ffective athletic development is based on the development of funda- mental movement skills before

sport-specific skills. In generations past

this was something that everyone took for granted because the demands
of daily living took care of fundamental movement. People at all ages were
much more active than they are today. Children grew up active, and free
play was a major part of daily activity. It was natural to crawl, jump, hop,
run, reach, lift, and throw; it was all done in a spontaneous, playful environment. Even in the adult
world there were fewer conveniences than are
available today. People walked instead of drove. Physical labor was part
of daily life. People generally participated rather than watched. There was
mandatory physical education from kindergarten through 12th grade in
every state in the United States.
The athletic realm does not exist independent of the rest of society; athletes
are a product of the society they grow up in. There is no longer mandatory
physical education to provide a foundation of movement skills. There is
less free play and more organized sport activity. The net effect of all this
is a significant decline in fundamental movement skills. A sound athletic
development program is founded on the basic locomotor skills developed to
their highest level. These fundamental skills must be incorporated on a daily
basis into athletes’ training programs regardless of level of development.
Obviously as athletes progress in training age and skill, fundamental skills
should assume proportionally less of the training time. Ironically, in my
work with high-level professional athletes I spend a good portion of training
time on fundamental movements because they never acquired these skills
as part of their foundation. Instead they specialized early and refined their
sport-specific skills.
Fundamental movement skills fall into three broad categories: locomotor skills, stability skills, and
manipulative skills (see figures 8.1 and 8.2).
Locomotor skills are the skills that get us from place to place and cover the
spectrum of the gait cycle from walking to running to sprinting. Swimming
is also included in this category. Since humans are terrestrial beings, the
emphasis in our athletic development program is on variations of gait. Stability skills are those
movements executed with minimal or no movement
of the base of support. Balance is a key element. It is a foundation of many
sport skills, especially those involving finer motor patterns. A pitcher balancing on one leg to begin his
delivery and a soccer player making a cut off of

movement Aptitude chapter 8

and Balance
1
Refined
skills
Sports skills
Fundamental skills
Rudimentary movement
Walking,
Running,
Jumping, etc.
Reflexive
movement
Fundamental
movement
Mature
Elementary
Initial

GENERAL, SPECIFIC,
and SPECIALIZED
MOVEMENT SKILLS
applied to:
Soccer
Rugby
Cricket/Rounders
Hockey
Netball/Basketball
Tumbling/Diving
Apparatus
ATHLETICS
Swimming
Racket sports
Dance
Etc.
LOCOMOTION
1. Basic
WALKING
RUNNING
LEAPING
JUMPING
HOPPING
2. Combinations
Galloping
Sliding
Skipping
Climbing
1. Propulsive
THROWING
Kicking
Punting
Striking
Volleying
Bouncing
Rolling
2. Absorbtive
Catching
Trapping
MANIPULATION
1. Axial
Bending
TWISTING
TURNING
SWINGING
Stretching
a) Static
Inverted
STARTING
BALANCING
b) Dynamic
Tumbling
Stopping
Dod