AS Level PE 8386 · Area 5 · Skill and Ability

Abilities

Ability is what a performer is born with; skill is what they do with it. Cambridge describes abilities as innate, underpinning and enduring, and expects you to explain each characteristic and to separate ability from skill. The classic error is to use the two words as if they mean the same thing.

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Syllabus coverage

  • Explain the characteristics of abilities: innate
  • Explain the characteristics of abilities: underpinning
  • Explain the characteristics of abilities: enduring
  • Explain the relationship between abilities and the development of skills

Part of the AS Level PE 8386 syllabus 8386.

Abilities are innate, enduring and underpin every skill a performer later learns.

Ability and skill are not the same thing

An ability is a stable, inherited trait that a performer is born with. It is the raw material: the underlying capacity that makes a movement possible. Abilities are not learned and cannot be taught, but they can be trained and developed.

A skill is a learned movement, performed with control, accuracy and efficiency, that has been developed through practice. Where ability is what you start with, skill is what you end up with.

The relationship is one of dependence. Abilities underpin skills: without the underlying ability to coordinate the limbs, track a moving ball or hold balance, the performer cannot learn the skill that uses it. A performer with better underlying abilities will usually learn a given skill faster, but they still have to practise the skill to acquire it.

AbilitySkill
Where it comes fromInnate: present from birthLearned through practice and experience
StabilityEnduring: stable over timeChanges with practice; can improve or deteriorate
RoleUnderpinning: forms the base for movementThe performance itself, which is visible
Can it be taught?No, it is inherited and developedYes, it is taught and practised
Read the question word carefully. 'Ability' and 'skill' are both one word and one mark apart, and swapping them is the single most common error on this subtopic.

Ability is innate

Innate means present from birth. Abilities are not acquired through coaching, copying a model or hours of practice. A performer does not learn how to have good coordination; they arrive with a certain level of it.

Innate does not mean fixed for life. The capacity is inherited, but training can develop how far the performer can use it. That is why two players can do the same amount of work and end up performing at different levels: their starting abilities differ.

  • A performer is born with certain levels of coordination, balance, reaction time and visual tracking
  • Coaching cannot create an ability, but it can develop the ability that is already there
  • Differences in ability explain why individuals respond differently to the same training programme

Ability is underpinning

Underpinning means abilities form the base on which skills are built. They sit underneath the skill and support it, but are not visible in themselves.

A good way to see the relationship is to look at what a complex skill demands. A spinning ball in table tennis requires visual tracking, fast reaction time and hand-eye coordination. Those are the abilities. Reading the spin, choosing the stroke and executing it precisely is the skill. The skill cannot exist without the abilities underneath it.

This is why talent identification often assesses abilities rather than current skill. A young performer's abilities predict how quickly they might develop a range of skills in the future.

The chain to write in an exam is: ability (innate and general) underpins the skill (learned and specific). Then give a sporting example of each in the same sentence.

Ability is enduring

Enduring means abilities are stable and long-lasting. They do not change from one training session to the next, and they do not disappear when the performer stops practising. An ability that was there at the start is still there years later.

This is what separates abilities from skills. Skills are learned, so they can be lost through lack of practice and regained with it. Abilities persist, which is why a performer who returns after a long lay-off often rediscovers skills more quickly than a beginner can learn them for the first time.

Enduring does not mean unchangeable. Abilities can be improved over long periods of training, but they are stable compared with skills, which can change within a single session.

Turning abilities into skills

Abilities give the performer potential. Practice turns that potential into performance. A performer with excellent balance and coordination may be ideally suited to balance-and-coordination-rich movement patterns in netball or badminton, but the specific skills of a routine still have to be learned and grooved.

Two implications follow, and both are worth a mark. First, a coach should select performers whose abilities suit the demands of the activity, because they will learn the specific skills faster. Second, once selected, the coach must still teach and drill the skills themselves, since ability alone does not produce a skilled performance.

