When I don't play regularly I get worse

I have realized that if I take a few days off from playing Shaun White, I get really bad. I guess that's why gamers spend so much of their time playing. The more you play, the better you get. I have also learned that I am ok with never finishing the game. I've been playing for a few months now, and I am not even close to completing the game. I'm sure this would bother some true gamers. When I play with others it does bother me that they are so much better than I am, but it does not drive me to spend all of my free time improving.

As for the learning process, the more times that I've played the same course on the same level, the better I have gotten at it. By repeating the same course over and over I've learned when to turn, when to jump, when to go faster and slower. Does that mean that memorization is still something that is necessary for successful classroom learning? Does that mean that in addition to all of the activity based learning that we are promoting in the classroom that there is still a place for repetition and memorization? Based on my experiences learning this game, I think that there is.