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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the differences between expert and novice tennis instructors' perceptual capacities. Specifically, this study investigated how expert tennis instructors' analytical perceptions differ from novices'. Four experts and four novices participated in the study. Both a video analysis and a recall test served as data collection methods for the study. For the video analysis, the participants were asked to describe what they observed while watching a ten minute long instructional video. The recall test consisted of a series of ten tennis related slides. Both experts and novices were asked to recall as much as possible from the slides. The most striking differences between expert and novice tennis instructors' perceptual capacities were found in (a) their critical analysis (of both motor skill and instruction), and (b) relevance to tennis and tennis instruction. Secondary findings determined a distinct difference in experts and novices' use of inferences, interpretations, evaluations, use of meaningful patterns, understanding of a present situation, and anticipation of future events. The difference between experts' and novices' perception was minimized, however, when an unfamiliar situation was presented to the participants. This finding confirmed the domain specificity of experts' superior perceptual capacities.