Kicking Activity - Term Paper Example

Kicking The activity that was selected for this research paper is “kicking”. A nine years old child was chosen for conducting the experiments regarding the activity. Physical exercises play a crucial role in enabling people to have better health (Winter, 1990). As far as children are concerned, they are in the phase of development and require such exercises that are helpful for them in their growth. Kicking is one of such exercises that are supportive for enabling the child to learn different kinds of muscle movement (Plagenhoef, 1971). With the help of kicking exercise, the child was able to use his knee, muscles, feet and legs. Kicking cannot be categorized as one form of exercise as there are various forms and styles of kicking employed for hitting someone in various martial arts (Winter, 1990). There are sidekicks, front kicks, round kicks, back or reverse kicks, and flying kicks and so on (Putnam, 1983). At the age of the child that is opted for the experiments that is nine years, kicking was used as an exercise that was accommodating in the development of the child. There were several individual constraints, which created problem in learning. For a nine years old child, the individual constraints were related to strength, balance and coordination. These factors needed to be looked at carefully in order to help out the child to learn prospectively. While kicking, the child lacked direction while using strength due to which, he needed the instructor to guide him correctly to use his strength rightly and in the correct direction. The child was also unable to maintain his balance while kicking. He usually lost balance and fell a number of times while attempting the kicks that required some height. Coordination and balance are linked together as the child lost balance because he was unable to create coordination between his kicking leg, the other leg and remaining body. Like individual constraints, environmental constraints also affected learning, which were surface, light and weather. The surface, which was adopted for teaching and learning kicking exercise influenced the learning as a whole. An uneven and irregular surface was not ideal for learning kicking exercise. A flat and smooth surface was ideal for such an exercise (Putnam, 1983). There must be adequate light in the room or the environment, which was selected for the kicking exercise. Weather also placed an impact on kicking exercise as a rainy and extensively cold weather was not suitable for any kind of exercises. An uneven surface, a cold weather and inadequate light, all were employed for checking whether, they are helpful for the child or not. An ideal environment for learning kicking is that in which, the surface is flat and smooth, light is adequate and the weather is warm and sunny. Motivation was excessively crucial, as without motivation, there was no learning at all. In the kicking exercise, the child needed motivation that he was able to learn it quite successfully. He needed appreciation and motivation for all his learning. With the passage of time, the child also gained experience and was able to learn better. In the start, he faced problem in learning as he was new to the exercise but later on, he got used to the exercise and was able to learn better. The child also wanted attention. With his wish at being an attention gainer, he used to do certain acts associated with kicking exercise that were interesting. The instructor was also required to make his kicking lessons as attention gainer for the child so that he might show interest in learning. With specific practices at attention gaining, the child was able to learn better and showed interest in the exercises. For kicking, the child had to use a certain force in order to kick. As mentioned earlier on, kicking is not of one category only as there are many forms of kicks like front kicks, back kicks, round kicks, flying kicks, sidekicks and so on. For all kinds of kicks, a specific type of force is required. The child was required to drag his leg upside in order to generate some force. For example, for front kick, the knee and foot were required to be lifted. A target was to be set and after lifting the leg, proper force was needed to be used for hitting the target. For hitting in the front position, the kicker needed to use his heel and ball of the foot (Putnam, 1983). A balance needed to be maintained so that the kicker might not fall after executing the kick. The upper part of the human body was expected to be straight and in a balanced position so that the striker was able to control the after affects of the kick (Plagenhoef, 1971). Similar patterns were involved in other forms of kicking, target should be set and the level of force that is required to hit the target should be set as well. The child was taught about all the tactics required for different kinds of kicking, however, he was able to learn the simpler kicks much better than all other kinds of difficult kicks. The force that was required for kicking needed to be produced after continuous efforts at kicking. It can be learnt by practicing various times. Lifting of leg to certain heights require different kinds of force (Putnam, 1983). The child also took a number of struggling times to learn to use the correct amount of force needed for kicking. In addition, the strength that is required to hit a certain target needs to be varied. The child’s psychology needed to be understood in order to facilitate him to learn actively. The rules that were specified for learning the exercise of kicking were transformed according to the needs of the child. For example, the child was given freedom to kick in the manner that was supportive for his body. The instructor allowed the child to show his own pattern of kicking. As the child was only nine years old, he was not able to fully learn what was principled for the mature people, therefore, focusing on his strength, height and body, the need for force required for kicking and the rules and regulations for kicking exercise were minimized and the lifting of leg to a certain position was eased out. For kicking, the equipment that was required was punching pad, kneepads, kneecaps, knuckles, headgear and so on. In addition, a flat and smooth surface and an open environment were also provided. Pillows were also used for allowing the child to hit on them as a target. There were also foamy models as a target for accommodating the child to hit and practice his kicking. There are also low kicks that can be learnt easily in comparison to the higher kicks, so, the child was initially taught to learn low kicks first and then move to higher ones. The low kicks were faster and quicker and the child felt ease in lifting his leg to a little height. All the equipment mentioned earlier was provided to the child as safety precautions. All the physical protection equipment was provided so that he might not injure himself while learning to kick. The child was to lift his right leg until his hips in order to kick in the front position. For this purpose, he was to keep his upper body straight and a balance was also required to be maintained. The force for kicking can be generated when the leg is in its right position not before that. For kicking rightly, it should be kept in mind that the remaining body should be kept static and controlled so that the striker controls himself after hitting the target (Putnam, 1983). The child could not remain in the position of a lifted leg due to which, he wanted a quick execution so, while teaching him to maintain his balance, he was not restricted to keep him in the posture of lifted leg for long. The leg is comparatively stronger than the arm due to which, the force required for its hitting is contrastingly less. The child was informed about the fact and examples were given related to legs and arms’ strength. The child made mistakes while learning the exercise of kicking but for active learning, he needed motivation and encouragement, as these are the factors that facilitate to learn more efficiently. The actual performance of the task was erroneous at the start but with the passage of time, it was polished. The child cannot learn effectively if he is not encouraged. If his ego is hurt and he is insulted every time when he makes a mistake, he will show inattentiveness towards the learning exercises and his interest will be lost. Therefore, the child was in need of motivation and appreciation in order to move forward. Every time, the child was able to adhere to the instructions of the teacher, he was appreciated. This brought confidence in the child and he was able to perform better. When the child was able to do smaller exercises of kicking, he was encouraged and informed that he was able to touch the heights on the basis of his energy and strength. It does not mean that he should never be scolded for his wrong actions. There should be some punishments as well but overall, the ratio of encouragement should be higher. References Plagenhoef, S. (1971). The Patterns of Human Motion. Englewood, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Putnam, C.A. (1983). Interaction between segments during a kicking motion. In Biomechanics VIII-B (edited by H. Matsui and K. Kobayashi), pp. 688 - 694. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Winter, D.A. (1990). Biomechanics and Motor Control of Human Movement. New York: Wiley. Read More