FUNDAMENTAL BASIS OF MOVEMENT EDUCATION: IN CREATING HEALTHY AND WORTHY CITIZENS TO ELITE SPORTSPERSONS

John Dewey, an administrator and a well known Physical educationist said, "The school must represent life, life as a real and vital to child as that which he carries on in home, in the neighborhood, or in the play ground."

Changes occur in all walks of life, from temples to schools, from society to society, from institutions to institutions. These changes and trends have occurred because of the better understanding of our self, growth and development and because of the stronger commitment for the effort of scientific research in the field of physical education.

Today’s mechanized and computerized society is taking a clear look at what the schools are doing for the children. Mobility of the children in schools has been neglected to a great extent and they have been tuned to the luxurious way of coming to the schools and returning home by means of motor transports. The junk foods and bountiful nutritional status of the children have made them chubby with extra pounds of adipose tissue hanging on them. The opportunities to exercise body and mind by work and play at school and at home have comparatively decreased with children hanging on to TV and computer games. The play field facilities have been limited in schools and so do quality and quantity of sports equipments. As such the studies done on the school children show that there physical fitness level has comparatively decreased to that of their contemporaries in 70's and 80's. The physical education teachers are just kept as the ornaments of the schools whose importance is only for a school day function or for annual sports meets. It is high time that the movement education should be given greater importance than ever before and the children of these days should be better motivated to involve themselves in the sports activity that would enable them to be a healthy and worthy citizen.

NEW TRENDS IN MOVEMENT EDUCATION

The need for exercise, to attain and maintain good health and fitness for living and the need for social contact to attain meaningful human relationship can be met through movement education. Modern movement education should have updated goals. It should no longer be a programme for the children to release their tensions built during their class room activities, or because physical fitness is the major goal of movement education. Movement education should foster the needs of the children to develop their potential for physical movement in all kinds of ways, not just with in the restrictions of a particular game or exercise. It should challenge the children to think, to operate creatively with in the limits of their abilities, to solve the problems and to share thought fully and with consideration for others, the facility with in which the movement experience takes place.

On the whole the objective goals of movement education should be:

1. Development of intellectual discipline

To help children to grow in cerebral ways (intellectually, physically and spiritually) through critical and creative thinking, problem solving ability and finally magnifying into a honorable personality.

2. Vocational and avocational competence

Contribute to the efficiency with which one learns to perform occupational tasks, a responsible attitude in eventually utilizing the skills that he acquires for a lifetime through participation in movement activities.

3. Citizenship and civic responsibility

To educate the children regarding the fundamentals of a democratic set up and the moral duties and responsibilities that he shares in the civic set up and progress of the country.

4. Competence in human social relationship

To develop and imbibe the socio-metric, dynamic, motivated and aggravated qualities in an individual interms of academic, play, as well employment aspect of the individual in school and in the society.

5. Moral and ethical values

To develop ethical conduct; and to posses moral and ethical values intended for being a responsible citizen; personal, social and cultural aspects and to have an integrity in the advancement of nation.

6. Self realization of physical and mental health

To develop a self-concept that physical exercises would develop them physically and mentally to a nation with healthy standards of living and sporting performance.

These days the movement education should aim for a new vision that can be favorable for every child, weak or strong, the able and the disabled. Central point of concern should be, the children who, what, how they are, and what they are doing matters. Each child's need and interest are to be kept as the requirement of the programme. The success of the movement education and movement educationist in the programme is measured by the success of each and every child progress in the multisided activities.

A movement oriented education programme should include all kinds of programmes - areas of traditional physical activity such as Malaysian traditional games (galah panjang, konda kondi, beduk, aci sorok) dance, gymnastics, swimming, etc., as depending upon the availability of the facility. It is not necessary to have all kinds of programmes incorporated into the movement education. But you may concentrate on activities that fit into the environmental features of the school. The only thing is that the planner should keep in his mind that the activities aim at child centered approach, rather than activity centered. The concept of movement education programme should emphasize at education and focus the attention on awareness - awareness of what body is doing as it moves, awareness of where the movement is going in the surrounding space, awareness of qualities of force and speed, and awareness of social and physical environments to which the movement relates. This is actual movement oriented education.

