This book views gymnastics as both sport and art and provides gymnasts with an introduction to the types of dance training that can enhance their performances. Dance training routines that incorporate several dance styles are presented to help gymnasts acquire polish, prevent injuries, improve their body alignment, express their creativity, and…

Two case studies illustrate the Fine-Tuning Effect and its benefit to participants in athletic competition. The Fine-Tuning Effect is the sharpening of psychological processes that enable physical skills to be expressed in a maximum fashion. Such techniques as muscle relaxation, visual imagery, guided fantasy, autogenic training, and meditation…

The influence cognitive components have on expertise in sport is receiving a great deal of attention. Recent research indicates that levels of expertise in sport can be differentiated with cognitive components. This suggests that skilled athletes do not necessarily have superior physiological and biomechanical systems, but have the same type of…

This article describes a program in which a sound curriculum is integrated with a meaningful physical fitness and motor ability testing program. A student's score on an 11-item test is used to schedule the student into the appropriate class for the coming year. (MT)

Although some progress has been made, there are still many problems in obtaining adequate tests of physical motor performance for handicapped individuals. Various problems with populations, with individuals, testing of sports skills, and testing of cardiorespiratory endurance are dicussed along with specific fitness batteries. Testing suggestions…

A recent development in elementary physical education is the use of Schema theory as a basis for teaching and understanding the acquisition of motor skills by children. This theory suggests how children learn and perform a variety of movements. (DF)

This article presents various solutions to possible problems associated with providing skill-based instruction in physical education. It explores and applies Newell's (1986) constraints model to the analysis and teaching of motor skills in physical education, describing the role of individual, task, and environmental constraints in physical…

A comprehensive model for organizing different approaches used in presenting dance movements focuses on the essential content of movement for elementary school children and examines the development of dance for young children from functional movement to more artistic experiences. (JN)

Both physical education and youth sport are essential for the motor development of children. Sport-specific skills should be built on a sound movement foundation. Children need to be allowed to mature and to develop to higher levels of proficiency before being thrust into a competitive environment. (JN)

Describes a motor rehabilitation workstation based on a microcomputer and equipped with a set of sensory input devices (touch plate, touch screen, electrodes to acquire electromyographic activity, and force-sensitive foot plates) that allows rehabilitation professionals to assess and treat patients in a multimedia environment. Discusses the…

Surveys progress made in understanding the nervous system's ability to direct its attention to one among several objects, move the eye to focus on one of the objects, and generate limb movements in order to grasp and manipulate the object. (Author/RT)

This article discusses the combination of skills into sequences. Combining skills into usable, challenging, and meaningful sequences is often neglected or under-used in many school and community game programs. Reasons for this under-use are discussed. Combinations of skills build on proficiency in performing separate skills and serve as…

One purpose of the McCloy Lecture is to remember C. H. McCloy. Previous presenters have provided excellent summaries of McCloy's career (Christina, 1999; Lee, 2002; Thomas, 2000) and highlighted his scientific and academic contributions to our field and the organization now known as the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation…

When physical education teachers provide skill cues, they do so with the intention of focusing children's attention on a particular aspect of the motor skill to be performed. Rarely do physical education teachers notice if their cue was provided to the student in figurative or literal language. This article explains the types of figurative…

Problems with large-motor coordination is motor planning and sequencing. This is the ability to carry out actions that require five or six steps. For example, many children can take off their coats, hang them in their cubbies, walk back to a table, sit at the table, and get ready for an activity. A child with coordination problems is likely to…