ABSTRACT
The Athletic Skills Model (ASM) is based on the approach that body and mind form one unity, as a complex, adaptive system. More generally, the ASM carefully considers the welfare, health and talent development of children and adolescents into adulthood. The basis of the model is informed by: a combination of theoretical ideas from ecological dynamics and other frameworks, key scientific findings, and experiential knowledge from extensive practice in high-performance sport. This chapter considers that the transition stage is when the athlete learns what top-class sport performance implies. The ASM seeks to create a stable basis for performance by developing a 'physical' intelligence on which, amongst other forms of intelligence, a sporting career can be developed. Within the ASM programme, the various forms of learning, such as implicit, analogy, errorless, differential learning, and of course, nonlinear pedagogy, are linked to the different stages. Some learning methods are more suitable for one stage than for another.
