Catching A Fundamental Movement Skill

Question 1

Provide the definition of catching by (Payne,2001)?

Answer 1

“Catching is the action of bringing an airborne object under control using the hands and arms”.

Question 2

What did Von Hofsten (1980) demonstrate his study?

Answer 2

Von Hofsten (1980) demonstrated that infants had the ability to anticipate the future direction of a moving object, and their strategy consisted of 2 components: 1) Approach Component, 2) Tracking Component.

Question 3

According to Savelsbergh et al (2003) the fundamental skill of catching develops gradually throughout childhood. True or false?

Answer 3

True

Question 4

According to the study by Kay (1970) tell me about the the key developmental stages between individuals aged, 2, 5 and 15?

Answer 4

Aged 2 - child will hold their hands together with their palms facing up, and there eyes will watch the thrower or the throwers hands and the ball falls into this arms with no closure of their hands.

Aged 5 - The child watched the ball for the entire flight and then moved their hands to meet the ball.

Aged 15 - the child could move their body to intercept the ball and could grasp the ball with their fingers

As you can see at the age of 2 the child was mainly focused on the origin of the ball but with age the child learned to focus on the trajectory of the ball.

Question 5

Williams (1992) extended the work of Kay (1970) by looking at the way children between the ages of 4-10 used visual attention and their limbs to catch the ball. He came up with what 2 strategies.

Answer 5

Visual strategies: Retrospective (least mature), concurrent and predictive (most mature).

Movement strategies: Cradling (least mature), Clamping and grasping (least mature).

Williams stated that these visual and movement strategies were coupled and therefore came up with: Retrospective-Cradiling, Concurrent-Clamping and Predictive Grasping.

Question 6

Name the 5 commonly used developmental sequences for catching?

Answer 6

1) Little Response.
2) Hugging.
3) Scooping.
4) Arms Give.
5) Full body moves.

Question 7

Define stage 1- little response?

Answer 7

The child holds their arms out in front of them and as the ball comes Ito contact the elbows flex and the child attempts to hold the ball against their chest (very frozen Degrees of Freedom).

Question 8

Define stage 2 - Hugging?

Answer 8

This stage is similar to stage 1. The child holds their arms out in front of them, but the arms are slightly flexed. Upon the presentation of the ball the arms begin and encircling motion that secures the ball against the chest. The difference between stage 1 and stage 2 is that the child initiates arm movement before making contact with the ball.

Question 9

Define stage 3 - Scooping?

Answer 9

The child is prepared to receive the ball with the arms slightly flexed at the shoulder. Split into 2 sub categories (different variations of the same movement:

1) The child uses their chest as the first point of contact to the ball, and then attempt to secure it in place with their hands and arms.
2) The child attempts to catch the ball in their hands but fails, so the child is quickly forced to manoeuvre the ball against their chest by the hands and arms.

Question 10

Define stage 4 - Arms Give?

Answer 10

The child prepares by just flexing their elbows and presenting their arms slightly ahead of the frontal plane. Skilful performers keep their elbows at their sides and flex them simultaneously as they brig the hands Ito contact wit the ball. The ball is caught in the hands without making any contact with any other body parts.

Question 11

Define stage 5 - Full Body Moves?

Answer 11

This hash the same upper segmental action as stage 4, but in stage 5 the child can move and intercept the ball with their hands.

Question 12

What 3 things change as a child develops their catching?

Answer 12

1) Become less rigid
2) Becomes more adaptable
3) Indicate a release of the Degrees of Freedom.

Question 13

What does Alderson et al (1974) state?

Answer 13

Alderson et al (1974) states that the ability of the child to locate their hands in the correct positioning is an important factor in determining catching performance.

Question 14

The catching efficiency difference between a child aged 7 and a child aged 10-13 is believed to be due to:

Answer 14

Late initiation of flexion when catching one-handed.

Question 15

Fischman, Moore and Steele (1992) stated that by:

Answer 15

By the age of 5 the rudiments of skill in one-handed catching had emerged.

And by the age of 12 children had essentially mastered the skill of one handed catching.

Question 16

In a study conducted amongst 11-12 year olds, 34 inappropriate hand orientations were observed when the ball was tossed at waist height, however in what percentage of cases was a successfully catch still observed.

Answer 16

97% still caught the ball even with an inappropriate hand technique.

Question 17

Outline the study conducted by Utley and Astill (2007)?

Answer 17

Utley and Astill (2007) conducted a study to examine two handed catching in children aged 7-8 years old with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) and their age-matched control (AMC’s). Kinematic data was was used to examine Bernstein’s (1967) notion of freexing and releasing the degrees of freedom. The data revealed that children with DCD exhibited a smaller range of motion than their AMC’s and their elbows were more rigidly coupled.

The study therefore indicates that the children with DCD rigidly fixed and coupled their limbs to reduce the number of Degrees of Freedom actively involved in the task.