Is Athleticism the Same as Being Fit?

The term athleticism is being tossed around in many different ways. It’s almost as though this is a new quality that appears to be unique to only a few elite athletes. However, athleticism should not stand out like a sore thumb.  It should be commonplace.  But, because so few players are capable of very high-level execution of the basic skills we can’t help but notice when we witness  outstanding execution of basic skills.

Athleticism refers only partially to physical achievements and mainly to motor skills. The latter is most important since a person who has a high level of athleticism is one who is capable of outstanding execution of the basic movements seen in his or her sport.

Examples of this are seen when the athlete executes a sharp cutting action to elude his opponent, an exceptionally high jump to catch a ball in the midst of other players, a quick precise throw for a successful pass or out, a sharp burst of acceleration and so on.

I witnessed an example of outstanding skills in an international volleyball match when I was with the US team in the former Soviet Union. The team from the Ukraine had a tall player who was their best spiker, blocker, setter and receiver. He was as good as, if not better than, other players who specialized in mainly one skill but were only fair to good in other needed skills. In volleyball the latter is often seen in an outstanding setter.

Since excellent execution of game skills is the key to athleticism, this should be the main focus of training. In other words, to develop the ability (technique and related physical abilities) to execute the key skills on a high level. In youth this is best done by playing a multitude of sports. In adulthood, it is necessary to do specific training on developing the most effective neuromuscular pathways to execute the skill and the physical qualities that relate specifically to the technique.

Playing a multitude of sports as a youth is the best way to develop the basic and key sports skills. In adulthood they can be refined, fine-tuned and adjusted to the specific sport. In order to do this however attention must be given to skill execution. It should never be taken for granted as is too often done.

Since athleticism is closely related to the physical abilities, many trainers emphasize development of the physical qualities and ignore the technical aspects. As a result, the athletes become more fit, but not better at execution of the skills. Understand that there is no transfer from development of the physical abilities to the specific technical (technique) aspects of the skill execution. Improvement of the technical aspects can only come from work devoted specifically to technique.

In essence, physical abilities should be coupled with technique. This means it is necessary to do specialized exercises, also known as dynamic correspondence exercises. In this way, technique and the physical abilities will increase simultaneously which in turn, allows the athlete to display the best skill execution and overall game play. This is what constitutes high-level athleticism.

For more information on this  topic read Build a Better Athlete.