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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.