The term coordination
The term coordination originally comes from Latin and means order or assignment. In the vernacular it is understood as the interaction of several factors. In sports, coordination is defined as the interaction of the central nervous system and the musculature within a targeted movement sequence.
(HOLLMANN/HETTINGER). Coordinative abilities are counted alongside conditional abilities (strength, speed, endurance and mobility) as part of the sport motor skills. The coordinative abilities are determined partly by developmental factors and partly by constitutional factors.
If the conditional abilities improve predominantly in early adulthood, the coordinative development can be trained especially at the age of 10 to 13 years. Desire, ability, striving for achievement, improved observational and perceptual abilities are characteristic of late childhood. If the coordinative abilities are not sufficiently trained in this learning age, they can only be learned conditionally or with great difficulty afterwards.
Many teachers and trainers complain about a lack of coordination in today’s school children. The coordinative skills should therefore be trained more intensively. The classification of coordinative skills is a controversial topic in sports science.
The most common classification is into the ability to react, adaptability, coupling ability, rhythmic ability, orientation ability, differentiation ability and balance ability, which will be discussed in more detail in the following chapter. A distinction is made between intramuscular coordination, in which the interaction between nerves and muscles within a muscle is understood, and intermuscular coordination, which refers to the interaction of several muscles. Indicators of good coordination in sport are movement precision, movement flow, movement rhythm and movement speed.
The individual coordinative skills
Coordination is the interaction of our senses, the peripheral and central nervous system, and the skeletal muscles. The coordinative abilities ensure that the movement sequence is coordinated with regard to all parameters. There are seven coordinative abilities, which in their interplay can only determine athletic performance.
A single ability says nothing about the overall performance of an athlete or sportsman. Often, it is also possible to make a connection between conditional and coordinative abilities and thus decipher the performance completely. If you look at high performance gymnasts, dancers or skiers, it is almost unimaginable what the human body is capable of.
All these forms that occur in sports are based on a perfect interaction of muscles and nervous system. Even walking requires coordinative demands on the organism, which, however, are learned in early childhood and are considered automated. Coordinative abilities in sport must never be considered in isolation.
In most movements, the interaction of the coordinative abilities is what makes up the target movement. Consider, for example, the jump throw in handball, the run-up requires good rhythmic and orientation skills, the jump and throw a high potential of coupling skills. The ability to adapt is closely related to the ability to react.
Ball sports can only be performed at a high level if all coordinative skills harmonize accordingly. According to Meinel and Schnabel, there are seven basic coordinative abilities that play a role: kinaesthetic differentiation ability, reaction ability, coupling ability, orientation ability, equilibrium ability, repositioning ability, and the ability to rhythmize. The ability to react is defined as the ability to react as quickly and purposefully as possible to one or more stimuli from the environment.
A distinction is made between several reactions. The ability to react is therefore important in most sports, but its trainability is very limited. The ability to react is closely related to the ability to adapt.
- Simple reaction: In many disciplines of athletics or swimming, the motor action is triggered by a simple signal (starting shot). The signal is followed by a fixed sequence of movements. The signal source can be acoustic, optical tactile or kinesthetic.
- Choice reaction: in the choice reaction, the athlete must choose one of several alternative courses of action when the signal occurs.
A skier has to decide how to cross an obstacle when it suddenly appears.
- Complex motor response: If not just a single signal but several signals occur in a situation, this is referred to as a complex motor response. This type of signals often occurs in sports games. The signals can be, for example, the goal, the opponent, the team mates, etc.
In contrast to the simple reaction, the complex reaction involves a cognitive process.
If situations suddenly change during the execution of a movement, the athlete must adapt his action to the new situation. Example: a tennis player stands at the net and starts to volley. The ball gets stuck at the edge of the net and forces the player to change his action plan in a flash.
In the changing situation, a distinction can be made between expected and unexpected changes. In sports games where an action depends on the opponent, an expected change can be expected. With regard to the executing movement, a distinction can be made between observable change.
This is the case with the net roller in tennis. The player has to change his action plan completely due to the serious change. A less significant change only leads to a change in time, space and force parameters.
