In this case the upper-body rotation desired during the freestyle stroke encourages an undesirable rotary movement pattern when skiing. Zero transfer occurs when a previously learned skill has no effect or influence upon the participant's ability to learn a new skill. Pitching a baseball has basically no effect or influence that might transfer to skiing. Stepping forward and rotating the arm are motions that neither contribute to nor hinder skiing skills. Fortunately most transfer is positive.
Negative transfer is usually the result of a new response to an older acquired stimulus.
For example, imagine that a skier had been taught, and mastered, skiing on the inside ski as opposed to the traditional method of skiing on the outside ski. For this particular skier, the acquired skill of skiing on the inside ski would be an example of negative transfer. The examples presented thus far represent intertask transfer , i.e., that which occurs when a skill from one sport transfers to a new sport. During the instructional process, intertask transfer is most important when instructors conduct their initial interviews with their students. By knowing what sports the students have participated in, the instructor can better understand the students' movement patterns and outcomes and can tailor his or her movement analogies to the students' realms of experience.