PDFE #13 "Feedback Observation and Functional Categorization"

Setting:
I once again observed Coach Williamson's lacrosse class on Monday November 22. 2010 at 9 am out on the intramural fields. The purpose of the class is to teach Berry students the basic skills and rules necessary to play lacrosse.By this point in the semester, Coach is letting the players perform drills that simulate game play.

Observations: (feedback examples)

• The coach corrects the way a player is holding their stick while explaining why the player was unable to throw accurately. 
• The coach says, "Nice shot" after a player scores. 
• Coach tells one player to cradle closer to their body after the ball get checked out of the player's stick.  
• The coach times the team on sprints and tells them their time.
• Players say, "good job" after one player blocks a shot.
• A player smiles after making a goal.
• Coach tells the team that keeping their sticks up high will increase their chance of an interception. 
• The coach encourages more talking among defense players so that the attack does not pass them. 
• Two players successfully quick-stick longer than the rest of the players and congratulate each other.
• Coach yells that he will make the players run laps if they do not hustle after the ball.
• Coach tells a player to stop throwing the ball so high. 

Categorization:
Intrinsic:

• Player sees the ball scored after a shot.
• Two players see themselves quick-stick longer than the other players.

Extrinsic:

• Coach threatens to make players run laps if they do not hustle. 
• Teammates say, "good job," after one player blocks a shot. 

KR:

• Coach tells players their time for running sprints.
• Two players see themselves quick-stick longer than the other players.

KP:

• Coach tells one player to cradle closer to their body after the ball get checked out of the player's stick.
•  Coach tells the team that keeping their sticks up high will increase their chance of an interception. 

Descriptive:

• Coach tells a player to stop throwing the ball so high. 
• Although this was not recorded, another example of descriptive feedback would be the coach telling a player that their stick pocket is illegal and making the player figure out how to fix it. 

Prescriptive:

• The coach corrects the way a player is holding their stick while explaining why the player was unable to throw accurately.  
•  Coach tells one player to cradle closer to their body after the ball get checked out of the player's stick.   

Discussion:
Motivation:

• Ex: Coach tells the team that keeping their sticks up high will increase their chance of an interception. 
• This moment during practice exemplifies motivation due to the nature of the incentive. Lacrosse player love getting interceptions during games. Therefore, when a coach tells a player how to increase their chance of getting an interception, the player is now motivated to continue the behavior of holding their stick up high. 

Reinforcement:

• Ex: Coach yells that he will make the players run laps if they do not hustle after the ball.
• This example is a negative reinforcement because, by hustling after the ball, the players are avoiding the punishment of running laps. 

Information:

• Ex: The coach corrects the way a player is holding their stick while explaining why the player was unable to throw accurately. 
• This example shows informational properties of the coach's practice. By showing the player how to properly hold their stick, the coach is providing the player with information about their patterns of action that will teach them how to perform the action in a way that will effectively obtain their goal. This step is extremely important when learning a sport. 

Dependence:

• Ex: The coach says, "Nice shot" after a player scores.
• Although the players clearly thrive on the encouragement of the coach - as seen in the smiles on their faces after comments such as "nice shot", the players are not dependent upon the coach's remarks for their performance. The coach did not give enough frequent remarks for the players to become dependent upon his encouragements. Even though the players enjoyed the approval of the coach, their success did not depend upon it. 

PDFE #14 "Structuring Practices - Part Practice"

On Monday, November 14th, our class learned how to juggle through two different methods - whole and part practice. Whole practice is learning a complete skill all at once. Part practice is dividing up the skill into sections so that the complex task is simplified for enhanced learning. Once each part is learned, they can be combined for the complete skill, or each new part learned can be added to the previous part until the complete task is learned.

In the lab, we divided up into pairs. One person learned juggling through whole practice, and the other learned through part practice. Each person had four blocks of 8 trials each, with a one-minute break in between each block. At the end, each person would take an 8 trial retention test. The whole practice performer was handed three balls and supposed to learned to juggle through trial-and-error. The part practice performer  broke juggling into three steps. Each time they learned a step, they would add it to the previous step until the entire skill was learned.