This change is hardly noticeable to the observer. The change in the distances between the hurdles of a hurdler is an example of this kind of change. The ability to change depends on the speed of reaction, the recognition of the changed situation and the experience of movement.
Only those who have a sufficient movement repertoire can act appropriately in changing situations. The ability to orientate is defined as the ability to determine the position of one’s own body in space and to change it precisely. In addition to the visual analyzer, the acoustic, tactile and kinaesthetic analyzers determine the ability to orientate.
Examples from sports: The ability to orientate depends on the experiences already made in the sports. A good soccer player recognizes gaps in the opponent’s defense, which a beginner does not recognize. In your own home, you can find your way around in complete darkness better than a stranger.
- Acoustic (calls from team mates)
- Tactile (grip strength when climbing)
- Kinaesthetic (leverage in wrestling)
- Vestibular (balance in gymnastics)
The ability to differentiate plays a decisive role, especially at a higher performance level. In order to fine-tune movement coordination, information must be received and processed in a differentiated manner. The kinaesthetic analyzer is of the greatest importance in this process.
The ability to differentiate is differentiated into information reception and information processing. The coupling ability is the main component of the coordinative abilities. In all team sports and backstroke sports, the coupling ability is the dominant ability.
It is characterized by the coordination of partial bodies. The individual partial bodies can coordinate simultaneously or successively in order to ensure the flow of movement, the rhythm of movement, speed of movement and precision of movement. The individual partial bodies must be coordinated in time, space and force.
The ability to couple is closely related to biomechanical principles, which must be included to explain partial impulses. The goal of a sports movement often results from the transmission of force of individual partial bodies. For example, the impact distance in shot put is not only dependent on the impact or extension force of the arm muscles, but also on the thigh extension muscles, trunk and arm muscles.
However, the force generated by the extension of the standing leg and rotation of the upper body can only be transferred to the ball if the movements follow each other directly. The human balance is controlled by reflectors. The human being therefore has no possibility to control his balance arbitrarily.
In sports, a distinction is made between stable and dynamic balance. A stable equilibrium is when the body should remain in a certain position (handstand). If the body is in motion, it is called dynamic balance.Here, movement is additionally distinguished into translational (jogging) and rotational.
If an object is kept in balance in sports, this is called balance of objects. This is the case in ball sports and gymnastic elements. To keep one’s own body in balance, the kinaesthetic analyzer and vestibular apparatus play the most important role.
The tactile and optical analyzer are not of great importance. The vestibular analyzer has a higher stimulus threshold than the kinaesthetic analyzer and is therefore of importance in dynamic, large-scale positional changes and rotary motion. The dynamic equilibrium is based on the acceleration sensation of the human organism.
If the movements are calm and slow, the kinaesthetic analyzer is of greater importance. The ability of rhythmization means to perceive a given rhythm, to recognize it and to adapt one’s own actions to this given rhythm. The given rhythm is e.g. a melody, movements of the partner and the opponent, or the ball.
Furthermore the own movement has to be adapted to the changing conditions of the environment. With downhill mountain biking this becomes clear. In contrast to other sports scientists, Hirz distinguishes between five different coordinative abilities: Kinesthetic differentiation ability, spatial orientation ability, reaction ability, rhythmic ability and balance ability.
The former ability ensures that movement sequences can be executed precisely and with high accuracy. The kinaesthetic ability to differentiate is the basis for the ability to balance and rhythm. The spatial orientation ability is responsible for determining changes in position and movement of bodies in space.
This coordinative ability cooperates with the other four abilities, especially with the kinesthetic differentiation ability. With the ability to react, the athlete pursues the goal of a movement to react to different signals (acoustic, tactile, optical) as quickly as possible and accordingly. With this coordinative ability there is no connection to one of the others.
The ability to rhythmize provides for movements that are timed to fit in with the sequence of movements of individual movements or groups of movements. Finally, the ability to balance is the ability to keep the body in balance. This must be done against external influences and refers to static and dynamic actions. Blume built on Hirtz’s coordinative abilities and added two further abilities: The coupling ability and the ability to change direction. The first is the ability to coordinate partial movements of an overall movement (e.g. the throw) in such a way that the overall movement succeeds and an optimal result is achieved.
