Course:KIN355/2020 Projects/Ball rolling
Defining the Concept and Its Importance
Ball rolling is a type of basic movement skill that falls under the section of manipulative skills. Manipulative skills integrate object control factors when receiving the object, force exertion on the object, and maintaining control over the object with body parts such as hands and feet (Bredin, 2020). Ball rolling is a manipulative skill where a child exerts force onto a ball which is on a surface that supports the object (Gallahue & Donnelly, 2003).
The development of fundamental movement skills in children is a crucial element to master, as these movements allow children to enhance their skills resulting in increased participation and enjoyment in physical activity (Johnson et al., 2015). Basketball Canada describes physical literacy as the development of specific movement skills. A specific movement skill like ball rolling is significantly important in developing skills, which lead to the progression of sports skills seen in pitching, discus, soccer throw-in, bowling, and underhand throwing (Basketball Canada, n.d). Through practicing beginner movement skills like ball rolling, this also allows children the opportunity to make decisions using their acquired skills. For example, basketball Canada elaborates on how ball rolling leads to making sport decisions such as making a long or short pass, high or low pass, participating in target games, and incorporating different passing techniques such as the chest, overhead or leg pass. If children do not develop movement skills like ball-rolling, this will negatively impact physical literacy, decreasing physical activity levels because those fundamental core skills were not formed.
Targeting and mastering fundamental movement skills like ball rolling allows children to experience a positive performance perception of their abilities (Johnson et al., 2015). This is significant in healthy development and motor behaviour because children are significantly more likely to continue and engage in physical activity if they experience a positive self-perception of their skills and abilities (Johnson et al., 2015). Mastering movement skills like ball rolling will increase physical literacy, leading to greater future engagement in physical activity, which results in better and increased personal success (Basketball Canada; Johnson et al., 2015). It is beneficial for coaches, teachers, and educators to promote fundamental motor skill development like ball rolling to increase positive self-perception in children to allow for high sport engagement and participation, leading to physical success.
Role in Childhood Development and Contemporary Considerations
The concept of ball rolling leads to a child's healthy development through progressive stages to master a specific movement like ball rolling. Ball rolling starts in the initial stage, then progresses to an elementary stage and eventually to a mature ball rolling stage (Gallahue & Donnelly, 2003). Gallahue and Donnelly (2013) explain how ball rolling helps with coordination, force production, movement patterns, weight transfer, and stride stances.
Gallahue and Donnelly (2003) explain during the initial (beginner stage) that children will typically position themselves in a wide-based straddle stance and eyes tracking the ball. The ball is placed in their hands with palms facing each other during this stage. As the child is preparing to release the ball in a forward rolling motion, there will be a bend at the waist with a pendulum motion of the arms going backward to forwards, generating an arm swing to then release the ball. As the initial stage starts to progress into the elementary stage, some improvements will be seen in skill. In the elementary stage, Gallauhue and Donnelly (2013) explain that the child will use one hand to hold the ball to support the ball's bottom and another hand placed at the ball's top. However, a backwards pendulum swing motion occurs with no weight shifts happening and a slight bend in the knee. As the ball is being released, there is minimal follow-through action, and the eyes switch between monitoring both the target and the ball. In the mature stage, we see advanced skills develop during ball rolling, such as the ball is being held in the hand that matches the leg that is placed behind. Children in the mature stage will have hip rotation occurring; the trunk is being led slightly forward with an evident knee bend. The mature stage is the only stage where a weight shift occurs during the ball rolling movement from the back foot onto the forward foot. In the mature stage, the child's eyes follow only the ball when it is released (Gallahue & Donnelly, 2003). The concept and skill mastering of ball rolling plays an important role in sport participation during childhood and adult years (basketball Canada). Gallauhue and Donnelly (2013) further explain the basic pattern of how rolling a ball gets incorporated into sports such as bowling, curling, bocce and tunnel ball (pg. 527).
