In my last blog, I have explained
the importance of physical education (PE) and sports for the overall
development of a child in school. Now the question is how sports should be
taught at the school level. Like other academic papers, sports should also be
taught through a structured curriculum which should contain a process of
systematic evaluation. At the lower level, this curriculum should focus on the
development of three important skills- Locomotor Skills, Stability Skills and
Object Control Skills. The objective of this blog is to discuss these three
skills which play an instrumental role in the growth of a child.
Locomotor Skills
Locomotor skills are the foundation
of human movements which help an individual to move from one place to another. These skills are often used in our daily life
such as running to catch a bus or leaping over an obstacle or walking to reach
a destination. Locomotor skills are widely used in sports, such as running and
jumping to catch a ball or to score a goal.
The factors which influence
locomotor skills are- balance, understanding of the surrounding environment to
decide the efforts, space and relation. For example, to catch a bus, an individual
has to walk in a direction (space) of the bus (relation) quickly (speed/
effort). Similarly, in sports, to receive a pass in a football match, a player
has to run in the direction (space) of the ball (relation) quickly (speed/
effort).
Locomotor Skills include walking,
running, leaping, jumping (off a height, for a height and for a distance), sliding,
galloping, hooping etc. A child may
acquire these movements naturally, but accuracy may not be gained without
proper practice. Hence, the curriculum for sports and PE should focus on age
specific locomotor activities to improve the movement skills of a child.
Stability
Stability
helps an individual in acquiring and maintaining balance in every movement,
both in static and dynamic positions. Stability is essential in all locomotor
and object control skills.
A child
always tries to acquire and maintain balance in different movements throughout
the day. A change in the posture of the body or movement pattern may cause a
change of the balancing position. Therefore, a child needs to understand how to
change the balance of the body with a change of the posture of the body.
Stability Skills include static
balance, dynamic balance, bending, curling, turning, twisting, stretching
transferring weight etc.
Object Control Skills
Object
control skills help a child to control an object by using a specific part of
the body or by using an implement. Object control skills can be divided into
two parts:
i)
Receptive: Receiving
an object, such as catching a ball, receiving a ball etc.
ii)
Propulsive: Sending an
object away from the body, such as throwing, striking, kicking etc.
Propulsive
skills are easier to implement as the child can control the object while
sending it away. On the contrary, receptive skills are difficult to implement as
the child has to execute his/ her perceptual and coordinative skills to receive
the object coming towards his/her body.
Object
control skills are often used in our daily lives. For example, we use to catch
an object or to throw an object safely to another person. This skill is widely
used in sports and games. In sports, in cricket, we use to catch or throw a
ball. In football, we receive a ball or kick a ball or pass a ball. In
volleyball, we use to strike a ball overhead.
Object control
skills include throwing (under-arm rolling, under-arm throwing, over-arm
throwing, two-handed throwing), catching, kicking, dribbling with foot, dribbling
with an implement, striking (Over-arm, two-handed sidearm), bouncing etc.
These are
the three fundamental skills which should be taught at the lower school level.
In each activity, the performance of the children should be improved from the
initial level to the matured level. Each level should be identified through
some parameters, an example of which is given below.
Activity- Walking
Phase 1: Initial Stage
Ø Child
facing difficulties in maintaining upright posture and balance
Ø Child
making short-steps and flat- footed movement
Ø Child
keeping feet apart for maintaining balance
Ø Toes
turning outward direction
Ø Upward lift
of the leg is not visible
Phase 2: Transitional Stage
Ø Child learns
to maintain the balance while walking
Ø Child takes
wider steps
Ø Heal and
toe in contact with the ground while walking
Ø Outward toe
movement is reduced
Ø Limited arm
swing
Phase 3: Matured Stage
Ø
Child can maintain proper balance while walking
Ø
Child making relaxed steps while walking
Ø
Heal and toe in contact with the ground
Ø
Minimum upward lift of the leg
Ø
The walking foot landing in-front of the balancing
foot almost in a straight line
Ø
Spontaneous swing of arms in opposite directions
Ø
Child can change the speed of walking by making
smaller or larger steps
The above
discussion reveals the fundamental skills which should form the basis of the PE
curriculum at the lower school level. The evaluation system is also discussed.
The schools, interested to implement this, may either prepare their own
curriculum or may outsource this project to various companies operating in this
field. The implementation of such a curriculum will surely make the children
healthy and fit and will prepare them for advanced level of sports. We expect the schools to take a proactive role
in ensuring the physical and mental well-beings of the future generation.