For juggling, part practice definitely worked better. By separating the complex task of juggling into three simple tasks of throwing and catching a ball, the participant was able to master one simple skill at a time before they moved on to a more difficult task. However, the whole juggler was forced to jump straight into the complex task and had a hard time figuring out the individual steps to juggling.

Based on the text, the fact that part practice worked better for juggling did not surprise me. Juggling has so many aspects to it that just looking at it performed is overwhelming. In order to learn the timing of throwing and catching the ball, it makes sense to have to slow down the juggling by splitting the task into multiple parts. While part practice is not effective for every skill, it certainly is helpful for juggling.

Other factors that could have influenced the results were natural ability, focus, pace of learning, hand-eye coordination, and excitement level. Any of these factors could have either slowed the learning process or distracted from learning, which would influence the results. In order to truly determine whether whole or part practice is more effective for learning how to juggle, a more controlled environment is needed.

PDFE #11 "Stages of Learning"

On Friday, November 19, 2010, I observed the lacrosse class taught be Coach Williamson at 9 am by the intramural fields. The purpose of this class is to teach students the basics of the game of lacrosse, including general rules, basic skills, and offense/defense strategies.

For the 30 minutes that I observed the class, Coach Williamson made the students warm-up, stretch, practice shooting, simulate clearing, and practice one-on-one defense. I followed one student's movement so that I could fill out the observation rubric in 15 second intervals. Overall, the students spent 48% of the time in an activity, 17% of the time listening to instruction, 2.5% of the time in equipment management, and 32.5% of the time waiting.

Although the percentage of time waiting and listening to instruction are high for an activity, the setting encourages more of a learning atmosphere than a purely active atmosphere. Coach Williamson had to explain some of the drills they were learning, and on several occasions, had to stop the players to make corrections. Also, since the students are beginners, they took longer doing some of the drills. During many of the clears and one-on-ones, player would drop the ball, which contributed to longer wait times for the other players.

However, Coach Williamson could have also encouraged more activity by teaching drills that included the entire class, not just two people at a time. The clearing drill was the best because the entire class participated and was fully active throughout the drill. Similar drills not only keep the whole class active but also encourage teamwork. While the percentages were appropriate for the setting, a few adjustments could be made to optimize the amount of physical activity.

PDFE #12 "Feedback"

There are two different types of feedback: knowledge of results (KR) and knowledge of performance (KP). KR allows the participant to get feedback on how close they were at reaching their goal after each attempt of the trial phase. Although this feedback can be helpful in adjusting the participant's performance, the participant usually becomes dependent on the feedback for learning. KP allows the participant to rate the quality of their performance.

For the lab on feedback, we split up into pairs with one partner being the "100% KR" and the other partner being the "Requested KR." Each person took turns aiming their pen at a targeted line while blindfolded. Each person performed 3 sets of 10 trials with a minute break in between each set. Then, after 30 trails, the participant took a five-minute break and then performed a retention test of 5 trails with no KR. Jenny was my partner and was in the "100% KR group" where she was told her results after each trail. I was in the "Requested KR" group, which allowed me to get feedback only when I asked for it. During my 30 trials, I requested feedback 13 times.

Providing KR only when requested worked much better, especially when considering the average scores. The requested feedback average scores were all under 7mm while the 100% KR was all between 7 to 20. The results did match the chapter reading, which stated that the requested KR category would respond better to inquired feedback. Are results were clearly consistent with these findings.

Several factors could have influenced the results. First, if Jenny did not do as well on one trial, I had to tell her. Often, if she did not do well on one, the next couple would be bad as well. However, if she did well on one, her next one would be good. When I was the participant, I could tell if I had done well because Jenny would be really fast in telling me to start the next trial. Often times, I would find myself asking for feedback even though I know I had done well. This acted as a positive reinforcement that helped me want to do better. Also, technique played a role in performance. Jenny had only one hand on the paper, would lift up her entire hand, and place the pen down where she thought the line might be. This technique made her randomly guess. On the other hand, I placed one hand on the end line and dragged my writing hand across the paper. This way I was able to gauge how far I was from the end line. I think this made my performance more accurate. Frequency of KR and technique both influenced our results.

