This paper reviews the literature on retention and transfer of motor skills to determine what is currently known about these two topics and to apply this knowledge to sport and physical education environments. Within each topic, eight areas are identified as being particularly useful in bridging the gap between the laboratory and the world of the practitioner. In some of these areas, however, it is acknowledged that the present state of knowledge is less than adequate for making generalizations to applied settings. Therefore, more research is needed that is both theoretically and empirically based and from which practitioners can draw their technology.