Phases of motor development according to RÖTHIG

From a motor point of view, a newborn baby is a “deficiency creature” that must first learn individual motor skills. The motor skills are limited to unconditional reflexes. The newborn’s radius of action increases.

Individual movements such as grasping, upright posture, etc. enable first contacts with the environment. By the end of the 6th year of life, the basic motor skills such as throwing, jumping, catching etc.

should be developed. Sports training should be designed to develop coordination skills. In this phase of motor development, the first changes in the shape of limbs and changes in proportions occur.

The motor function becomes more efficient and mobility is increased. This age is also called the best learning age for the development of coordination. Children learn particularly quickly in this phase, since the drive and the striving for performance is done on their own initiative.

Better observation and perception skills enable rapid learning, not only in terms of motor skills. Parents, teachers and trainers should pay special attention to this sensitive phase of motor development, since missed coordinative developments are difficult to catch up on later. According to MEINEL/SCHNABEL this phase is called restructuring of motor skills and abilities.

There is a growth in length, which can have a negative effect on the development of motor coordination. Speed and strength are already pronounced to a certain extent at this age. This phase, also known as adolescence, is characterized by pronounced social differentiation, progressive individualization and increasing stabilization.

The motor skills become more variable and the expressiveness increases. Movement becomes more economical and functional. Automation and precise control of movements are the result. With increasing age there is often a decline in motor skills.

The three phases of motor learning

Motor learning can basically be divided into three phases: When all three phases of motoric learning for a movement have been completed, a person can execute this movement automatically and perform it perfectly without great concentration even under difficult conditions.

Rough coordination
Fine Coordination
Fine coordination.

In this phase, the person must first deal with the movement cognitively. An at least rough idea of the movement execution must be available. This mental preoccupation with the movement can be done with the help of instructional picture series, videos, animations or demonstration.

During the execution of the movement one cannot correct the movement oneself and a feedback about the movement is only given by means of successful or unsuccessful. Take the example of serve: The athlete has an idea of the movement. The execution of the serve is characterized by the lack of dynamics of the partial body movements.

Corrections cannot be made during the execution of the movement due to the lack of sensation of movement. The priority of the feedback must therefore lie with the coach. If technical errors of the movement creep in during this phase, later corrections are very difficult to compensate for.

If the movement is repeated frequently, movement templates are created in the cerebellum. These templates are used for the target-actual comparison and enable the athlete to make corrections during the execution of the movement. Thus the movement is stabilized and fulfills spatial, temporal and dynamic aspects.

The role of the trainer and exercise leader recedes more and more into the background as the level of skill with regard to technique training increases. This phase is also called stabilization of fine coordination or variable availability. The coordination of movement has reached a performance level where all performance relevant movement characteristics are optimally coordinated. The partial movements are coordinated temporally, spatially and dynamically in such a way that technical errors are hardly recognizable from the outside. Applied to the serve in tennis, this means that the execution can still be completed with a high degree of safety and precision even when external disturbance variables such as wind, sun or poor ball throwing are present.