PDFE #10 "Stages of Learning"

On November 1st, our class performed a lab based on the constant and varied practice of throwing a beanbag. Constant practice is a form of practicing a single task that allows the individual to repeatedly rehearse one variation of a task. This is similar to quick-stick in lacrosse. During quick-stick, the player practices one very specific type of throw over and over again as quickly as possible, which helps improve reflexes. On the other hand, varied practice allows the player to practice different versions of the same action. For example, wall ball in lacrosse allows the player the freedom of changing the type of throw while still practicing the task of throwing/catching. Varied practice transfers over to performances much better than constant practice.

In our lab, we partnered up and each performed either a constant or varied practice schedule. My partner was Emma, who performed the varied practice. Her task was to throw a beanbag at a target (hula-hoop with a disk in the center) from a distance of 4, 5, and 6 meters. Each time Emma threw from one distance, she would switch to another distance. My task was to perform a constant practice schedule. I had to throw a beanbag at the target from a distance of 5 meters. My distance never changed. Both of us threw the beanbag forty-five times for practice, and then five times for a retention test to see which practice schedule worked best.

With the varied practice schedule, Emma hit the target a total of 12 times during the practice, and twice for the retention test. With the constant practice schedule, I hit the target 14 times during the practices, and twice for the retention test. Based off of the results, neither practice schedule was better than the other. These results are interesting because the varied practice schedule was supposed to create better results in a performance situation.

There are several factors that could contribute to these skewed results. First, things such as fatigue, talking, laughing, or boredom could have distracted the participant enough to where they were not focused on the task at hand. Also, natural ability could play a huge role in the constant and varied practice schedules creating the same results. For example, if I naturally have a higher level of hand-eye coordination and throwing abilities than Emma, then my results for the constant practice could match her results for the varied practice. The way to get rid of the human error in the experiment would be to have the same person perform both constant and varied practice schedules and compare their own results. That way natural ability does not interfere with the results.

PDFE #9 "Importance of Early Grades Physical Education"

I grew up in the City Schools of Decatur where elementary schools were allowed one hour of a physical education class once or twice per week. To the best of my knowledge, all seven elementary schools shared one PE teacher, Coach Owen. There was a cap of twenty students per class, and only one class took PE at a time. We would perform our activities in a basic gym setting or outside on a field. Coach Owen taught us lots of fun things, such as gymnastics, field hockey, and dodge-ball. For the most part, I always enjoyed PE and learned a lot about different sports.

The current GA Physical Education requirements are completely inadequate, especially considering today's society. If you drive down a random neighborhood road, rarely will you find children out playing in the streets. I attribute this semi-recent change to two factors. First, the world of electronics as infiltrated our children's world of play. Playtime has now become a stationary part of our day. Second, society puts too much pressure on children to become high academic achievers by the age of seven. Because of the increase in academic standards, children are receiving more and more homework at younger and younger ages. This means that after they get home from sitting in a chair for eight hours a day, they must sit longer to complete their homework. Nowadays, neither homes nor schools are a place of play.

This stationary lifestyle for children is not natural. Studies show that movement and exercise stimulate the brain. If schools would embrace this fact and incorporate more physical education into their education system, the results would be very beneficial. Children would be able to sit still, focus more, and be more creative. But those are only the short-term effects. Long-term effects would include children learning how to retain an active lifestyle throughout their lives, which would give them increased health benefits and lower their chances of becoming overweight. The benefits of an extensive physical education program is undeniable.

I think an ideal or quality program would require an average of 30 minutes a day (minimum) of an organized PA/PE class for elementary through high school students. Even in high school, I had a hard time focusing in all of my classes simply because I needed to move around. This need for movement does not just apply to young children. It should be a continuous thing that every school system promotes. Also, the atmosphere of PE classes need to focus less on competition and more on fun learning of movement skills. The more positive the atmosphere, the more effective the PE program will be.

