Tools for assessing ball skills based on game scenarios: a systematic review and related insights

Abstract

Background

Physical education teachers commonly use single or combined technique tests to assess to assess the skills performance of their students, but these tests still have limitations for ball skills that involve the perceptual-cognitive system and urgently need to adopt ball skill assessment tools based on game scenarios for evaluation.

Objective

To provide a systematic review of ball skills performance assessment tools based on game scenarios, provide references for the development, application and pedagogical reflection of related tools.

Methods

Computer searches of the Web of Science (WOS), PubMed, Scopus, SPORT Discus, and SciELO databases were conducted. Two researchers independently selected documents, and extracted information.

Results

Sixteen tools for the assessment of ball sport skills performance based on game scenarios were obtained. Depending on the item being assessed, the tools can be divided into comprehensive item assessment tools (4) and single item assessment tools (12); depending on the phase of the sport being assessed, the tools can be divided into offensive phase skill performance assessment tools (15) and defensive phase skill performance assessment tools (10); depending on the type of skill being assessed, the tools can be divided into with-ball skill assessment tools (14) and without-ball skill assessment tools (15). The WOS database contains eight of these tools, and the Game Performance Assessment Instrument, Performance Assessment in Team Sports, Sistema de avaliação táctica no Futebol and Game Performance Evaluation Tool have a citation frequency of more than 100 citations and an average annual citation frequency of more than 10 citations. 87.5% and 50.0% of the tools passed inter-observer reliability and intra-observer reliability. 100.0% of the tools passed content validity and 37.5% passed structural validity.

Conclusions

Ball skill assessment tools based on game situations can evaluate students' technical and tactical performance in real game scenarios, reflecting their sports decision-making and awareness of thinking. In practice, ball sport skills performance can be assessed, fed back and improved through four stages of tool selection, observation recording, data analysis and data interpretation, depending on the actual situation. Based on the development ideas of foreign ball skills performance assessment tools, the following insights are proposed: 1) to promote the development and improvement of single ball skills performance assessment tools; 2) to select reasonable and effective tools for assessment according to the teaching progress; 3) to provide suitable assessment tools for the training and selection of reserve talents; 4) to push PE teachers to explore the structured teaching of ball skills.

Introduction

Sport skills are the main content of the physical education (PE) curriculum and play an irreplaceable role in the formation of exercise enjoyment and the development of exercise habits [1,2,3]. However, China faces the serious problem of “not mastering a single sport skill after 12 years of PE classes”, which has been plaguing the reform of PE curriculum [4]. Assessment of sport skills performance is a key part of PE, effective assessment is not only to reflect whether the teacher “teaching”, whether the student “mastery” of the basis, but also for the optimization and reform of sport skills teaching is of great significance [5]. Among all sports skills, ball skills hold an important position in PE. Ball skills are popular, entertaining, competitive, and challenging. These characteristics stimulate students' interest in physical education and encourage their participation in sports. Survey data from the National Physical Fitness Monitoring Center of China [6] shows that children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 mainly engage in ball skills such as table tennis and badminton, with a particularly high proportion of boys participating in basketball exercises. Therefore, ball skills are widely loved by primary and secondary school students. In addition, driven by policies such as campus football, campus basketball, and campus tennis in China, ball skills have become an indispensable part of PE.

Currently, PE teachers often use single- or combination-technique tests to assess students’ skill performance, but such tests still have limitations for ball skills that involve the perceptual-cognitive system. Single or combined technical tests are often conducted in relatively fixed and simplified environments, which cannot truly simulate the dynamics and uncertainties in competitions [7, 8]. Therefore, such tests cannot fully reflect students' performance in actual competitions. Moreover, single or combined technical tests usually only focus on whether students can complete specific technical actions, while ignoring the assessment of their ability to make correct decisions in different situations [7,8,9]. So, how do you prove that a teacher has “taught” a student a ball skill? How does one prove that a student has “mastered” or is “proficient” in a ball skill? The most recent research related to ball skills learning [7,8,9] suggests that, on the basis of students learning and practicing a variety of single techniques and tactics, the ability to use knowledge and skills to analyze and solve problems should be improved through the creation of real-life activities and game situations. Therefore, only when students are able to make flexible decisions and play effectively in game situations can they be called “proficient”, and only when they are evaluated in dynamic game situations can they be assessed as “proficient”.

In fact, in the field of athlete performance analysis, there are already many studies [10,11,12] that assess the skill performance of athletes in dynamic real situations. In addition, PE teachers and researchers are gradually realizing the importance of assessing students’ performance in ball skills in a game context, and are mainly using expert ratings to provide subjective qualitative ratings of game performance. However, this kind of empirical evaluation is largely interfered by experts’ knowledge and experience, personal preferences, and the evaluation process lacks scientific nature, so the reliability and objectivity of the results are bound to be greatly reduced. With the continuous development of research, a number of assessment tools for assessing ball skills performance in game situations have gradually emerged, focusing on the role of perceptual-cognitive elements in sport skills performance and aiming to realize the assessment of sport decision-making and technical choices in dynamic scenarios. However, given the relatively decentralized distribution of relevant tools and the lack of necessary integration and comparison, teachers have some difficulty in selecting tools. Therefore, this study systematically combed, summarized and analyzed the assessment tools of ball skills based on the game context, in order to provide thinking for the teaching and evaluation of students’ ball skills, and to provide reference for teachers to innovate the concepts and teaching methods of ball skills.