It is to be noted that the fundamental body of knowledge that binds together all the concepts of parts of physical education is the vocabulary of movement education. There are few things which form the basis of physical education. Firstly, movement reveals the identity of the subject. Moving children expresses a variety of things, observe new things that are must for the successful course of action. They feel confident of themselves. They are in a position to rate their standing with others by playing and experimenting movement with others. Secondly, In the process of learning, they imbibe new ideas and gain a positive self image of enforcing each new level of attainment. Apart from these, self discipline, independent thinking, cooperative learning and sharing etc., are developed.

A quality of physical and movement education programme provides children with opportunities to develop the necessary knowledge, skills and healthful attitude enabling each to participate in a variety of life time physical activities. The importance of an active lifestyle in the prevention of disease and for the maintenance of positive mental health is well documented. For e.g., the health benefits of regular physical activity include the prevention of coronary heart diseases, hypertension, diabetes, osteoporosis, obesity and mental problems such as depression, poor self-esteem and anxiety.

All physical activities involve different joints, muscles and segments of the body. To use these joints, muscles, segments and joints effectively, there are few specific principles to be followed which ultimately results in body becoming more graceful and economical in expenditure of energy. Children should be made to learn and practice the different kinds of simple segmental movements form their childhood. This learning of the fundamental movements will help them to execute complex movements involved in competitive sports. Sports training at a later stage will be easy for those of whom the fundamental movements are already automated.

What are the movements should children learn? They are proper walking pattern, running, jumping, kicking, hitting, rolling, pushing, pulling, lifting, carrying, throwing, catching, climbing, landing, sitting, standing etc.,. All these movements are called fundamental and natural movements.

Efficient movement is the outcome of sufficient development of physical, mental and emotional qualities. Efficient and correct movements can only be executed when the pre requisites are taken account to. Movements could be learnt well, when the same are repeated a number of times. To perform correct and efficient movements, sufficient development of physical qualities like speed, strength, endurance, muscular power, agility, flexibility, coordination, reaction time, etc., are to be improved along with mental qualities like ability to perceive, to decide quickly, judge moving objects, spatial approach in application of already learnt skills, etc; and the emotional qualities like desire to perform, positive attitudes towards the activity, self control, readiness to perform, etc.,. Hence a sound foundation of these qualities has to be laid out in school activities. The development of these abilities in turn helps to develop bodily systems such as muscular, skeletal, circulatory, respiratory, neuromuscular systems, etc. All these systems would enable the children to take up a high degree of load when movements are performed. Apart from these, the basic knowledge of effective movements involving biomechanics principles, economy of movement education, etc., are also required to be learnt for effective and efficient movements.

Bain (1988) has classified the content of physical education into three major categories; fitness, motor skills and movement forms and has identified performance skills and conceptual knowledge with in each category as follows:

Finally, when you assess the outcomes of movement education programme, an individual interms of being physically fit, mentally fit, healthy and competent enough to participate in elite sporting performance, the individual should have trained, possessed and attained for the following:

· Has learned and mastered skills necessary to perform a variety of physical activities.

- Moves using concepts of body and space awareness, force and velocity relationships.

- Demonstrates competence in a variety of manipulative, locomotor and non- locomotor skills performed individually and with opponents.

- Demonstrates competence in many different forms of physical activity.

- Has learned how to learn new skills.

· Does participate regularly in physical activity.

- Participates in health enhancing physical activity at least three times a week.

- Selects and regularly participate in life time physical activities.

· Is physically fit

- Assesses, achieves and maintains physical fitness.

- Designs safe, personal fitness programmes in accordance with principles of training and conditioning.