Although I grew up with a traditional approach to physical education, teaching with a skill theme emphasis would promote a healthier atmosphere and more beneficial results. As I already stated, movement is key for effective PA/PE classes. In traditional PE settings, less students move, playing is a competition, and too much time is spent organizing students. On the other hand, a skilled theme approach involves all students, encourages fun and positive attitudes, and promotes a higher percentage of movement. Therefore, an effective PE program that teaches the importance of physical activity to all students so that they can better focus in a classroom setting should have a skilled theme approach to teaching. With a skill theme emphasis and more frequent PE classes, children will develop an understanding of a healthy lifestyle, which will inevitably transfer over to higher performance in their academic careers.

PDFE #8 "Stages of Learning"

In order to observe the stages of learning people go through, we completed a lab exercise that taught us how to tie a bowline knot. We paired up, with one person being the experimenter and one person being the participant. I started out as the participant and then switched with Jenny half way through.

It was interesting to watch the different ways and pace Jenny and I learned. For example, I am a very visual learner, so initially I tried to tie the knot strictly using the pictures provided. However, the picture was of poor quality and you could not distinguish if the rope was going over or under itself. So, I was forced to use the instructions, which was a disaster. I got confused by the metaphor within the instructions talking about a rabbit and a tree. I had to ask Dr. Epling to show me how to tie the knot. Once I saw it performed, I was able to duplicate the results without faltering. From then on, my movements quickly became smooth and autonomous. On the other hand, Jenny quickly figured out how to tie the know but struggled with getting it the correct size and tightness. Therefore, I had a longer verbal-cognitive stage of learning, whereas Jenny experienced a longer motor stage of learning. Both of us reached the autonomous stage of leaning within trial 20. Interestingly, both Jenny and I pass through each of the stages of learning, like the textbook predicted we would. The only difference that I was not expecting was for there to be such a difference in amount of time spent in each stage. That seems to vary with the person.

After we reached the autonomous stage for the bowline knot, Jenny tried to tie the knot upside down. This proved difficult for her because she had to teach herself the opposite way of tying the knot. In order to pass this obstacle, she and I discussed the steps together. Tying the knot upside down reverted us back to the beginning stage of learning (verbal-cognitive). However, once we got past the initial confusion, we quickly progresses back to the autonomous stage. It was fascinating to watch each other learn and observe our individual differences.

PDFE #7 "Personal Ability Inventory"

Personal Ability Inventory:
Multilimb coordination         4
Control precision                  3
Response orientation            3
Reaction time                       4
Rate control                          3
Manual dexterity                  4
Finger dexterity                    4
Arm-hand steadiness            4
Wrist-finger speed                2
Aiming                                  4

Explosive strength                3
Static strength                       3
Dynamic strength                 1
Truck strength                      1
Extent flexibility                  1
Dynamic flexibility              1
Gross body equalibrium       3
Balance with visual cues      3
Speed of limb movement     3
Gross body coordination     4
Stamina                                3

Movement rate                    2
Motor timing                       4
Perceptual timing                4
Force control                       4

Five High-Level Proficiency Skills I Can Perform:
1. Throw a lacrosse ball with a stick
2. Run while cradling the ball
3. Quick Stick
4. Accurately shoot a ball at a goal
5. Accurately predict when to release the ball at a moving target (feed behind the goal)

Ideal Ability Profile:
Skill: Accurately predict when to release the all at a moving target (feed behind the goal)
1. Control precision
2. Aiming
3. Manual Dexterity
4. Multilimb coordination
5. Motor timing
6. Perceptual Timing
7. Force control

Discussion:
The skill I chose is used in lacrosse on the attack side. If a player goes behind the goal with the ball, they typically watch for their teammates to cut in front of the goal to receive the pass. This can be very difficult when you add a goalie and defenders block the way. The pass must be extremely accurate and precisely timed to be effective. People with a non-ideal ability profile for the skill I chose could become successful in two ways. First, they could use the perceptual-motor abilities of response orientation, reaction time, and rate control to anticipate the movement of the opponents and determine if the ball can be thrown safely to the player. The other way to compensate for their lack of the ideal abilities I listed above is to use the physical proficiency abilities of explosive strength, gross body coordination, and speed of limb movement to dodge around the opponents to get the ball closer to the moving player so that accuracy is not as important.