Methods

This systematic review adhered to the Cochrane guidelines and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA-2020) [13].

Search strategy

A researcher conducted a literature search using the following three sets of English search terms: (1) “motor skills” OR “sports” OR “game” OR “football” OR “soccer” OR “basketball” OR “volleyball” OR “table tennis” OR “badminton” OR “tennis”; (2) “knowledge” OR “intelligence” OR “game understand” OR “decision making” OR “performance” OR “tactical awareness”; (3) “assess” OR “evaluation” OR “examine” OR “tool” OR “instrument” OR “test” OR “implement”. This study used the Boolean operator AND to combine subject terms and searched in Web of Science (WOS), PubMed, Scopus, SPORT Discus, and SciELO databases. The timeframe for the search is from the creation of the database to February 2023. In addition, this study was conducted by finding references to included studies so as not to miss potential literature. This study did not search for gray literature. The main reasons are: 1) The quality is uneven: Gray literature does not have strict quality control like academic journal articles that have been peer-reviewed; 2) Difficulties in searching and screening: Gray literature does not have a centralized database and is more dispersed, which increases the difficulty of searching for gray literature and requires more time and effort to find relevant literature through different channels.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

The study was designed with the following inclusion and exclusion criteria for literature screening. Inclusion criteria were (1) literature related to the development of ball skills assessment tools; (2) the development of assessment tools with a rigorous process of reliability and validity testing; and (3) the applicable group of the assessment tools is student or youth athletes. Exclusion criteria were (1) cross-cultural testing of assessment tools; (2) assessment tools applicable to students or athletes with disabilities; (3) assessment tools applicable to professional athletes; (4) paper-and- pencil tests, computerized tests; (5) single or combined technical and tactical tests in non-competitive situations; (6) reviews, abstracts, letters, comments, etc.; and (7) duplicate publications for the same study population, with only higher-quality literature included. The screening process was carried out independently by two researchers, and a secondary assessment of the screened literature was conducted by two other researchers. If there were any controversial articles, they were discussed and a consensus was reached by the group.

Data extraction

This study conducted data extraction of included literature based on the following content. (1) Bibliographic information, including the first author and publication year; (2) name of the tool; (3) the sport for which the assessment tool is used; (4) the specific content and observation indicators of the assessment tool; (5) whether the included literature is indexed in WOS; (6) the citation frequency of the included literature; (7) the reliability and validity of the assessment tool. Additionally, this study classified the included assessment tools based on item (multiple skills and specific skills), stage (offensive stage and defensive stage), and skill type (ball skills and non-ball skills). The extracted data were entered into Excel 2010 and saved. Two researchers independently conducted the data extraction, and two other researchers conducted a secondary assessment of the extracted data. In case of any controversial issues, they were discussed and jointly decided upon by the group.

Mathematical statistics

This study used SPSS 25.0 software for statistical analysis. The purpose of this study is merely to summarize and categorize ball skill assessment tools based on game situations, hence only descriptive statistics are required. Accordingly, this study employs frequency and percentage to conduct descriptive statistics.

Results

Selection results

A total of 4,508 articles were retrieved in this study. After removing 1,907 duplicate articles from the database, 2,601 articles were obtained. By reading the titles and abstracts, 2,434 articles that were not related to the development of ball skill assessment tools were excluded, resulting in 167 articles. After reading the full text of the articles and excluding those that did not meet the inclusion criteria, 16 articles were ultimately included. The literature screening process is shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1

Literature screening flowchart

Basic information of the included assessment tools

Bibliographic information

This study includes a total of 16 ball skill performance assessment tools based on game scenarios, with publication dates ranging from 1997 [14] to 2021 [15]. Specifically, 2 tools were successfully developed in 2001 [16, 17], 2013 [18, 19], 2015 [20, 21], and 2019 [22, 23] respectively. Additionally, 1 tool was successfully developed in each of the following years: 1997 [14], 1998 [24], 2002 [25], 2014 [26], 2017 [27], 2018 [28], 2020 [29], and 2021 [15]. For detailed bibliographic information of the included tools, see Table 1.

Table 1 Basic information of the included assessment tools

Assessment tools and their classification

The included 16 tools consist of 4 general tools that can assess a variety of sports [14, 20, 21, 24] and 12 specific tools targeted at single sports [15,16,17,18,19, 22, 23, 25,26,27,28,29]. Among them, 6 tools are specifically designed to assess football skill performance [15, 17, 19, 22, 25, 29], 4 tools are specifically for assessing basketball skill performance [18, 23, 26, 27], 1 tool is for assessing volleyball skill performance [16], and 1 tool is dedicated to assessing tennis skill performance [28].

