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Athlete Centered Skating Assessment Series 06: The Final Assessment
This blog will cover three topics of traditional assessment: teaching to the test, self-assessment, and a final summary on the issues of traditional assessment practices. Teach to the Test Another concern with traditional assessment is that teachers will teach to the...
Athlete Centered Skating Assessment Series 05: Snapshots and Photo Albums
Traditionally, an athlete assessment reflects a single point in time; an isolated act. A testing day is secured and each athlete undergoes a barrage of tests (e.g. a sprint; max bench press or squat; a balance test). Assessors explain the task and the athlete is...
Athlete Centered Skating Assessment Series 04: Separate the Whole and Valuate Each Individual Part Separately
An assessment is commonly conveyed through the use of pre-set criteria that provide precise explanations of exactly which characteristics or behaviors will be assessed (e.g. commitment) and the importance (value) of each in the assessment. These are called marking...
Athlete Centered Skating Assessment Series 03: Assessing the Issues with Assessment
Formal athlete assessments tend to target a combination of physical abilities (e.g. maximum strength) and anthropometrics (e.g. morphology). More recently, they tend to include cognitive abilities (e.g. creativity) (Memmert 2011), psychological profiles (e.g....
Athlete Centered Assessment part 02: Assessment Background Check
Formal assessment in figure skating tends to be limited to test papers, competition protocol sheets that score skaters on the content and quality of performances, and from the occasional off-ice fitness tests. Coaches engage several forms of informal assessment as...
Athlete Centered Skating Assessments 01
The Athlete Centered Skating Assessment blog series is composed several blogs that discuss our assessment process and features of the assessments. These blogs are an important part of the ACSkating assessment process and, accordingly, are required reading for parents...
Stages of Development 02: Sensitive and Critical Periods of Development
The first blog in this series discussed different types of stages associated with sports including developmental and learning stages. Please review that blog before proceeding. This blog examines developmental stages more closely. This blog series came at the...
Stages of Development in Sports part 01
This blog series came at the request of a parent who asked us if there are any specific stages of development they should focus on different types of training. This first blog examines different types of stages associated with sports training. When discussing the...
Video Analysis in Figure Skating part 2: The Cautions
In part one of this series we discussed some potential benefits of video replay and analysis. In part 02 below, we discuss some cautions of video replay use. The ‘Imitation Trap’ The first caution relates to the benefit of presenting learners with a standard through...
Video Analysis in Figure Skating part 1: The Benefits
The use of video (and photos) has been in use as a form of feedback to help athletes improve technical skills for half a century (Elliot and Knudson 2009). In recent years this method has been facilitated through the use of cell phones and other mobile devices. ...