My personal ability inventory matches the ideal ability profile fairly well. I gave myself a 3 (average) for control precision, but I gave myself a 4 (above average) on all the other abilities necessary for the skill I chose. At the same time, I have been practicing this skill for about six years, so I cannot determine to what extent my skill is due to ability and not practice.

*Note: This lab was very interesting to break down my skills into specific abilities. However, the numbered rankings are relative to how the person views his/herself. I did not give myself a 5 on any ability because I consider that to be equivalent to an Olympic athlete.

PDFE 6 "General Motor Ability"

In this week's PDFE, we completed a lab that measured a person's balance using both static and dynamic balancing tasks. The purpose of the lab was to disprove the general motor ability theory, which states that some individuals have an innate ability that allows them to excel in almost all sports/movement activities. The tasks involved a stork stand, diver's stand, heel stand, sidewards leap, bass stepping-stone, and book-balancing walk. Although there were variations in how each group member performed the task, overall the timed measurements were accurate in predicting who had the best performance for each category. After collecting all the data, ranking each individual for each task, and assessing each person's scores, the general motor ability theory is clearly disproved. Everybody in the group excelled at one task, except for one person who excelled at two and one person who did not excel at any. When looking at each person's ranking, a pattern can be seen that shows that person's overall level of balance. For example, one member of our group consistently got rankings of 3s and 4s (out of 5), which puts her in the average range. One member consistently got rankings of 1s and 2s, while another consistently got 4s and 5s. So there seemed to be levels of developmental balance, which could be explained by a person's activity-based background. Almost everyone dominated one task, but I observed some people to be at different levels than others. At the same time, most of the rankings were close, with only a couple of outlying measurements. Although the general motor ability theory is not accurate, there does appear to be slight differences in balancing abilities among the people in our group.

PDFE #4/5 "Career Opportunities in Sports Related Fields"

PDFE #4
For interviewing a professional in my field of study, I interviewed Dr. Angela Lanier, who works in the Kinesiology department as an associate professor, on September 30, 2010. I choose Dr. Lanier because of her vast knowledge and experience working in the field of exercise science. Also, as a backup plan to physical therapy, I have always been interested in teaching. Associate professors of kinesiology combine my favorite subjects with a teaching position. Below is the list of questions I asked and Dr. Lanier's responses:

1) Please list your job title and give a brief description.
I am an Associate Professor, which involves teaching, research/scholarship, and service to Berry College and the surrounding community.

2) What are the basic requirements for your job?
In order to obtain this level of work, you need to have a doctoral degree, evidence of successful teaching, research, and service hours.

3) What are your daily responsibilities?
 On a daily basis, I teach kinesiology courses, advise students, revise curriculum, attend meetings, and work on scholarship. Much of the day involves interacting with students.

4) What are some rewards/benefits of the job?
 Some rewards would include interacting with students and getting to see them become successful in their career/graduate school endeavors. Also, daily learning, publishing articles, and the freedom of not being confined to an 8-5 job. Some benefits are attendance at conferences, access to learning environment, flexible schedule, decent insurance/retirement package, and lengthy holidays are that often coincide with my daughters' holiday breaks.

5) What are some downsides to your work?
 The main one is that work never ends. Sometimes I'm up working until 1 or 2 in the morning to finish projects. My salary is not dependent upon the outcome and is relatively fixed. Having summers off is not a true statement since that is usually the only time I can complete scholarship obligations. I would hate to see my hourly wages!

6) What skills/qualities would you look for in a worker for your field?
 I would look for a skilled teacher, a researcher who is organized and self-motivated, someone who is zealous for student success, communicates well, gets along with and supports colleagues, and is knowledgeable.

7) How do exercise science courses play a role in your job?
 Currently I teach all of the exercise science courses except nutrition and sport psychology, so it is very prevalent in my career.

8) Do you have any words of advise for someone looking to enter into your field of expertise?
It is a wonderful career.  One should take the road to career one step at a time in his/her search for personal interests. Never let other people's negative/critical comments deter you from your pathway. Always strive for self-improvement and not for improvement of other's perceptions of you. Choose a mentor in graduate school who is not only well-known but who will be a good mentor. Also, get involved in other graduate students' research projects so you build your publication record early in your career.