In addition, this study classified the included assessment tools based on item (multiple skills and specific skills), stage (offensive stage and defensive stage), and skill type (ball skills and non-ball skills). Firstly, tools can be categorized into multiple tools and specific tools based on the items they can assess. For multiple tools, GPAI [24] enables the assessment of any ball sports; TSAP [14] and TCTP: OE [20] enables the assessment of collective sports such as football, basketball, and volleyball; and TALIS [21] enables the assessment of invasive gaming sports such as football and basketball. For the specific tools, six tools [15, 17, 19, 22, 25, 29] were effective in assessing the participants’ football skills performance; four tools [18, 23, 26, 27] were effective in assessing the participants’ basketball skills performance. In addition, the IAD-VB [16] was effective in assessing participants’ volleyball skills performance; and the OITTAST [28] was effective in assessing participants’ tennis skills performance. Secondly, depending on the stage of the movement being assessed by the tool, the tool can be divided into a skill performance assessment tool for the offensive stage and a skill performance assessment tool for the defensive stage. Of these, 15 tools (93.75%) allowed for the assessment of skill performance in the offensive stage; 10 tools (62.5%) allowed for the assessment of skill performance in the defensive stage. Finally, based on the type of skill assessed by the tool, the tool can be categorized into a balled skill assessment tool and a non-balled skill assessment tool. Of these, 14 tools (87.5%) allowed for the assessment of skill performance with the ball; 15 tools (93.75%) allowed for the assessment of skill performance without the ball. It is important to note that OITTAST [27] for assessing tennis skills performance is mainly based on the round stroke order, landing and effect, and does not deal with the classification of offensive and defensive stages as well as skills with and without the ball. Figure 2 provides a more detailed categorization of sport skills performance assessment tools based on the three dimensions of project, stage, and skill type. In this study, it was found that GPAI [24] and TCTP: OE [20] enable the assessment of offensive and defensive skill performance with and without the ball in combined sports; FUT-SAT [17], IAD-BB [26], PTKT:Bb [27], IAD-Futsal [22], BALPAI [23], IMLPFoot [29], and FOCOS [15] enable the assessment of offensive and defensive skill performance with and without the ball in single sports.

Fig. 2

Classification of tools for assessing ball sport performance based on game scenarios

The perceptual-cognitive element of ball skills implies the need to assess sport decisions and skill execution after decisions, and many (87.5%) ball skills performance assessment tools also focused on assessing participants at the cognitive decisions. Whereas cognitive decisions are often associated with tactical actions, these ball skills performance assessment tools also enable the assessment of participants’ tactical abilities. Furthermore, technical and tactical are two inseparable manifestations of sport skills [30]. Technical is the foundation of implementing tactics, tactics is the development direction of technical, good tactical awareness can promote and enhance the effect of the use of technical, and even can give birth to, create new technical [31, 32]. Technical and tactical interpenetration, interconnection and complement each other in sports practice [33], for example, the basketball crossing, fake action in the shooting implies the implementation of tactics; and the play of tactics such as passing and cutting cooperation and cross-covering cannot be separated from the combination of skills such as dribbling, passing, moving and defending. Therefore, the above assessment tools can assess tactical actions to a greater or lesser extent, for example, the GPAI [24] components of positional adjustment, sound decisions, supporting receivers, cover fills, and staredown defenses involve individual tactical actions such as creating and filling gaps, getting out of and running into positions, protecting and filling, man-to-man, and decisions with the ball. For details on the specific observation content of the included tools, see Table 1.

Inclusion and citation

WOS is the most influential and authoritative citation database for global access to academic information. WOS has a deeper international connection, and the fact that it can be retrieved by it means that the tool has the potential to be widely disseminated. Eight of the 16 ball skills performance assessment tools were included in the WOS, including the IAD-VB [16], FUT-SAT [17], BOGPI [18], IAD-BB [26], TCTP:OE [20], OITTAST [28], BALPAI [23], and FOCOS [15] (Fig. 3a). The frequency of citations is an important indicator for assessing the impact of literature, and literature with a high frequency of citations generally integrates quality, value, and innovation [34]. However, the total citation frequency overlooks the issue of cumulative counts due to publication time, so this study introduces the indicator of average annual citation frequency to reduce the interference effect of publication time. This study investigated the citation frequency of the included studies based on Google Scholar and found that GPAI [24], TSAP [14], FUT-SAT [17], and GPET [19] were the studies that were cited more than 100 times and had an average annual citation frequency exceeding 10 times (Fig. 3b).

Fig. 3

Frequency of citations and average annual citation frequency for included studies

Reliability and validity

An important prerequisite for the assessment of ball skills performance is to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the assessment tools. A higher reliability and validity assessment tool is not only the basis for a credible, reliable, true and accurate measure of an individual’s ball skills performance, but also has positive implications for the overall quality of scientific research [35]. Where reliability is expressed as the consistency and stability of the test results, with the exception of the OITTAST [28], which was used to assess tennis skills performance, all studies used more than one type of reliability test. In addition, inter-observer reliability is a frequent reliability test used by researchers (87.5% of the total number of tools); followed by intra-observer reliability (50% of the total number of tools). Validity is expressed as the degree to which the results measured by an assessment tool reflect what is intended to be examined, and more than one validity test was used for all of the included tools. In addition, content validity was a frequent validity test used by researchers (100%); followed by structural validity (37.5% of the total number of tools). Details of the reliability and validity test methods used for the inclusion of the tools are shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 4

Adoption of reliability and validity tests for the inclusion of tools.  Notes: A = retest reliability; B = intra-observer reliability; C = inter-observer reliability; D = internal consistency reliability; E = content validity; F = structural validity; G = calibration validity; 1 = reported; 0 = not reported

Fig. 5

Application process of the game context-based assessment tool for ball skills performance

Discussion

This study systematically searched databases and reviewed 16 ball skill performance assessment tools based on game scenarios, finding that such assessment tools can evaluate students' technical and tactical performance in real game scenarios, reflecting their sports decision-making and awareness of thinking. Based on the selected assessment tools, this study aims to further discuss the theoretical basis for their development, compare the main indicators and application scope of different assessment tools, and summarize the application process of ball skill performance assessment tools based on game scenarios.