Along with the positive motor development pattern ball rolling helps produce, children may experience some challenges and contemporary issues with this skill. Gallauhue and Donnelly (2013) explain that some children may experience developmental difficulties and contemporary ball rolling issues, impacting performance. Some ball rolling difficulties include not having an efficient follow-through, which results in a power lacking ball roll. Children may also have difficulty with stance positioning and struggle with positioning the opposite foot forward relative to the hand holding the ball. These developmental difficulties are essential to bring attention to and work on to strengthen fundamental motor skills. Rudd et al. (2015) explain that children who have more vital foundational movement skills like ball rolling have higher chances of participating in physical activity, maintain better overall health, and experience better fitness levels throughout their lifetime. This shows why it is important to address these difficulties because when children lack a strong foundation of movement, it decreases physical activity involvement, impacting overall health and well-being (Rudd et al., 2015)
Practical Applications
As it was discussed above, development in children’s ball rolling skill could be classified into three stages, which are the initial stage, the elementary stage and the mature stage (Gallahue & Donnelly, 2003). Therefore, two major windows of development which need to be focused by childhood educators would be when children’s ball rolling skill transfer from the initial stage to the elementary stage and from the elementary stage to the mature stage. Practically, games involving ball rolling would be preferred to help children for developing through those stages effectively. Thus, modified games from basketball and bowling would be great examples to use by childhood educators to aid children in growing certain motor skills to get advanced into the next stage for their ball rolling development.
Basketball Throw and Catch
Purpose Statement
This game aims to help children to understand how to transfer from the initial stage into the elementary stage in ball rolling. More specifically, children will learn how to gather more force in rolling the ball by slightly bending their knees and put one hand to support the bottom of the ball while applying another hand on the top of the ball. The game asks the participant to throw a basketball by two hands as high as possible for a trajectory and another participant or the childhood educator will be the target to catch the basketball.
Target Age
Target age for this game would be children aged 5+ since by throwing a ball high with a trajectory require certain strength among the child’s upper limbs and knees, therefore it would be more effective and safer for children who has already acquired those physical strengths and safe skills to participate in this game.
Equipment/Apparatus Needed
The game requires a minimum level of equipment, which the instructor just need to get a few basketballs designed for children (with less weight and smaller volume), or even other balls that have a dotted surface to increase the friction and contains an appropriate size and weight for children to use.
Environmental Set-up
Since this game asks participants to throw the ball high and far at the same time, it would be preferred if the game is set up in an outdoor space like playground or outdoor basketball fields. If the outdoor weather condition is not ideal, this activity could also be played in indoor gyms which have enough space for basketball throwing and catching.
Instructions
The instructor/childhood educator will start by debriefing participants how this game is working, which participants need to pass the basketball to another one by throwing the ball high with two hands releasing the ball overhead and bending their knees at the same time for a longer trajectory. Then participants will be assigned into pairs and they will stand face to face with an approximately 6 to 8 steps distance between each other. Once the groups are set up, participants will be given by the basketball and could start passing the ball to each other. During the game, instructors need to frequently check and provide appropriate feedback on if participants have bended their knees when throwing the ball and releasing the ball at a point overhead with one hand supporting the base while the other hand placed on the top of the ball before the release. After a few repetitive rounds, instructors could either assign participants into different pairs or even form groups of 3 to 4 with passing in a triangular or rectangular format, thereby the game will not be too boring for the participants.
Modifications
If the participant is having difficulty in either throwing the ball high or making a long trajectory to actually pass the ball to the receiving side, instructor could modify level of difficulty for the participants by asking him/her to release the ball around chest level. Thus, the participant can release the ball at a point which he/she could generate a great force to pass the ball with a longer trajectory while the hands position around the ball before releasing and knee bending is still applied.
Children Bowling
Purpose Statement
This game aims to help children to transfer from the elementary stage into the mature stage in ball rolling. More specifically, children will learn how to make a weight shift when rolling the ball by placing one foot at front while the other one at the back rather than in a straddle position. This game is in a highly similar format with bowling which requires the participant to roll the ball out by one hand with bending knees down and gather stronger force to roll the bowling by shifting weight from back foot to the front foot. Therefore, participants’ weight shifting skill could be enhanced as they need to roll the bowling far with consistent speed on the ground and accurately hit the targets, which requires the participant to create a strong force before releasing the bowling.