The connection to classification is worth remembering. Identifying the demands of a skill tells you which abilities underpin it: an open, externally paced skill depends heavily on perception and reaction time, while a closed, internally paced skill depends more on the performer's own timing and control.

  • Potential comes from abilities; performance comes from learned skills
  • Better underlying abilities generally mean faster skill learning
  • Abilities can be developed by training, but they cannot be taught in the way a skill can

Key terms you must be able to define

Ability
An innate, stable, underlying trait that supports the performance of a skill and is developed rather than taught.
Skill
A learned movement, performed with control, accuracy and efficiency, that has been developed through practice.
Innate
Present from birth; inherited rather than learned or acquired through practice.
Underpinning
Forming the base on which skills are built, so that the skill depends on the abilities beneath it.
Enduring
Stable and long-lasting, so the characteristic does not change from session to session or through a period of no practice.

Applied to your sport

Cambridge requires you to apply this knowledge to physical activities. Use these as models, then write your own for the sport you play.

Tennis

Visual tracking, reaction time and hand-eye coordination are innate abilities. The forehand, backhand and volley are the learned skills built on top of them. A player with the abilities learns the strokes far faster, but still has to practise them.

Squash

Balance and coordination are innate, underpinning abilities that let a squash player move, lunge and recover to the T without losing control. The lunge and the recovery step are the skills learned on top of that base.

Track and field athletics

Reaction time is an innate ability that sits under the sprint start. The start itself is a learned skill: the block settings, the set position and the drive phase must all be coached. The faster reactor still has to be taught how to leave the blocks well.

Association football

A young player's ability to track a moving ball and coordinate the limbs underpins every skill in the game. Two players with identical coaching can progress at very different rates because their underlying abilities differ, which is why selection at youth level considers ability as well as current performance.

Flashcards

Click a card to flip it. Mark honestly — the tracker uses this.

Q1Define an ability.
An innate, stable, underlying trait that supports the performance of a skill.
Q2Name the three characteristics of abilities.
Innate, underpinning and enduring.
Q3What does innate mean for an ability?
It is present from birth and is inherited rather than learned or taught.
Q4What does underpinning mean for an ability?
The ability forms the base on which skills are built; the skill depends on the ability underneath it.
Q5What does enduring mean for an ability?
It is stable and long-lasting, so it does not change from session to session or disappear through lack of practice.
Q6State the main difference between ability and skill.
Ability is innate and developed; skill is learned through practice.
Q7Give two examples of abilities.
Any two of: coordination, balance, reaction time, visual tracking, hand-eye coordination.
Q8Can abilities be taught?
No. Abilities are inherited, though they can be developed and improved through training.
Q9Why do two performers with the same coaching progress at different rates?
Because their innate abilities differ, so their starting point and their rate of skill learning differ.
Q10How do abilities relate to talent identification?
Selectors often assess abilities, because abilities underpin future skill development and predict how quickly a performer might improve.
Q11What happens to skills if a performer stops practising?
They deteriorate, because skills are learned. The abilities underneath remain, because abilities are enduring.
Q12Explain the link between abilities and a sprint start.
Reaction time is the innate ability that underpins the start. The block position, set position and drive phase are the learned skills built on top of it.
0 of 12 marked as known

Exam-style questions

7 questions, 20 marks. Write your answer, then reveal the mark scheme and tick each point you actually made. Answering honestly here is what makes the rest of the site useful.

StateAO11 mark
State what is meant by an ability.

Mark scheme — tick each point you actually made

Examiner tip: One mark, so one clean definition is enough. Accept any answer containing the idea of innate or from birth and the idea that the trait supports a skill.
ExplainAO12 marks
Explain what is meant by abilities being enduring.

Mark scheme — tick each point you actually made

Examiner tip: The second mark comes from the contrast with skills. Making the comparison explicit is the fastest way to secure it.
ExplainAO23 marks
Explain how abilities underpin the development of skills in tennis.

