Progressão

#182 Enskilment: growing into skill

Jani Sarajärvi & Jussi-Pekka Savolainen

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0:00 | 9:27

In this episode of the Progressão podcast, we begin a new series on becoming skilful in football and in human life.

We explore the concept of enskilment, developed especially by anthropologist Tim Ingold and rooted in James Gibson’s ecological psychology. Enskilment invites us to see skill as something that grows through participation in a living world.

We explore how becoming skilful is a process of deepening sensitivity and responsiveness to the environment. Like said, "learning is inseparable from doing,
doing is inseparable from place."

In football, this means understanding skill as an attunement to teammates, opponents, space, time, rhythm, and culture. A press or a dribble is not merely a technique, but a coordination within a human–environment system.

Skill grows within a cultural ecology: the games we play as children, the environments we train in, the values we celebrate, and the rhythms that affect to our footballing world.

This episode lays the foundation for the next ones in the series, where we will explore more deeply the role of environment, culture, and practice in the lifelong process of becoming skilful.

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