Fundamental Sport Skills
Figure 16 Types of Fundamental Skills
Running, jumping, catching, kicking, throwing and hitting something with a stick, bat, or racquet of some kind, are the basic building blocks of the many sports played by the vast majority of people on Earth, and a person who can perform these fundamental sport skills well can learn to play many sports with ease. Making good decisions in sport situations is another skill fundamental to each sport.
The difference between fundamental movement skills and fundamental sport skills.
Throwing is a fundamental movement skill – and a child learning this skill will learn to throw lots of different sized balls with one hand, or with both hands, and will learn to throw the ball at different speeds – sometimes for accuracy using a lot of different targets; and sometimes for distance.When the child learns to throw a softball, using a softball pitching motion, and trying to get the ball to pass over home plate, they have moved from learning a fundamental movement skill to learning a fundamental sport skill.
Getting the Sequence Right
For children to have success in sport – either as a health related recreational activity or in competition, it is important that they master fundamental movement skills before learning fundamental sport skills, and important that they learn fundamental sport skills before being introduced to specific techniques.
A Couple of Examples Might Help
Kicking skills:
In the Fundamental Movement Skill stage, children learn the basic kicking action, hopefully with each foot. They kick a wide variety of balls and try different things – kicking as far as they can, kicking to hit a target, kicking to keep the ball on the ground, kicking the ball as high in the air as they can.
In the Fundamental Sport Skill stage (e.g. soccer), the child learns to kick a soccer ball, without touching the ball with the hands. They learn how hard they have to kick the ball to get it to another team member, and how to kick the ball with the inside of the foot to increase passing accuracy.
Catching skills:
In the Fundamental Movement Skill stage, the child learns to catch – with both hands together in a two handed catch, and then with one hand. They catch a wide variety of balls of different sizes and weights, and learn to catch the ball while they are standing still, and when moving towards the ball – skills that can be transferred to any sport they later take up.
In the Fundamental Sport Skill stage (e.g. Baseball), the child learns to catch a baseball, using a baseball glove. As skill level improves the child learns to catch the baseball first when it is thrown, and then when it is hit with the bat – learning to catch it at ever greater distances from where it is hit.