NEW Special Interest Group - Skill Acquisition

BASES are pleased to announce the new special interest group entitled Skill Acquisition convened by Dr Malcolm Fairweather.

Their mission is to support, promote and advance the specialist area of skill acquisition for practitioners working in this field. A key mission for SAIG is to share and communicate evidence-based practice and to support the development of necessary skill acquisition competencies for present and future practitioners working in this area. This mission will be accomplished through the knowledge transfer of skill acquisition research evidence and methodology supported by the Expertise and Skill Acquisition Network (ESAN) and by engaging applied knowledge transfer from BASES HPSA skill acquisition practitioners who are employed by sport governing bodies, home country institutes of sport and universities. SAIG will also support the development of BASES accreditation and High Performance Sport Accreditation competencies that practitioners will require when providing skill acquisition support within sport contexts.

The applied scientific contexts of particular relevance to SAIG include but are not limited to; high performance sport, athlete development, and coach education. SAIG will create a UK network for the dissemination of skill acquisition knowledge, competencies and skills. It will create, lead and support a BASES continuous accreditation pathway in skill acquisition by providing continued professional development (CPD) for scientists working in this field, as well as creating a future mentoring and coaching route for early career and experienced practitioners.

In addition to benefiting the scientific community, SAIG will seek to provide opportunities to support industry and applied scientists working in complementary applied disciplines. This focus will enable the development of guidance for the use of evidence-based interventions for performance optimisation and enhancement, as well as informing policy and practice.

Their main objectives are :

• Confirm and communicate competencies and key skill acquisition knowledge required by practitioners working in the domain of applied skill acquisition
• Develop a continuous professional development framework and support group that can be utilised by practitioners to develop their competencies and core knowledge in skill acquisition
• Provide leadership in the UK and internationally by providing a continuous professional development framework in skill acquisition that will stimulate UK and global collaborations in the applied field
• Provide mentoring/coaching supervision of early career practitioners and mentoring/coaching support for experienced/accredited skill acquisition practitioners
• Provide a point of contact for BASES, UK Sport and sport organisations for evidence-based guidance in the delivery of skill acquisition
• Realise benefits from existing skill acquisition accreditation pathways in BASES
• Offer support for BASES skill acquisition accreditation route
• Promote and raise the profile of the discipline and persons within this discipline
• Transfer knowledge, methodology and evidence from applied and fundamental Skill Acquisition research via practical and online CPD activities
• Share applied methodology and practical skill acquisition experience that is gathered from working in applied contexts

If you would like to be added to the group please email officemanager@bases.org.ukor alternatively BASES members can opt in to communications from this Special Interest Group via their Member Profile (in the Members' Area) to receive updates and information on how to get more involved.