· Knows the implications of and benefits from involvement in physical activities.

- Identifies the benefits, costs and obligations associated with regular participation in physical activity.

- Recognizes the risk and safety factors associated with regular participation in physical activity.

- Applies concepts and principles to the development of motor skills.

- Understands that wellness involves more than being physically fit.

- Knows the rules and regulations, strategies and appropriate behaviors for selected physical activity.

- Recognizes that participation in physical activity can lead to multi-cultural and international understanding.

- Understands that the physical activity provides the opportunities for enjoyment, self expression and communication.

· Values of physical activity and its contribution to a healthful life style.

- Appreciates the relationship with others that result from participation in physical activity.

- Respects the role that regular physical activity plays in the pursuit of life long health and well being.

- Cherishes the feeling that result from regular participation in physical activity.

REFERENCES

1. Evelynl Schurr, Movement experience for children

2. Frank W Dick, Principles of sports training

3. Gladys Scott, Analysis of human motion

4. Hardayal singh, Science of sports training

5. Harre D, Principles of sports training: introduction to theory and method of training

6. Hirtz P, Coordinative abilities in school sports

7. Hockmuth, Biomechanics of athletic movement

8. Hope M. Smith, Introduction to human movement

9. Hubert A. Hoffman, Meaningful movement for children

10. Janet Wessel, Movement fundamentals

11. Kukushkum, The system of physical education in USSR

12. Marjorie Latchaw, A pocket guide of elementary activities for elementary schools

13. Marjoire Randall, Basics of movement

14. Peter H Warner, Learning through movement

15. Richard A Schmidt, Motor skills

16. Victor H. Frankle, Basic biomechanics of skeletal system

17. Whiting, Concept in skill learning

18. An Evaluation of comprehensive health education in American schools, A report of Lou Harris and associates, New York.

19. Assessing physical fitness, McSweign, Journal of physical education, recreation and dance, Vol.60, No.6, August, 1989.

20. Bain, Linda L., Curriculum for critical reflection in physical education, ASCD year book, 1988.

21. Fitting in Fitness, McSweign, Journal of physical education, recreation and dance, Vol.60, No.1, January, 1989

22. Physical education: Alabama course of study, Alabama state department of education.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Dr.Saju Joseph, Senior Sports Biomechanist ISN for background research and study.

Conference: A Comprehensive Review of Movement Disorders for the Clinical Practitioner, Aspen, Colorado, July 26-29, 2010

Date : 07/26/10
Contact : cme@columbia.edu
Website : www.columbiacme.org
A Comprehensive Review of Movement Disorders for the Clinical Practitioner. St. Regis Hotel, Aspen, Colorado USA; Tel: +1 212-305-3334; Fax: +1 212-781-6047;

please see website for more information

Conference: The 7th World Stroke Congress, Seoul, Korea, October 13-16, 2010

Date : 10/13/10
Contact : stroke@kenes.com
Website : www.kenes.com/stroke

The WSO Seoul 2010 Congress will facilitate the dissemination and discussion of all aspects of stroke and provide a platform for experts to present the latest research. It is also a superb opportunity to network and to strengthen scientific collaboration and improve the care of stroke victims throughout the world!

Organized by the World Stroke Organization (WSO). Seoul, South Korea. Contact: KENES International, 1-3, Rue de Chantepoulet PO Box 1726, CH-1211 Geneva 1 Switzerland; Tel : +41 22 908 0488; Fax: +41-22-906-9140

Asia Pasific Congress on Sports Technology 2009

Dear Colleague/Researcher;

After an exiting 3rd APCST 2007 in Singapore, where many of you contributed to the Congress’s success, we would like to invite you onbehalf of Congress Organising Committee to submit abstracts(subsequently papers) for the 4th Asia Pacific Congress on Sports Technology (APCST 2009) which will be held in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA from21-23 September 2009.