Theoretical basis for the development of assessment tools for ball skills performance based on game scenarios

Under behaviorist theory, sport skills acquisition is considered to be a conditioned reflex process that establishes temporary neural connections [36], and sport skills are also viewed as “skills made by performers who use the quality of the movement as the primary determinant of success” [37]. For this reason, researchers often use comprehensive skill attainment tests to assess students’ skills performance. For example, assessments were based on outcome measures such as speed of completion of the quiz, number of rings of positional kicks, and number of kicks turned over; and scoring by experienced soccer teachers or coaches based on the degree to which the participant completed the movement correctly. While such tools are able to reflect students’ mastery of single or combined technical maneuvers, they are not yet able to effectively measure students’ flexible decision-making and subsequent technical and tactical choices in game situations.

In response to the behaviorists’ inadequate explanation of the “knowing” aspect of sport skills, cognitivist theorists have proposed that the essence of sport skills is the behavioral control of individuals by concepts and rules [38]. Sport skills have been defined as “the manner of movement or mental activity in which an individual applies knowledge and experience in an activity to accomplish a certain task” [39], and are centered on “the operational state of programmed knowledge” [40]. Based on this, researchers often use computerized decision-making tests to assess students’ athletic decision-making, for example, by asking participants to watch a video of a soccer offensive play decision and evaluating their performance based on decision reaction time and reasonableness [41]. However, this type of assessment only focuses on the “knowing” side of sport skills and ignores the “doing” side, which does not yet truly reflect the performance of ball skills in a game situation.

With the development of ecopsychology and its application in sports, researchers are gradually moving away from the narrow paradigms of “mindlessness” and “incorporealism” and adopting a more ecological "mind–body monism" perspective to understand sport skills learning. Dynamic systems theory, influenced by ecopsychological ideas, conceptualizes the individual as a dynamic, complex adaptive system that constantly interacts with other systems, that is, as a network of highly integrated, interacting degrees of freedom (e.g., neurons, muscles, joints, bones, limbs, etc.) [42]. With a wealth of information distributed around complex adaptive systems, the constant flow of information constraints from the surrounding environment allows subcomponents to gradually produce synergistic effects in order to achieve sport skills development goals and even generate creative sport solutions [43]. Based on exploring the complex dynamical processes driven by the non-equilibrium rise and fall of athletes' brain waves, Li [44] proposed that sport skills acquisition is a goal-directed, pan-brain network self-organization process. The pan-brain network is a highly intricate and complex non-linear system consisting of a large number of neurons hierarchically connected [44]. External environmental stimuli lead to “destabilization” of the originally ordered neural connections, but under the direction of task goals, key information sources continuously shape the intentions, causing neurons to self- organize to form a new ordered state, thus optimizing decision-making, planning and organization [45, 46]. Cognitive activities in this ecological perspective are more contextual, non-representational, and mind–body integrated, focusing on the interaction of the individual, the environment, and the task. In this view, the sport skills learning process is seen as the emergence of an adaptive functional relationship between the individual and the external environment [47], characterized by the accommodation of key perceptual variables and the refinement of motor responses. Therefore, given the contextual, dynamic, and nonlinear characteristics of ball skills learning, its assessment also needs to be based on contextualized assessment tools that highlight the validity of perceptual decision-making and the flexibility of skills application.

In addition, procedural knowledge of sport skills needs to be assessed in dynamic scenarios. Bjunvill [48] states that in ball skills, techniques and tactics that have been mastered through many repetitions of practice can only be effectively utilized if the individual does an effective job of reading the game. Individuals with excellent reading of the game are able to control as many techniques and tactics as possible in a short period of time and practice them flexibly in complex and changing games, and this choice is often the optimal solution [49]. Individuals need to store integrated visual information temporarily and match it with knowledge experiences in the long term memory system in order to make rational and effective decisions during a match. The knowledge experiences in the long term memory system also react on the visual system, guiding it to search for key information, and this “top-down” search improves the agility of decision making. Modern cognitive psychology views knowledge from the perspective of information processing as the storage, organization and integration of information in memory, which is mainly divided into declarative and procedural knowledge. Declarative knowledge is the knowledge of things and their relationships, including facts, rules, events, attitudes, etc., which is the knowledge of “what”; procedural knowledge is the knowledge of behaviors or operational steps to accomplish a certain task, which is the knowledge of “how to do” or “how to do it” [50]. Embodied in ball skills performance, declarative knowledge refers to knowledge of the rules and objectives of the game, while procedural knowledge refers to how to choose appropriate actions in a game setting [51]. Therefore, this procedural knowledge is more easily assessed using the ecologically perceived action paradigm of real or simulated competitions [52].

In summary, the ball skill performance assessment tools based on game scenarios address the limitations of single and comprehensive technical tests, which are unable to assess performance in real contexts. By focusing on the interaction between the individual and the environment, as well as the effective evaluation of procedural knowledge, these tools provide a more comprehensive and accurate reflection of athletes' skill performance in competitions.