PDFE #5
After reading "Becoming Invaluable," I began to realize both my strengths and weaknesses in preparing for a future job in the exercise science field. By nature, I am a planner. So, last year I thought that I was jumping the gun on planning out my schedule for the next four years and looking into graduate school requirements. Thankfully, planning ahead is recommended, so I am currently on track to graduate with all my graduate school requirements. As far as campus life goes, I am involved in several organizations, a sports team, and am considering going abroad this coming summer. However, I am not prepared for everything. For one thing, I cannot imagine what I will be doing five years from now. While I do not know exactly what I want to do with my exercise science major, I do need to at least narrow down my options so that I can take the correct measures in preparing for post-undergraduate work. The power point made me realize that I need to begin exploring grad assistantship opportunities, and need to decide what type of setting in which I would like to work. Also, I need to research what standardized tests I must take in order to graduate, figure out when I need to take them, and begin preparing to take those tests. In addition, developing a back-up plan would help ease some stress in case my current graduate school plans fall through. Overall, the power point helped lay out what I have done and what I need to do in preparation of graduate school.

PDFE #3 "Movement Preparation"

On Saturday, September 18th, I observed the women's lacrosse practice out on the Ford fields. This was only the third practice the team has ever had. I choose this setting because I played lacrosse in high school and love the sport.

Reaction Time:
Reaction time is the time it takes from an initial stimulus to occur and a response to be chosen. Lacrosse is based on reaction time. The more reactive the player is, the better. One of the most frequent reactions I observed during practice occurred during simple passing and throwing drills. If a girl threw the ball inaccurately but still within reach of the other player, reaction time made the difference between a catch and a miss. The faster the reaction time, the more often the catcher could move her stick to where the ball was headed and potentially catch the ball. If the catcher's reaction time slowed, then by the time her stick got in the ball's line of fire, the ball had already passed.

Hick's Law:
Hick's Law states that the more stimuli/options a player has, the longer the reaction time will be. When practicing a 3 v. 2 drill (3 attack verses 2 defense), the goalie will throw the ball to an attacker, forcing one defender to take ball and the other defender to take the other two attackers. The moment the ball lands in one attacker's stick, both defenders must react to the situation. They must know who will get on the ball and who will take the other two. The longer they take to decide, the less chance they have of stopping the ball. During the practice, it was the second day of learning defense. Because of this, I could see a moment of hesitancy as the defenders tried to figure out how to best position themselves to block the ball. If it were a 2 v. 2, there would not be this moment of hesitancy. But when a third attacker is added, the defenders must figure out how to best react.

Psychological Refractory Period:
The Psychological Refractory Period is the delay in a player's reaction time when two stimuli are presented back-to-back. In lacrosse, effective attack players use fakes and dodges to either distract, confuse, or get around a defender. I noticed a lot of attackers pretend to either shoot or throw the ball, but instead, would actually dodge around the defender. By faking one thing and doing another, the attacker is presenting the defender with two stimuli back-to-back, which causes a delayed reaction time to the second (and true) movement. The defender will almost always follow the first movement, thinking that they are blocking the attacker. By the time they realize the attacker has changed movements, the defender has been beat by a fraction of a second.

Anticipation:
Anticipation is a player's prediction of what and when an action will happen. Lacrosse incorporates a lot of anticipation into even the most simple of drills. One example of anticipation occurred during a 2 v. 2 drill with a feeder on the side. The team was practicing tight game situations. One set of attack players set up a pick in order to get open for the feeder to pass them the ball. The attacker that was using the pick to escape from her defender had to first predict if a pick was going to happen through observing her partner's movements. Then, the attacker had to anticipate how long for her partner to get into position, how long for herself to get past the pick, and where the ball would be thrown right after she came out of the pick defender-free. The reason this requires so much anticipation is because the entire play takes about two-three seconds, and the attacker looking for the pass cannot see the ball coming at her until she is around the pick, which means that her stick needs to be in the right place at the right time in order to receive the pass. As the team practiced this drill, players accurately anticipated all the movements about half of the time. The majority of inaccurate prediction occurred when the attack player tried to catch the pass. That was the hardest step out of the play, requiring the most anticipation.

