problem

The idea of this study is to evaluate the difference between the ability and skills and how

it affects the development of athletes. This study specifically intends to address the following

research questions:

1. To define the ability and distinguish from the term skill and their differences.

2. What is the impact between the ability and skill on athletes’ development?

3. Is there a significant role of training and practice in developing the ability and skills?

4. Is there a significant difference between ability and skills?

Significance of the Study

This study aims to evaluate and differentiate the ability and skill on how it affects the

development of the athletes. Benefitting from this study are the following:
Academic Researchers. The study could provide academic academics with fresh perspectives

on the impact of the development of the athlete’s ability and skill, which may guide future

research in related areas.

Future Researchers. This study could potentially be relied on as a reference and guide for other

researchers whose work corresponds to this topic. This study may potentially serve as a

foundation for future research if this study’s conclusions and findings can be improved further.

Researchers. This research can pitch into the body of knowledge on the ability and skills and its

relevance in the development of the athlete. It provides insights and evidence support that can

help further validate or challenge existing theories and assumptions about the impact and

difference of the study.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

This study focuses on the difference between the ability and skills and how it affects the

development of athletes of the college student of Camarines Sur Polytechnic College for the

school year 2023-2024. The respondents are the college students majoring in Bachelor of

Physical Education.

Definition of Terms

Ability. A special talent or skill to do something. You will hear this of prodigious talents a lot,

“they had a natural ability”. Ability is usually something you are born with and have been

genetically blessed with.

Development. A process that creates growth, progress, positive change or the addition of

physical, economic, environmental, social and demographic components. The purpose of

development is a rise in the level and quality of life of the population, and the creation or

expansion of local regional income and employment opportunities, without damaging the

resources of the environment. Development is visible and useful, not necessarily immediately,

and includes an aspect of quality change and the creation of conditions for a continuation of that

change.

Skills. Embodies the knowledge, competency and ability to perform a task. They are developed

through life and work experience and can also be learned through study. In many cases, skills are

something which will be easier to access for some people than others as it can apply to things

like dexterity, physical abilities and intelligence.

Sports. Pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain,

or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some

cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, through casual or organized participation, improve

participants' physical health.

 CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

The athletic composition we get from our parents is called ability. Skills are supported by and

influenced by abilities. Ability types might primarily be perceptual, motor, or a mix of the two.

The majority of skills that involve combining several action areas are referred to be psychomotor

skills. There is currently no comprehensive list of psychomotor skills. Psychomotor skills include

muscle strength and endurance, flexibility, balance, coordination, and differential relaxation

(selective modification of muscle tension), according to Stallings (1982). Extent flexibility,

dynamic flexibility, explosive strength, static strength, dynamic strength, trunk strength, gross

body coordination, gross body balance, and stamina are the nine psychomotor skills (also known

as gross motor skills) that Fleishman (1972) identified. You have the innate capacity to be a

sprinter if you are medium height, powerful, have good coordination, and have a lot of quick

twitch fibers in your legs.

Clearly, the essence of athletics is skills. One cannot participate in sporting competitions without

learning and demonstrating the necessary sport-specific abilities. Given the primary importance

of abilities in sports, one may have anticipated a robust body of sport philosophic literature on

the subject. However, this is untrue. At least up until recently, there wasn't much literature. The

emphasis on skill acquisition dominated the 1970s, with contributions by Ziff (1974), Steel

(1977), Wertz (1978), and Carr (1979). Prior to Torres (2000) discussing the significance of skill

in athletic events and Davis (2007) discussing the normative position of skills, few works

addressed sporting skills, with the exception of Fraleigh's (1975) discussion of skills and talents
and Kretchmar's (1982) essay about "distancing”. But then, starting in 2007, a number of fresh

perspectives (Birch 2011; Breivik 2007, 2014; Hopsicker 2009; Ilundain-Agurruza 2014; Moe

2007) examined skill and its connection to intentionality, awareness, and knowledge. Skills

include more than just learning the proper method. Experiences and skills are closely related to

one another. Yvind Standal and Kenneth Agger holm talk about the importance of skills and

knowledge in their paper embodied experiences in physical education settings. The core of the

rationale of physical education is the development of practical knowledge in the form of skills

and the provision of good and meaningful embodied experiences. But how are these two

objectives connected, and which is more crucial? First, the phenomenological studies on learning

new skills are taken into account. It's interesting to note that the authors point out several

shortcomings in phenomenological techniques that restrict their applicability to physical

education. In place of these concepts, they reference pragmatism philosophy, particularly John

Dewey's work. His focus on behavior, knowledge, and education are a good link between the two

reasons under evaluation was discovered to be beneficial.

According to several research (Erkut & Tracy, 2002; Marsh & Kleitman, 2003; Miller et al.,

2005), participating in athletics increases the self-esteem, grades, test scores, and educational

retention of racial and ethnic minority students. However, research has shown that involvement

in athletics may hinder the academic success of racial and ethnic minority kids, particularly for

those who are already academically marginalized, because it diverts them from their academics

(Coakley, 2004). Contrarily, case study data from professional athletes (e.g., Coté et al. 2003)

would indicate that effective skill development eventually becomes correlated with or even

dependent upon a planned and purposeful program of skill development. Since early motor,

cognitive, and emotional skills are essential for a successful lifetime association with physical
activity, recent studies on the long-term development of talent (Abbott & Collins 2004, Bailey &

Morley 2006, Balyi 2002) would suggest that planned skill development programs are important

from as early as six or seven years. Unfortunately, as we shall show later in this chapter, there

seem to be genuine issues with coaches' ability to effectively organize and implement skill

development programs at all coaching levels, from novice to expert.

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