Comparison of assessment tools for ball skills performance based on game scenarios

TASP and GPAI

The TSAP and GPAI were the first assessment tools developed to study ball skills performance in game contexts and are the classic tools commonly used by researchers for analysis and comparison [49]. The TSAP assesses players’ sport skills performance using the amount of play and efficiency index, where the amount of play is the number of times a player gains possession of the ball, including possession gained by stealing and catching, and the efficiency index refers to the effectiveness of the execution of a technical action, which is mainly measured based on the threat of passing, shooting, routine passing, and missed passing [14]. The GPAI assesses ball skills performance in game contexts through seven main components: return to position, positional adjustments, sound decisions, skill execution, supporting receivers, cover fills, and staredown defense [24]. It should be noted that not all of the above components can be applied to specific sports, for example, there is no support for receiving, covering and defending in 1 vs. 1 games such as table tennis and tennis; and there is no return to position in invasive games such as soccer and basketball. Therefore, it is necessary for PE teachers to select the most appropriate part from the seven components according to the characteristics of the program to be assessed and the actual situation of the students.

Both TSAP and GPAI are positive for student understanding of the game, but they differ in their specific operations in the following four ways. (1) The GPAI can assess a wider range of programs than the TASP, which only enables the assessment of collective sports, whereas the GPAI enables the assessment of any ball sports. (2) The TSAP focuses more on the assessment of skills with the ball, whereas the GPAI can assess both skills with and without the ball. (3) The TSAP focuses on assessing students’ performance of technical actions such as passing, catching, shooting, and stealing, while the GPAI focuses more on assessing students’ motor decisions and skills performance. (4) The TSAP was objectively coded primarily based on the number of times the action occurred, whereas the GPAI was coded primarily based on subjective judgments (observers judging the student’s performance to determine the reasonableness of the decision and the skill execution).

The development of the TSAP and the GPAI have inspired and informed the development of subsequent ball skills performance assessment tools, and the GPAI has been used by researchers as the “gold standard” for the development of instruments to test students’ declarative and procedural knowledge [53]. The ball skills assessment tools developed by subsequent researchers can be broadly categorized into two groups. One category references the development of the GPAI, which employs the principle of subjective coding to judge skills performance in competition situations, and such tools include KORA, TCTP: OE, and PTKT: Bb. Although there is a discrepancy between the researchers’ formulation of the assessment indicators and that of the GPAI, their meaning is similar, except for a more nuanced integration with the game context. For example, in KORA, occupying the right position at the right time is the performance of a player without the ball to effectively support the receiver; in TCTP: OE and PTKT: Bb, actively running for the ball, covering the offense without the ball, and crossing the line of defense are the specific performance of positional adjustments and cover fills. The other category refers to the assessment content and coding rules of TSAP and GPAI, and effectively combines the two, first identifying the observed technical movements, and then realizing the assessment of motor decisions and skills performance according to the assessment dimensions of GPAI. Such assessment tools include IAD-VB, BOGPI, GPET, IAD-BB, IAD-Futsal, BALPAI and IMLPFoot. For example, the IAD-VB assessed the participants’ volleyball skills performance in three dimensions, namely, positional adjustment, sound decisions, and skill execution, and then weighted them to arrive at the overall performance of the participants.

Relatively speaking, TSAP objectively encodes based on the frequency of actions, which may be easier for physical education teachers to understand and implement on the field. Moreover, this tool primarily assesses performance using indicators with clear concepts, such as match volume (number of ball possessions) and efficiency index (measured based on the threat level of actions like passing). Therefore, physical education teachers can understand and apply it without much specialized training. However, for GPAI, encoding is based on subjective judgment. For example, observers need to judge the rationality of decision—making and the execution of skills based on students' performance, which requires a higher level of professional judgment from physical education teachers. As a result, specialized training is needed to unify the evaluation criteria to ensure the accuracy and consistency of the assessment. In addition, GPAI covers seven main components, and it is necessary to select appropriate parts according to the characteristics of different sports, which also increases the difficulty of operation and requires teachers to have a deep understanding of the meaning and applicable scenarios of each part.

FUT-SAT and FOCOS

The TSAP and GPAI have positive implications for assessing ball skills performance in game contexts, but the following limitations remain. (1) These assessment tools use common characteristics of many ball sports as observation and assessment indicators, and cannot cover all possibilities of technical and tactical actions in game contexts. (2) Lacking the necessary stage classifications, the researcher was unable to effectively differentiate between offensive or defensive performance of the participants. For example, the GPAI “positional adjustment” means that “regardless of the offensive and defensive phases of the game, the student must adjust his or her position in a timely manner to changes in the field”. (3) Lack of clarity on the principles of action, for example, it is not clear whether the purpose of “positional adjustment” is to create spaces or to complement the attack. (4) Defining the outcome of a technical or tactical action solely in terms of success or failure, without linking it to further possibilities for the action. For example, a pass may be followed by a shot on goal, continued possession, a foul won, and loss of possession, among many other possibilities.

In response to these limitations, Costa et al. [17] developed the FUT-SAT, which aims to cover the multiple possibilities of technical and tactical actions in football game contexts, and constructed a detailed observation criteria and assessment system based on the tactical principles of offense or defense [17, 54]. Thus, the tool is more detailed and specific in its assessment of participants’ technical and tactical actions, and is able to more accurately characterize the procedural knowledge and technical and tactical thinking of the participants. The FUT-SAT assesses football players’ offensive and defensive skills performance in terms of three macro-observational categories of tactical principles, operational locations, and operational outcomes, as well as four macro-outcome categories of performance indices, tactical actions, percentage of errors, and operational locations related to principles. The macro- observation category includes a total of 24 observed variables in the offense and defense phases; the variables in the macro-outcome category depend on the macro-observation category variables and both include the same 13 variables, resulting in a total of 76 variables. The tactical performance index, which is a comprehensive indicator of the technical and tactical performance of football players, consists of the implementation of tactical principles, the quality of the implementation of tactical principles, the operational location and the results of the action.