PDFE #2 "Movement Classification"

On Saturday September 4, 2010, I visited Troy University in Alabama for their first home football game of the season. The Trojans competed against the Bowling Green Falcons on Troy's turf field in the evening. Kick-off was at six. I choose this setting because of the variety of movements available for athletes to use both during the game and pregame. In any football setting, movement begins with warm-ups and stretching and does not end until the last whistle blows.

When observing either the action or environment at the football game, I focused on one-dimensional systems of movement. During the game, I observed every type of fundamental movement skill. Loco-motor movements could be found in the majority of the game. Any time a player traveled down/across the field, whether he was running as an attack-man or sliding as a defender, he was using loco-motor movement. Similarly, manipulative skills were common. Since a football is used to play the game, anytime the ball was thrown, caught, or handled counted as a manipulative skill. In the pregame warm-up, players focused on stretching by balancing and bending while extending select muscle groups. Static stretching like that requires stability of movement. Most of these fundamental movements also fall into the category of gross motor skills. Most basic movements, like running, blocking, throwing, and stretching are all gross motor skills. Fine motor skills would require much smaller and more accurate movements (hand-eye coordination), such as spinning a football while throwing it accurately at a moving attack-man.

Another area of one-dimensional systems is type of task. The type of task classifies an action's continuity of movement. Discrete movements are quick and have a distinct beginning and end, such as a player kicking a field goal. The movement begins when the player takes a step to swing his leg, and it ends when the foot lands back on the ground after striking the ball. Serial movements are a combination of discrete movements linked together. At the beginning of most plays, the center snaps the ball to the quarterback. This series of movements from the center snapping the ball to the quarterback catching the ball to the quarterback throwing the ball include three discrete movements combined into one serial task. Continuous tasks have a longer duration and show no set beginning and end to the repetitive motion. During the football game, the most common continuous skill was running to the end zone. While running, there is no observable start or finish to the legs and arms swinging back and forth. The movement only ended when the player either reached the end zone or heard the whistle blow.

In addition, two other one-dimensional systems are cognitive-motor elements and environmental predictability. Cognitive-motor elements range from limited decision making to maximum decision making. The majority of plays in football are limited in their decision making because the players know exactly where to run, who to catch, and where to look for the ball. The quarterback's position requires some decision making because he has to determine who is open for throwing the ball to. On the other hand, the coach uses maximum decision making skill; he is the mind behind the team, telling them which play to do when. The environmental predictability can either be open, where the environment is unpredictable and forces players to adapt, or closed, where the environment is stationary and lets players plan their moves. The majority of football revolves around an open environment. Field goals were the only closed environments that I observed.

When observing both action and environment, I placed certain movements into Gentile's two-dimensional system of 16 categories. First, during static stretching, there was no body movement, no object manipulation, no environmental variation, and no context variation. Then during warm-up throwing, some players were stationary with object manipulation but with no environmental variation or context variation. Most of the time, players without the ball were trying to either get open or block a man, which means they experienced body transportation with no object manipulation but did have environmental variation (players moving around) and context variation (dodging around a defender). Before the defenders attack the quarterback, the quarterback experiences either body transport or no body transport with object variation (the ball) in a varying environment with no context variation. Lastly, at one point in the game, one attack-man caught the ball up the field from the other players and ran down the field without anyone near him. In this instance, the attack-man experienced body transportation with object manipulation without any environmental variation or context variation. Overall, football players use a wide array of movements that occur in varied situations.

PDFE #1 "Observing Movement"

For the first assignment, I choose to observe the movement of professional athletes at the Rome Braves baseball stadium. The Rome Braves played the Greensboro Grasshoppers starting at 7PM on Friday August 27, 2010. Both teams consist of approximately 30 men, all in their early-to-mid twenties. I selected this form of sporting event because it gave me the opportunity to observe the movements of high-level athletes in a formal setting where they theoretically are at optimum performance.

Since the setting involved a game situation, learning or enhancing movements were at a minimum. Practice is usually when the athletes learn different movements to create different results. However, the pitcher and catcher did alter their throwing/catching technique for each individual batter. Depending on the batter's swinging style, dominant hand, score of the game, and even weather, the pitcher makes minute adjustments in his release in order to create different throws, such as a fast-pitch, curve ball, or strike. These changes in throwing style require a great deal of fine motor skill in order for the pitch to be fast and accurate.

