INTRODUCTION : Movement Concepts

An important part of learning motor skills is to understand concepts that underlie motor skill performance. The learner initially needs to develop a movement vocabulary prior to being able to analyze motor skills. Movement concepts should be develop in the early elementary skills.

Concepts can be divided into:

Body Awareness		What the body can do
Space Awareness		Where the body moves
Movement Qualities		How the body moves
Relationships		To whom and what the body relates

Body awareness includes a knowledge/awareness of the body, how it is controlled and moved. Concepts that are included in body awareness are shapes that body can make (wide, narrow, stretched, curled, twisted), on what body parts the body can balance , and how weight is transferred from one body part to the next.

Space awareness includes where the body moves and is important for young children to understand. Concepts included are general and self space, direction (forward, backward, sideways, diagonally, and up and down), pathways (straight, narrow, zig-zag), and levels ( high, middle, low).

Qualities of body movement include speed, force and flow. Flow can be broken into bound and free. Bound flow occurs for serial movements that have breaks between the movements. Free movements move smoothly from one movement to the next with out stopping.

Relationship awareness includes to whom and what the body relates. It can include of body parts, with objects and or people, and with people.

Skill themes flow from movement concepts. Skill themes can be categorized into locomotor, manipulative and nonmanipulative skills. Locomotor skills are walking, running, hopping, skipping, galloping, sliding and chasing, fleeing and doging. Manipulative skills include throwing, catching, kicking, punting, dribbling, volleying, and striking. Nonmanipulative skills include turning, twisting, rolling, balancing, transferring weight, jumping and landing, stretching and curling.

In conclusion, movement concepts are used to develop the range and efficiency of skill movement. Once children have an understanding of movement concepts, they can be used to analyze the skill development and to increase the range and repertoire of their movement abilities.