The subsequent development of FOCOS also drew on the idea of FUT-SAT, on the basis of which detailed observation and assessment steps were formulated, mainly focusing on the stage of the game, role types, role actions, operational principles, specific principles and action results in a total of six steps to observe, assess and analyze the technical and tactical performance of football players. The results of its technical and tactical actions do not continue the idea of FUT-SAT, but are judged by “action success”, “action can be improved” and “action failure”. For example, assessing the catch-and-control skills of offensive players without the ball during the offensive phase of the game required the researcher to identify indicators of catch-and-control skill observations in specific scenarios based on the principles of technical and tactical actions. Another example is catching and controlling the ball in conjunction with an offensive player’s passing process, and the final rating is based on the results of the action (successes, improvable mistakes, and errors). In addition, FOCOS is committed to incorporating any context of a football game, and its assessment procedure is complex and cumbersome, and although it allows for a more refined assessment of the participants’ performance, it does not give an overall performance of the participants’ football skills, and therefore may limit its application and dissemination.

Both FUT-SAT and FOCOS require specialized training for physical education teachers. FUT-SAT constructs a detailed observation standard and assessment system based on offensive or defensive tactical principles, covering a wide range of possibilities of technical and tactical actions in football matches. With numerous and complex variables, it assesses from multiple aspects such as macro-observation categories and macro-outcome categories. This makes it difficult for physical education teachers to understand and implement, necessitating specialized training to accurately grasp the key points and procedures of the assessment. Assessment procedure of FOCOS revolves around six steps, aiming to cover any context of a football match. Although it can provide a detailed assessment, the procedure is complex and cumbersome. For physical education teachers to implement the assessment on the field, they need not only to understand the requirements of each step but also to make accurate judgments in complex situations. This places extremely high demands on the teachers' professional abilities, making specialized training a must. Moreover, its complexity may affect its application and dissemination in practical teaching.

Application process of the ball skills performance assessment tools based on game scenarios

With the growing understanding of the concept of sport skills, researchers have come to realize the importance of developing students’ ability to make flexible decisions and apply technical and tactical skills in a variety of ball games. Currently, some studies have used comprehension-based ball teaching models [55], comprehension pedagogy [56], and constraint-dominant methods [57] to promote the accumulation of declarative and procedural knowledge and to develop students' technical and tactical thinking by enhancing the opportunities for individuals to interact with the environment, shaping the processes of perception, cognition, decisions, and actions [58, 59]. The game context-based ball skills performance assessment tool supports researchers in assessing students’ technical and tactical performance, and provides scientific and effective tools for diagnosing, providing feedback, and improving students’ sports performance on the playing field. But given that there are so many assessment tools available, what considerations should we base our choice of the right one on? After selecting the appropriate tool, how should we observe, record, analyze and interpret the appropriate data? Based on this, this study summarized the application process of the game context-based assessment tool for ball skills performance based on the systematic review of previous studies (Fig. 5), which included a total of four phases: tool selection, observation recording, data analysis, and data interpretation [60], for the reference of subsequent researchers.

Tool selection

Firstly, given the age differences in the development of students’ cognitive thinking, there is yet to be a need to select the appropriate assessment tool according to the age of the observed person. Related studies [49, 61] have shown that systematically trained players are able to demonstrate good reading of the game and mental decisions in real or simulated matches from the age of 12, and build on this to develop more refined individual or localized tactical actions. Therefore, González-Víllora et al. [49] suggested the use of simple tools such as TSAP and GPAI to assess students’ technical and tactical performance before the age of 12; and the gradual use of complex tools such as FUT-SAT to assess students’ tactical coordination after the age of 12. Secondly, choose the appropriate assessment tool according to the teaching and learning progress. For example, if football skills begin with football passing and catching, students’ passing and catching performance can be assessed during the game phase of a lesson using a selection of tools such as TSAP, GPET and IMLPFoot. In addition, it is also possible to begin by identifying the technical indicators observed and selecting the GPAI to assess the student's performance in terms of sound decisions, skill execution, and supporting receivers during the passing and receiving process. And in the later phases of football skill acquisition, as students develop a deeper understanding of complete technical and tactical skills, tools such as KORA, FUT-SAT, TALIS, and FOCOS are available to assess students’ tactical performance. Thirdly, appropriate assessment tools are selected based on whether the game is in an offensive or defensive phase and whether the role being observed is that of a player with or without the ball. The detailed recommendation tool is shown in Fig. 2. Finally, appropriate assessment tools are selected based on the focus of the assessment of technical and tactical performance. If only technical performance is assessed, tools such as TSAP, TCTP: OE, PTKT: Bb, and OITTAST can be chosen to assess football, basketball, and tennis skills performance; if simple individual technical and tactical performance is assessed, the GPAI and the tools that were developed on the basis of it and TSAP can be chosen; and if complex coordination tactics are assessed, tools such as FUT-SAT and FOCOS can be chosen to assess football skills performance.