Mark scheme — tick each point you actually made

Examiner tip: Build a chain each time: name the ability, say what it allows, then link it to the skill it underpins. Three chains gives three marks.
ExplainAO13 marks
Explain the difference between ability and skill.

Mark scheme — tick each point you actually made

Examiner tip: 'Explain the difference' means both sides must appear in every point. A point that describes only ability caps you at one mark.
IdentifyAO12 marks
Identify two abilities that a basketball player would rely on when passing the ball.

Mark scheme — tick each point you actually made

Examiner tip: Two marks, two abilities named. Accept balance or visual tracking in place of either. Do not credit a skill such as passing or shooting, which is what the player is doing, not what they are born with.
ExplainAO24 marks
A coach is selecting young players for a rugby union squad. Explain how knowledge of abilities could help the coach, using the three characteristics of abilities.

Mark scheme — tick each point you actually made

Examiner tip: The three characteristics each need to be turned into a consequence for the coach. Simply naming the three words earns nothing on its own.
EvaluateAO25 marks
Evaluate the view that ability matters more than practice in becoming a skilled performer.

Mark scheme — tick each point you actually made

Examiner tip: An 'evaluate' answer needs a judgement. Argue both sides, then state a conclusion in the final point. Ending without deciding caps your marks.

Exam technique for this topic

  • If a question asks for characteristics of abilities, the three words to use are innate, underpinning and enduring. Name them, then explain what each one means.
  • Do not confuse the three characteristics with each other. Innate is about where the ability comes from, underpinning is about the role it plays, and enduring is about how stable it is over time.
  • In a 'difference between ability and skill' question, always use both sides. Saying ability is innate earns half the mark; adding that skill is learned earns the other half.
  • When a question asks how abilities help a named activity, name the ability, say what it underpins, then name the specific skill it leads to. Three links, three marks.
  • Only use physical activities from the syllabus Component 2 list, such as table tennis, tennis, track and field athletics or basketball, in your applied examples.

Why students lose marks here

A student wroteAbility is how well you can perform a skill, and you learn it in training.
Why it loses marksThis reverses the definition. Ability is innate, not learned, and it underpins a skill rather than being the performance itself. Both halves of the sentence are wrong.
The answer that scoresAbility is an innate trait a performer is born with. It underpins the development of skills, because the learned skill is built on the ability underneath it.
A student wroteAbilities are the things you practise, like shooting and passing.
Why it loses marksShooting and passing are skills, because they are learned movements. Abilities are the underlying traits — coordination, balance, reaction time — that make those skills possible. This answer describes the wrong concept entirely.
The answer that scoresShooting and passing are learned skills. The abilities that underpin them, such as hand-eye coordination and balance, are innate traits that the performer has from birth and that support the learning of those skills.
A student wroteOnce a performer stops training, their abilities are lost.
Why it loses marksAbilities are enduring, so they remain stable over time. It is skills that deteriorate through lack of practice. Naming the wrong characteristic loses the mark.
The answer that scoresAbilities are enduring: they are stable and long-lasting, so they remain with the performer even after a break from training. Skills, by contrast, are learned and can be lost through lack of practice.
A student wroteA performer with good ability will automatically be a skilled performer.
Why it loses marksAbility is only potential. It underpins skill development and usually speeds up learning, but the skills themselves still have to be learned and practised. This answer treats ability as if it were performance.
The answer that scoresStrong abilities give the performer potential and mean they will generally learn skills faster, but the skills themselves must still be taught and practised. Ability alone does not produce a skilled performance.

Where this fits in AS Level PE 8386

This page is one topic of Cambridge AS Level PE 8386. AS Level PE 8386 is the course home: every area and every topic in Cambridge's own order, the papers you sit and what each one tests, and the exam-practice tools. The full topic list, with each topic linked to its revision page, is on the AS Level PE 8386 syllabus page.