How sports education at the lower school level can help in overall development of children

In one of my earlier blogs, I had explained the importance of physical education (PE) and sports in the overall development of a child in school. Now the question is: how should sports be taught at the school level?

Like other academic papers, sports should also be taught through a structured curriculum which contains 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 your 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, hopping, 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 to exercise all locomotor and object control skills.

A child always tries to acquire and maintain balance during 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 them 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 it to catch or throw a ball. In football, we receive a ball or kick a ball or pass a ball. In volleyball, we use it 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

- Child facing difficulties in maintaining upright posture and balance- Child making short-steps and flat-footed movement- Child keeping feet apart for maintaining balance- Toes turning in outward direction- Upward lift of the leg is not visible

Phase 2: Transitional Stage

- Child learns to maintain the balance while walking- Child takes wider steps- Heal and toe in contact with the ground while walking- Outward toe movement is reduced- Limited arm swing

Phase 3: Matured Stage

- Child can maintain proper balance while walking- Child making relaxed steps while walking- Heal and toe in contact with the ground- Minimum upward lift of the leg- The walking foot landing in front of the balancing foot almost in a straight line- Spontaneous swing of arms in opposite directions- 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 should also be clearly defined. The schools interested in implementing 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. The schools should take a proactive role in ensuring the physical and mental well-being of the future generation.