Observation recording

Observation rules, observation duration, and site area should first be determined before observations, but rules, space, duration, and materials need to be adapted to the students’ skills development level, so there are not yet strict standards [14]. Costa et al. [62] showed that in a small, restricted field, the observers were able to execute all the maneuvers related to the tactical principles of the FUT-SAT in just 4 min, and subsequent researchers have scheduled more than 4 min of game time. In addition, these tools can be used to assess not only the student’s skills performance by changing the size of the field, refereeing rules, etc., but also the performance of the complete game. For example, assessing the skill performance of Barcelona and its opponents in La Liga [63]; and then, exploring the key technical and tactical factors that influence the winning and losing of football matches [64]. In addition, to ensure the scientific validity of data analysis and interpretation at a later stage, the observation recording should firstly ensure the reliability of the data. The dynamics and complexity of the ball game bring some uncertainty to the observation recording, so the observation data need to be tested for confidence, which can be analyzed by retesting tests, intra- and extra-observer tests, and other tests of data confidence.

Data analysis

This step focuses on analyzing the data obtained from the observation records through appropriate statistical methods. The data are analyzed to maximize the functionality of the data and its explanatory role [65]. Depending on the purpose of the observation or study, specific observational metrics based on each assessment tool can be calculated for desired metrics, such as the number of technical and tactical actions, single technical and tactical performances, combined technical and coordinated tactical performances, and performance throughout the game.

Data interpretation

The purpose of data interpretation of ball skills performance is to assess, diagnose, provide feedback and optimize instruction. First, through observation and data analysis, it is possible to identify the key elements that affect the technical and tactical performance of players and teams, which is important for assessing whether students are able to make flexible decisions and apply the skills they have learned, and whether they are “learning” and “proficient in” the sport skills in a game context. Second, it can diagnose the weak links of students’ skills learning, provide a basis for the subsequent students’ skills targeted learning, and provide a basis for the subsequent arrangement of teaching content and the design of teaching activities for teachers.

Limitations of this study

Although this study systematically combed the assessment tools for ball skill performance based on game scenarios, there are still some limitations in the combing process. Due to language limitations, this study only used English for searching in relevant databases, which may have omitted assessment tools in other language systems. In addition, this study only retrieved published research articles and did not consult relevant books or grey documents, which may also have led to some omissions. Therefore, it is recommended that follow-up studies conduct further searches and consultations based on this. In terms of the inclusion of tools, this study has incorporated a wide range of ball skill assessment tools. Although these tools are comprehensive and diverse, some of them, such as FUT-SAT and FOCOS, have too many assessment indicators and complicated assessment procedures. As a result, their application in the field of physical education is relatively limited. Therefore, the applicability of these tools in the field of physical education needs to be further explored.

Relevant insights from assessment tools for ball skills performance based on game scenarios

Promote the development of ball skills performance assessment tools

Firstly, researchers still have a wider selection of tools for assessing the quality of students’ single or combined technical movements in fixed contexts, such as the Basketball Combined Technical Movements Test [66] and the Soccer Technical Attainment Test [67]. The above tools reflect the ability of students to perform technical movements with ease, coordination, consistency, accuracy, and autonomy, but there is a lack of information about the flexibility and effectiveness of their use in dynamic game contexts, so this gap needs to be addressed. In addition, in view of the differences in educational concepts and humanistic environments in different countries, the transplantation and borrowing of assessment tools for ball skills performance should be subject to cross-cultural testing in order to further improve the applicability of the assessment tools in their own countries. Secondly, this study found that ball skills assessment tools were mainly focused on collective sports such as football, basketball, and volleyball, while there was a relative lack of assessment tools regarding table tennis, badminton, and tennis. Although the OITTAST assesses tennis skills performance in terms of the types, landings, and effects of serves and strokes, the tool is unable to assess the rationality of students’ decisions and movement without the ball, and suffers from low reliability and validity, and has not yet gained wide acceptance among subsequent researchers. Therefore, it is recommended that subsequent research draws on the development ideas of football, basketball, and volleyball to develop assessment tools for table tennis, badminton, and tennis skills based on the assessment dimensions and basic concepts of the GPAI according to specific program characteristics. Finally, only FUT-SAT and FOCOS are capable of assessing the technical and tactical actions of football players in a refined manner, so there is also an urgent need for follow-up research to develop assessment tools for assessing the technical and tactical thinking of collective sports such as basketball and volleyball, drawing on the ideas behind the development of the above tools. In conclusion, we should adhere to the “mind–body monism” of ecopsychology, actively promote localized assessment tools based on cross-literature testing of the tools, and improve the assessment tools for single-ball skill performance. Through this, a systematic and comprehensive assessment of a ball skills performance is realized in conjunction with the traditional single or combination of technical and tactical movement tests.

