AS PE Types of practice

Massed Practice

• Activity is done for a long period of time.
• No break/rest period.
• Repeated activity
• Ideal for an expert/autonomous performer as they are able to refine/groove a skill or technique.
• e.g. rally in badminton where the performer has to repeatedly perform a drop shot. 
• Not ideal for a beginner/ Cognitive performer because the activity is very repetitive with no breaks, which means that the perform may experience tedium, and eventually the skill/activity could then be performed wrong.

Variable Practice

• Game related practice.
• Competitive environment.
• Ideal for experts/autonomous performers.
• The practice needs to be as realistic as possible.
• Relevant to open skills.
• Put the performers into as many different situations as possible.
• e.g. different netball drills/match to put the players in an unpredictable environment.  

Distributed Practice

• Break/ rest period after the activity.
• Ideal for beginners/cognitive performers because they need feedback to be given to ensure that they are performing the skill correctly and to make sure improvements are being made.
• e.g. netball pass activity followed by a rest period where the coach would then give feedback before the next activity starts.

Mental Practice

• The performer visualises the activity/skill
• They imagine the skill being performed correctly and completed successfully.
• Ideal for experts/autonomous performers, but can be used by beginners/cognitive performer to improve a skill.
• e.g. before a race the performer may visualise themselves performing the sprint start correctly over and over again so that when they come to perform the sprint start in the race they will know what to do and perform the start correctly.