What is a skillful player? Firstly, we have to define what skill is, which is often easier said than done. If you were to ask five different people to define skill, how many different responses do you think you would get?



Traditional coaching methods, social media, and the fear of missing out have warped our perception of skill. Videos flood our feeds of young players doing some incredible things with a ball at their feet. We watch coaches demand perfect technique and drills that look professional, clean, and without mistakes.

All of these things lead us to believe that is what skill looks like - tricks, flicks, moves, scanning, etc. A broad definition of skill would be "the ability to do something well" but in this case, shouldn't the something be the game itself? 

Dr. Rob Gray is a professor and author, with over 25 years of experience with truly elite sports teams in leagues such as the MLB and NBA. Rob's research, outlined in his book, How We Learn to Move, makes the point that what we see, feel, or sense from our environment dictates every movement that we make. In addition, he points out that adaptability is the key to skill development.

Isolated drills without any real context from the game present not only aren't as impactful, but they can negatively impact a player's ability to adjust to constantly changing demands of the game.

Ecological Dynamics is a concept that pushes back against isolated or mechanical movements with limited variability to creating environments where players are tasked with solving game-like problems in real time. The idea is that skill is the ability to effectively find solutions, regardless of the constraints.

Constraints can be broken into three different categories:

Task - What does the player need to accomplish? This may be related to the result, team principles, or another factor. 

Environment - What from the environment impacts the player's ability to accomplish the task? It could be a wet or bumpy field, loud parents or coaches, or the way that the opponent is playing. 

Individual - What are the players strength's and weaknesses? How confident are they? How are they feeling physically? Are they coming off an injury? 

It's important to keep in mind that all of these constraints are not black-and-white, but instead, based on each individual's perception. One player may not feel confident taking players on 1v1 despite having all of the qualities necessary to do so. Another player may be really confident in their aerial abilities despite being one of the smaller players on the team. When it comes to constraints, perception is what matters - not facts. 

When we factor all of this in, skillful play requires the ability to perceive possible solutions and produce a movement that achieves the intended outcome. It isn't the ability to repeat the same actions over and over again in the same way because movement is not stored in the muscles, it emerges based on the environment that we find ourselves in. 

Skillful players come in all different shapes, sizes, and positions. A skillful midfielder will appear different than a skillful central defender, but just because they play the game differently, and one can do things that the other can't, doesn't make one more skillful than the other.

Our different anatomies provide us all with unique capabilities.