You might have received the call for papers(ATTACHED) repeatedly; however, I would like to draw your kind attention to:

1) Abstract deadline which has been extended until December 15, 2008

2) Congress fees which have been reduced to USD 750 (and 500 forstudents) thanks to good negotiation outcomes from the publisher and

3)Young Investigators / Students Awards Competition(http://www.rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=8kveij56bqlbz), which had a hugesuccess in Singapore.

Please submit your abstract(s) to: http://us.mc503.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=apcst2009@wsu.edu and ignore my message if you have already submitted abstract.If you want to participate in the Young Investigators / Students Award, please inform the Organising Conference Chair Prof. Lloyd Smith (http://us.mc503.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=lvsmith@wsu.edu), and indicate your name, the title of the abstract, and the level of your project (Undergraduate or Post graduate).

The Congress will be held at:

Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa 2424 Kalakaua Avenue,Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

A copy of APCST2009 brochure is attached for your kind consideration.For further information, please feel free to contact Dr Firoz Alam on+61 3 99256103 or via e-mail: http://us.mc503.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=firoz.alam@rmit.edu.au or Prof Lloyd Smithvia e-mail: lvsmith@wsu.edu

National Karate Exponents did it again!!

For many years, victory on European soil have deserted us; but things are slowly changing with our karate exponents banging in the results now.

Read more on our latest success story http://www.thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2008/9/9/sports/1978367&sec=sports

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Tuesday/Sport/2344559/Article/index_html

p.s. To my dear friend Ari,

You proved it again, relying solely on the strength in depth that you have created. Keep up the good job.

KOI Karate World Cup

Malaysian Karate exponents once again returned home with a fine performance in KOI World Cup held in Italy earlier this month. Malaysia won a record 5 Gold medals (3 from kumite and 2 from kata). R.Puvaneswaran showed early promise of his coaching ability by guiding a string of young National athletes (Saharuddin, Mohd Hatta and Jeyaseelan) to clinch the coveted men's Team Kumite Gold by beating the Netherlands.

When contacted, Arivalagan (National Karate Head Coach) conveyed his satisfaction on the overall performance of the team and confirmed the ever growing influence of our exponents in European Circuits; and having achieved this without the likes of Asian Champions Lim Yoke Wai, G.Yamini and Vasantha Marial adds more weight to our preparation in clinching the much eluded Gold medal in upcoming World Karate Federation Championship.

RedScience hereby wishes our National Karate Exponents 'Best of Luck' for the upcoming World Karate Championships in Japan.

"Let the spirit in you burn for all to see"

Field Hockey on Natural Grass– A need for revival

The stick work, skills, deception, flair and beauty of field hockey that lures many young kids during the 70s’ especially in the sub continent of South Asia and South East Asia is very much fresh, even though it has been nearly 20 years since the inception of artificial turf into modern hockey.

It was the ‘Indian dribbles’, ‘Argentinean reverse’ that made me and hundreds of Andersonians, “YES” hundreds - of form one students to join our famous hockey club under the tutelage of Mr. Pritam Singh and Cikgu Shamsuri whom fueled the already burning desire to ‘whack the ball if not the man’ on the field. Well that certainly did not stop us from playing football, handball, rugby, athletics and still come home with half a dosens of A’s in public examinations to satisfy our parents.

Coming back to hockey; those stuff that we do in the grass field daily, is the soul that made us love this game so very much. Add that with the performance of Minarwan, Perry Khoo, Kaliswaran, Saiful Zaini, Shankar, Calvin at National level and the likes of Dhanaraj Pillay at International stage, one need not be a rocket scientist to figure why its’ such a beauty; even though we were occasionally hammered by Australians and other Asian giants, they were our unsung heroes with their stick work and flair.

Seeing the modern form of ‘western influenced’ hockey, there’s not much happiness or joy even if victory is ours’ for taking. The ‘soul’ is missing; lack of stick work, flair, deceptions and creativity in the game. As a sports scientist and a performance analyst, I do understand the very condition of artificial turf and the speed that ball is moved in it; does not permit a display of skill and stick work that were evident in the much slower natural grass. The Astroturf certainly suited the style of many European and East Asian countries.