Selection of appropriate tools according to the teaching schedule

The acquisition of ball skills is a step-by-step process, and ball skills performance not only requires students to have the ability to make thoughtful decisions in the face of the complexities of a game context, but also includes the technical and tactical skills that determine the effectiveness of the execution of those decisions. Although decisions are a prerequisite and foundation for technical and tactical execution in a game context, it is often the case that technical and tactical instruction comes first in teaching and the training of thinking and decisional skills comes second. Therefore, the assessment of ball skills performance should be based on the teaching progress and the selection of reasonable and effective assessment tools for measurement and assessment. Firstly, technical movements are a prerequisite for effective decisions, and when students perform technical movements, they mainly activate existing “stimulus- response” connections and rely mainly on conditioned reflexes to establish joint- muscle coordination patterns for technical movements [68]. At this point, then, a single or fixed technique movement quiz can be used to assess the quality of the student’s completion of the movement. It is possible to find out whether a student has a basic mastery of technical movements and to determine whether a student is able to participate in combination practices that involve more thinking and decisions to be involved. Secondly, after mastering the basic movements, students can gradually set up varied and randomized practices, gradually increase the dynamization of the practice, improve the complexity of the practice context, further improve and consolidate the students’ movement procedures, and improve the students’ thinking and decisions, as well as the ability to apply techniques and tactics in a dynamic context. At the beginning stage of contextualized and dynamic practice, teachers usually set up game scenes based on a particular skill or several skills, and simple tools such as TSAP and GPAI can be used to assess students’ skills performance in dynamic contexts. As students accumulate sports experience and have a basic mastery of the techniques and tactics commonly used in a particular ball game and can effectively read the game and are able to participate in a full game, then it is recommended that students’ decisions and skills performance in a full game be assessed using complex tools such as KORA, FUT-SAT, TALIS and FOCOS.

Provide the appropriate tools for the selection of reserve personnel

School sports bear the responsibility of cultivating reserve talents for competitive sports and are an important channel for the selection of reserve talents for competitive sports. Through the “regular competition”, not only to improve students’ attention concentration and distribution, thinking judgment and decisions, as well as the flexible application of techniques and tactics in the game, but also can be based on the performance of students’ sports skills for the selection of outstanding young athletes [69]. A large number of studies [70, 71] have shown that the selection of ball players is not only limited to indicators such as body shape, physical fitness, and technical standardization tests, but also pays more attention to the observation, judgment, decisions, and the technical and tactical implementation effects of precise ball handling in the presence or absence of the ball. Therefore, game context-based assessment tools for ball skills performance can be a useful complement to single or combined skills assessment tools, providing students with more feedback at the level of technical and tactical application strategies, which in turn can improve their competitive performance through targeted training. For example, by assessing students’ passing and catching skills in a dynamic game context, data on the position, timing, coordination, and effectiveness of passing and catching are collected to provide the basis for subsequent feedback. In addition, through the assessment and analysis of ball skills in multiple game contexts, it is possible to make preliminary judgments on “ball intelligence” or “awareness” of students, providing more considerations for the selection of reserve talents and compensating for the inaccuracies of the technical standardized tests as much as possible.

Pushing teachers to explore structured teaching

Structured teaching is a teaching method based on the law of sport skills acquisition and the law of students’ cognitive development, based on the interconnection between technical elements, so that they are transformed into students’ cognitive structure. Structured teaching requires a holistic grasp of the liaison between technical movements and is reflected in the elements, methodological liaison, and behavioral relationships in the curriculum, which is somewhat similar to the learning and practicing of ball skills in a dynamic context. In the practice of teaching sport skills, there are two kinds of practice scheduling sequences: group and random, where the former refers to performing the same movement task over and over again; and the latter refers to performing a variety of movement tasks randomly and out of order. Although group practice produces better learning outcomes than randomized practice in the early stages of skill acquisition, randomized practice achieves better results in retention tests in the later stages of skill acquisition [72]. There are two types of practice sequences in helping students learn basic movement procedures: fixed and varied, where the former refers to the performance of movement tasks using specific movement styles; the latter refers to the performance of movement tasks using multiple movement styles. When a beginner learns a sport skill, the use of stationary exercises helps to develop the basic motor coordination patterns first, while as learning progresses, variation exercises are more able to facilitate the learning and transfer of sport skills. As students master the basic movements, scheduling practices should gradually transition as quickly as possible from predictable stationary practices to unpredictable or unforeseeable variations, thus improving the students’ ability to be flexible in future game contexts [73]. Therefore, after the students have basically mastered the technical movements, the teaching is organized by using variable and random practice structures. For example, by interspersing catching and dribbling movements with throwing practices, students not only need to select the sequential coefficients that produce different movements, but also need to extract and utilize different movement procedures, which can increase the variability and adaptability of movement production.

Conclusion

Single or combined skill tests have limitations in assessing the perceptual-cognitive elements of ball skills and are not effective in determining skills performance of students in game contexts. In contrast, game context-based assessment tools for ball skills performance, inspired by dynamic systems theory and based on the principles of procedural knowledge of sport skills, uses simulated or real games to assess the technical and tactical performance, and are an effective complement to single or combination skill tests. After search and screening, a total of 16 assessment tools were included in this study, among which TSAP and GPAI are the earliest developed and most commonly used assessment tools, which are important references for the development of single-ball skills assessment tools; the FUT-SAT is the main assessment tool for assessing the complex tactical coordination in football, which provides ideas for the subsequent development of assessment tools for the assessment of the performance of basketball, volleyball, and other complex technical and tactical skills. In the practice of applying assessment tools, the four stages of tool selection, observation recording, data analysis and data interpretation can be used to effectively diagnose, feedback and improve students’ sport performance on the playing field according to the actual situation. Based on the idea of developing assessment tools, it provides some thoughts on school sports: firstly, promoting the development of single ball skills performance assessment tools; secondly, choosing reasonable and effective tools according to the teaching progress; thirdly, providing suitable assessment tools for the selection of reserve talents; and lastly, forcing PE teachers to explore the structured teaching of ball skills.