While most children learn to throw and catch at an early age, the level of skill required for minor league baseball is developmentally appropriate for adult men. Part of what makes the sport developmentally appropriate for grown men is the size of the field and number of players. With only 9 players on the field, 90 feet between each base, and a large outfield, the participants are required to throw the ball at great lengths while still being accurate. The players must account for the distance of the throw, the time it will take for the ball to reach the destination, the speed of the batter, and weather conditions. All these circumstances must be evaluated in mere seconds (or less) for the team to have a chance to tag the batter. Therefore, baseball combines hand-eye coordination and quick cognition.

An interesting observation about baseball is the fact that there is relatively little movement on the field. Although the players clearly spend an excessive amount of time working out and building muscle mass, the majority of the game is stationary. The pitcher stands in the same place throwing the ball at the batter. Only when the batter strikes the ball does anybody else move- usually only the person that is in the line of trajectory of the ball. The outfielders and batters have the most opportunity for movement, but even then, the movements are short bursts of energy in sprinting form. After the play ends, everyone stands still again. Some players barely move at all. For example, not a single ball was hit into right field during the entire game, which means that the right fielder was not required to move at all. Some of the players were not actively engaged in the game because the ball never came their way. If I could modify the game of baseball, I would create some kind of constant movement in the outfield and on the bases to where the athletes expended more energy.

Despite the lack of exercise some of the athletes received, the players did seem to enjoy the game. There was no unsportsmanlike conduct or foul playing. Even between the two teams, there was an aura of respect and companionship. In between each inning was some kind of game in which the audience members would participate. These mini-games helped lighten the competitive atmosphere that usually develops at sporting events. Overall, the Braves and the Grasshoppers provided entertainment that was both competitive and enjoying.

One of the biggest surprises to me was the realization of how little equipment is used for safety precautions. The only participants that wear any equipment are the catcher, umpire, and batter. While the catcher and umpire are well equipped, the batter wears only a helmet and cup. In the 5th inning, one of the Braves's batters got hit in the foot by the pitcher. With the ball moving at a minimum of 75 miles per hour, the batter was lucky to not have broken a toe. This occurrence made me think about how fast a ball might be hit to a player in the infield. Those players wear no protection other than a cup. Although the players' catching abilities far surpass the average person's, accidents can still happen. Baseball would be much safer if every player was required to wear at least a helmet and some kind of chest padding.

Biography

Hello readers! My name is Katie. I was born in Louisville, KY and grew up east of Atlanta, GA. I am the middle child in a family of three girls. True to the stereotype, I was the troublesome middle child, the wild tomboy of the family, always getting into something. I developed a love for physical activities at an early age through t-ball and recess, but found my true passion in middle school when I joined the lacrosse team. The physical nature of lacrosse helps me de-stress after school and boosts any foul moods I may have. I have since played for six years, and am now trying out for the new team at Berry.

Throughout my years as an athlete, I have obtained every injury possible short of a broken bone. Sprained wrists, a dislocated ankle, concussions, a pulled groin- you name it, I've had it. With that, I became very close friends with the athletic trainers and developed a deep respect for what they do. I discovered that small adjustments to repetitive movements could mean the difference between playing and watching. 

In addition, one of my favorite classes in high school was an anatomy/physiology class that I took. I loved figuring out how parts of the human body connect and affect other parts. The complexity of it all fascinates me. So, in combining my love for movement and anatomy, I decided on exercise science as my major. Initially, I planned on being a physical therapist because they make the most money. However, since then, I have discovered that there are more important things in life. With that said, I am currently unsure of what occupation I would like to pursue after obtaining my undergraduate degree. I have decided to fulfill all the requirements for a physical therapy program (just in case that's I where my passion leads me) but am still open to anything.

Open for Business

This blog has been officially opened for the Motor Learning Behavior class I am now taking. I have no idea what will be going on this page other than something educational. With that said, I hope all you lovely readers out there will enjoy learning about motor behavior!