Yet again, if tennis could boast of clay, court and grass champions; Football with its conventional 11’s, beach and futsal; why can’t hockey with turf and grass. I’m sure a grass hockey World Championship will have more teams in it than the World Netball Championships. The mechanics of movement, tactics, techniques and even stick engineering will be different between field and turf hockey.

If it can generate the dying culture of sports in Malaysia, why then not revive it than adhering to the whim and fancy of western influenced hockey. Turf hockey certainly adds steel to their existing sporting culture, with lack of natural grass and seasons. We instead have to brunt the cost of building hockey turfs, watering it (think of all the waste), maintenance, resurfacing it every five years and playing accessories that goes with it. Hmmm….Wonder who is getting rich?

Contract staffs!!

Need to be said that nearly 70% of National Sports Council staffs are contract staffs, ISN in the other hand have 5% of their staffs as permanent employees.

RedScience in coming articles' will detail the difficulties faced by existing contract staffs, loopsided contract for locals, and review on both the employees and employers perspective in achieving excellence in sports.

An incredible love story has come out of China recently and managed to touch the world.

It is a story of a man and an older woman who ran off to live and love each other in peace for over half a century. The 70-year-old Chinese man who hand-carved over 6,000 stairs up a mountain for his 80-year-old wife has passed away in the cave which has been the couple's home for the last 50 years.

Over 50 years ago, Liu Guojiang a 19 year-old boy, fell in love with a 29 year-old widowed mother named Xu Chaoqin. In a twist worthy of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, friends and relatives criticized the relationship because of the age difference and the fact that Xu already had children. At that time, it was unacceptable and immoral for a young man to love an older woman. To avoid the market gossip and the scorn of their communities, the couple decided to elope and lived in a cave in Jiangjin County in Southern ChongQing Municipality.

In the beginning, life was harsh as hey had nothing, no electricity or even food. They had to eat grass and roots they found in the mountain, and Liu made a kerosene lamp that they used to light up their lives. Xu felt that she had tied Liu down and repeatedly asked him, 'Are you regretful? Liu always replied, 'As long as we are industrious, life will improve.' In the second year of living in the mountain, Liu began and continued for over 50 years, to hand-carve the steps so that his wife could get down the mountain easily.

Half a century later in 2001, a group of adventurers were exploring the forest and were surprised to find the elderly couple and the over 6,000 hand-carved steps. Liu MingSheng, one of their seven children said, 'My parents loved each other so much, they have lived in seclusion for over 50 years and never been apart a single day. He hand carved more than 6,000 steps over the years for my mother's convenience, although she doesn't go down the mountain that much.'

The couple had lived in peace for over 50 years until last week Liu, now 72 years, returned from his daily farm work and collapsed. Xu sat and prayed with her husband as he passed away in her arms. So in love with Xu, was Liu that no one was able to release the grip he had on his wife's hand even after he had passed away. 'You promised me you'll take care of me, you'll always be with me until the day I died, now you left before me, how am I going to live without you?' Xu spent days softly repeating this sentence and touching her husband's black coffin with tears rolling down her cheeks.

In 2006, their story became one of the top 10 love stories from China, collected by the Chinese Women Weekly. The local government has decided to preserve the love ladder and the place they lived as a museum, so this love story can live forever.

Raptor 4

Motion Analysis Corporation today announced the introduction of the Raptor-4 high-performance mocap camera. It features massive on-board throughput processing power for real-time processing of up to 5,000 markers at 600,000 markers per second, making it the industry's most powerful video processing camera. The Raptor-4 automatically measures focus and adjusts brightness for optimal performance. As with other MAC digital cameras, the Raptor-4 is field upgradable via email, compatible with other MAC digital cameras and supported with their new generation Cortex software.

