Anticipation
How to understand “anticipation”?
What is the role of the anticipation skill?
What characterizes anticipation in football?
The term ‘anticipation’ usually describes an ability to predict an event shortly before occurring. This ability is crucial in most sports where decisions must be taken before the opponent’s move. Anticipation also means an ability to recognize the pattern of the play and use situational probability, often referred to as ‘reading the game’.
Compared with their lesser-skilled counterparts, expert sports performers are both more accurate and quicker at anticipating the outcome of opponents’ actions prior to the availability of unambiguous ball-flight information. This ability to anticipate is largely due to the pick up or extraction of relevant advance cues that are contained within opponents’ kinematic movements.
The fact that the anticipation skill and expertise level of an athlete appear synonymous suggests that anticipation is a requisite skill required for developing proficient sports performers. Accordingly, coaches, particularly those coaching experienced athletes, should focus on developing the perceptual skill of their players in addition to their physical technique and ability.