MOVEMENT: THE KEYSTONE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORT

Movement represents the key concern of physical educators. Movement is the central focus of
this field of endeavor. Physical educators strive to help human beings to move efficiently, to
increase the quality of their performance, to enhance their ability to learn, and to promote
their health. Movement may be affected by biomechanical, physiological, sociological and
psychological factors. Since movement represents the keystone of physical education, it is
important that professionals in this field understand some of its dimensions.
Understanding of movement concepts such as body awareness, spatial awareness, qualities of
movements and relationships helps physical educators construct meaningful movement
experience to obtain their stated objectives. Such experiences allow their students to
understand the capabilities of the body with respect to movement.

Fundamental motor skills include locomotor skills such as running and jumping and non-
locomotor skills such as bending and stretching. These fundamental skills serve as a
foundation for the development of more complex and specialized skills that are utilized in
sports and other physical education activities, work, and life situations in which human beings
are involved in movement.
One approach that may be used to help children develop an understanding of movement
concepts and attain proficiency in fundamental motor skills is movement education.
Movement education provides children with a variety of problem-solving situations carefully
designed to help them explore the body’s movement abilities and to develop movement skills.

GENERAL FACTORS THAT AFFECT MOVEMENT

Human movement involves many of the systems of the body, such as the skeletal system, the
nervous system, and the muscular system. Human movement is concerned with mechanical
principles or the forces that act on the human body and the effects that act on the human
body and the effects that these forces produce.
Understanding of the biomechanical principles of movement is important for physical
educators if they are to teach movement skills effectively.
Physiological factors affect movement as well. Physical fitness and body build are two factors
among the many that affect the way humans move. Poor muscular development is a deterring
factor in generating force, and the mechanical advantage of levers might be reduced in a
person that is small in stature. Furthermore, physical fitness qualities such as flexibility,
endurance, and strength are basic to and will greatly influence motor performance.

Movement is also affected by psychological factors. Phenomena such as fear, anxiety, and
self-concept might affect human movement in a positive or negative way. Fear or anxiety, for
example, may prevent a performer from relaxing, thus impeding effective performance.

Sociological factors influence human movement. The persons with whom one is competing or
performing, the relationship of the performer to the group, and the desire for social mobility
are examples of sociological factors that may leave their impact on the quality of movement.
MOVEMENT CONCEPTS

Certain concepts relating to movement must be understood by both physical educators and
their students (regardless of age) if a meaningful understanding of basic movement is to be
attained. These concepts are aspects of Rudolph Laban’s four components of movement: (1)
body awareness (what can the body do?), (2) spatial awareness (Where does the body move?),
(3) qualities of movement (How does the body move?), and (4) relationships (With whom or
what does the body move?). Each of these concepts is discussed in this section. Objectives
and suggested questions for each of these areas are presented.

1. Body Awareness
The “what “aspect o movement refers to body awareness. The child should be able to identify
body parts, be aware of what his or her body can do, and understand the relationship of body
parts to the total self.
The objectives for studying body awareness are:
To be able to identify the parts of the body and the whole.
To establish the relationship of parts to the whole
To have students locate body parts
To determine if students know what the body can do.
To determine if students know what body parts can do
To provide opportunities for students to explore numerous body movements.
Movement of the Body and Its Parts

Basic skills can be divided into three categories: locomotor, non-locomotor, and manipulative
movements. Each can be considered separately for clarification. For example, a child may
shake his or her body (a non-locomotor activity) while running across the floor (a locomotor
skill).

Objectives for studying movement of the body and its parts are:
To develop locomotor movements:
Even rhythm: walk, run, leap, hop, roll, and jump
Uneven rhythm: skip, slide, and gallop
To develop non-locomotor movements:
Bend (curl) and stretch
Twist and turn
Push and pull
Swing and sway
To develop manipulative movements:
Bounce
Throw
Catch
Strike
Kick
Spin
Roll
Tap
Turn
elevate

Other Aspects of Body Awareness

Young children are eager to learn about and explore the myriad possibilities of the various
parts of the body in movement. In addition to the ability of body parts to engage in basic
movement, the body is also capable of absorbing the impact of its weight on different body
parts (for example, landing from a jump), or receiving the weight of an outside object (for
example, catching a ball). The weight of the body may be supported by many body parts. This
is important in many gymnastic and dance movements.

The body parts also can be used to express certain feelings (for example, sadness, happiness,
and joy) and to imitate animate and inanimate objects (for example, like a dog wagging its tail,
like a bird flapping its wings, or the Statue of Liberty).

Some of the specific objectives of a program to further explore capabilities of body parts are:
to be able to use parts to support the body (bear weight), such as performing a headstand
to be able to use body parts to transfer weight. Such as executing a skipping movement
to be able to use body parts to lead an action, such as bending the knees and thrusting the
arms upward in a jump
to be able to demonstrate that body parts can meet and part, as in performing bending and
stretching exercises
to be able to express ideas with body parts, such as exhibiting a feeling of happiness by a
facial gesture.
To be able to perform activities using both symmetrical and asymmetrical movements, such
as performing a forward roll(symmetrical) in gymnastics and a buzz step (asymmetrical) in
dance.

2. Spatial Awareness
Spatial awareness includes the type of space in which the body moves as well as the direction,
level, and pathway that the body takes in movement.

A. Space
All movement takes place in space. Space is of two kinds—personal and general. Personal
space is the largest space available to a person in a stationary position. This includes the space
that a person can reach by stretching, bending, and twisting. General space includes the area
in which one person or several persons can move. It might be in the gymnasium, the
swimming pool, or the hallway.
The objectives of a program to teach spatial awareness include:
To establish verbal cues to begin and to stop movement in a particular area
To establish awareness of personal space and general space
To establish safety awareness while moving in personal and general space by encouraging
no touching and no collisions

B. Pathways
A pathway is a line of movement from one place to another in a given space. It might be the
movement of the entire body in a general space (to run from home to first base in a softball
game) or the movement of a part of the body in a personal space swing of the bat with the
arms.

The objectives for teaching the concept of pathways are:

To create student awareness of alternative pathways in which they can move; that is, direct
and indirect pathways
To develop the ability of the body to move through many pathways
To have the students identify and move on specific pathways