Skill Profile and Acquisition

Skills progressions are taught by coaches throughout the gymnast's career. When to start a new skill, or what steps are needed to move an already developed skill into a more advanced version, has always been difficult. Profile Skills are an example of what coaches and athletes identify as most important towards planning long term. Coaches will determine the profile skills for each athlete or profile skills for the competitive level of their athletes to be achieved over a 4-6 year plan. Long-term planning is most important in gymnastics as safe and proper skill development takes a great amount of time. Several studies show that it takes roughly 1000 repetitions of a skill to master it. If coaches start teaching a skill too late, the athlete is rushed and will not have fully mastered it. And if the underdeveloped skill is introduced into routines too early without full mastery, safety and confidence factors come into play.