"The limitation of most mocap cameras is their limited bandwidth and throughput capacity. At four mega-pixel resolution, the Raptor-4 processes in real-time full grey scale images, image analysis and centroid calculations for 5000 markers. Most motion capture cameras are limited to 100-200 markers." said Shel Fung, Senior VP of Engineering.

"The Raptor-4 provides for large volume data capture while requiring only small markers. In today's large capture volume environment, one-quarter inch markers provide enough light reflection for robust real time tracking. The reflectivity of the markers drops off as the square of the distance from the camera. Higher resolution cameras, brighter ringlights or smaller markers will not solve this limitation. The real limitation has always been camera throughput." Mr. Fung added.

"Our new Cortex real time tracking software leads the industry by at least four years. Users can now do high resolution facial capture with the performer forty feet from the camera. The Raptor-4 camera design eliminates the last barrier to large volume high marker count real-time motion capture. " said Tom Whitaker, CEO of Motion Analysis Corporation. buttons that can be conveniently placed on the interface. It also utilizes drag-and-drop editing, syntax highlighting, embedded function documentation, shared network folders for scripts and automatic startup scripts.

"Our existing EVaRT real time tracking software leads the industry by at least two years. Introduction of the new Cortex real time performance now puts us four years ahead of the industry" said Tom Whitaker, CEO of Motion Analysis Corporation.

Source www.motionanalysis.com

Motion Analysis Cortex 1.0 replaces EvART

Motion Analysis announces the release of Cortex 1.0, the industry’s first mocap tracking software tailored to both a 32-bit and a 64-bit operating system for use with high-throughput multi-processor environments. Cortex replaces the company’s current core software, EVaRT and includes support for the new Raptor class of high-performance digital cameras. This next generation of 3D real-time motion capture software comprises tracking, editing, scripting and modeling functions in a single integrated package.

"Cortex is built on Microsoft's .NET Framework", said Shel Fung, Senior VP of Engineering. "The .NET framework maximizes the productivity for our programmers, which translates into more features delivered at a faster rate to our customers. Due to the success and emulation of EVaRT's ease-of use and customer familiarity, Cortex, by design, maintains a strong resemblance to the successful EVaRT user interface and functionality.", Mr. Fung added.

For biomechanics customers, Cortex features new kinematics and kinetics features, including user selectable bone axis and Euler angle sequence, linear and rotational velocities and accelerations for each segment, and linear and rotational acceleration of the center of mass.

For video production and pre-viz customers, Cortex features the new camera tracking module, CamTrack, which automates the process of aligning the virtual scene coordinates with those of the production studio. Laborious surveying of the production studio is not required. The production studio camera is tracked along with the performers to provide a live stream of animation viewed precisely from the position of the production studio camera. The data, including the principal point information, can be simultaneously streamed to animation software to provide the same special effect.

Cortex runs under the Windows Vista and WinXP operating systems. Many of the tabular menu controls found in EVaRT have been replaced with more modern icons. The icon tool tray can be re-configured to the user's preference, resulting in easier navigation and a 30% increase in screen display. Other new Cortex features include a new and improved QuickFiles (file management) feature, wireless data triggering, a 2D zoom function and improved 3D calibration accuracy reporting. Backwards compatibility with existing data files and projects is maintained to ensure existing workflows.

Cortex's installation is Windows registry independent, allowing cleaner side-by-side execution of different versions of Cortex. Cortex's internal plug-in architecture has been simplified through templates, making it easier for third party developers to create plug-ins to Cortex using free Microsoft Visual Studio express versions. Existing external software programs and plug-ins that use the MAC exclusive simultaneous-connection SDK2 environment will run without changes under Cortex.Cortex contains a new embedded "Single Touch" Sky scripting interface with access to hundreds of pre-programmed scripts that can be quickly and easily modified for custom operation. Sky now has user definable

source www.motionanalysis.com