Target Age
For this game, target age would be children who aged 6+ since this game is the progressive stage for children who has already acquired skills in ball rolling during the initial stage and the elementary stage. Also, children aged 6+ typically have already acquired motor skills on how to effectively initiate a few body parts together for producing a greater force, which in this game it requires participants to use all of their legs, feet, waist and arms to roll the bowling by shifting weight.
Equipment/Apparatus Needed
Instructors need to prepare several sets of bowling and bowling pins which is designed for children with lighter weighted textures (like plastic) and smaller size, therefore the bowling could be lifted by the participants and will cause minimum level of threat to participants’ safety if the bowling falls on their body or feet.
Environmental Set-up
It is recommended to play this game in indoor areas since extraneous factors such as wind and ground moisture will be reduced to the most. For setting this game up, instructors need to leave the bowling pins in a traditional triangular format (1-2-3-4) in front of the wall and draw or verbally give a width of the moving trajectory (boundaries) of the bowling on the ground. Since the set-up does not require a huge space with tall roofs, the game could be played in indoor gyms or even the living room area in a household, which provides a relatively higher accessibility for participants to play it.
Instructions
The instructor/childhood educator will start by debriefing the ground rules of this game to the participants, which the participants need to hit down as many bowling pins as possible by rolling the bowling onto the ground with one foot standing in the front while the other foot staying at the back. Then the participant will face to the bowling pins and stay in front of them for about 8 steps away. Once the participant is in position, the bowling will be given and the participant may start the game. During the course of the game, instructors need to frequently check and provide appropriate feedback on if the participant has two feet in a front and back position when rolling the bowling and if the participant bends his/her knees when making the roll. Meanwhile, instructors need to check if the participant releases the bowling by swing arms and slightly rotating the waist at the same time for ensuring that the participant is learning how to roll a ball by shifting body weight from back foot to the front foot. For making this game more interesting, a few participants could play in together in a competitive format and the one who hits more bowling pins after a few rounds could be given a reward.
Modifications
If the participant is having difficulty in hitting the bowling pins due to releasing the ball with an angle away from the target, instructor could modify the level of difficulty by assigning the participant a close position to the bowling pins and physically guide the participant in weight shifting and releasing the ball in an angle right to the targets. Thus, the participants can still learn how to shift weights in ball rolling while fulfilling another goal of the game, which is hitting as many bowling pins as possible.
Summary
Ball rolling is a foundational skill for physical literacy including coordination, force production, and weight transfers. Mastering ball rolling creates a sense of positive performance perception; having this and the foundation for physical literacy are good indicators of future physical activity. A child progresses through three stages of ball rolling which improves their stance, bending, handling of the ball, arm swing and follow-through. Games like basketball throw and catch or children bowling assist progression. Some developmental issues can hinder the progression of ball rolling but intervening on these and assisting a child master ball rolling is manageable at young ages.
References
Bredin, S (2020). Module 4: Developing Fundamental Movements. KIN 355 Movement Experiences for Young Children, School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia
Gallahue, D.L., & Donnelly, F.C. (2003). Developmental Physical Education for All Children (4th Edition). Human Kinetics, Champaign: IL.
Johnson, T. M., Ridgers, N. D., Hulteen, R. M., Mellecker, R. R., & Barnett, L. M. (2015;2016;). Does playing a sports active video game improve young children's ball skill competence? Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 19(5), 432-436. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2015.05.002
Rudd, J. R., Barnett, L. M., Butson, M. L., Farrow, D., Berry, J., & Polman, R. C. J. (2015). Fundamental movement skills are more than run, throw and catch: The role of stability skills. PloS One, 10(10), e0140224. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0140224
Why develop physical literacy. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.basketball.ca/files/2015-01/introduction_to_physical_literacy.pdf