PDFE #6 General Motor Ability

In class on Monday, October 18th, 2010 the class did a lab on General Motor Ability. The fact that a General Motor Ability does not exist; there is no underlying ability that allows a person to excel at all sports and movements. There was six people in my group, including Lindsey, Meredith, Robert, Bethany, Jeff, and myself. The balance tasks we had to complete were the Stork Stand where you balance on one foot and tuck the opposite leg behind the knee supporting our weight. Then the Diver's Stand where you had to close your eyes while on the balls of your feet and arms at a 90 degree angle. Followed by the Sideward Leap; jumping from two marks on the floor alternating legs and balancing on each leg for a matter of two seconds before jumping to the other leg. Afterward, we moved to the Bass Stepping-Stone; having to jump line to line that had a three meter difference in between the five lines then turning around and completing the task both down and back to the starting point. When you turned about you had to turn around on the last foot you jump on. Finally we did the Book Balance Walk; where we had to talk in a straight like heal to toe while balancing a book on our head.  We each completed three trials for the Stork Stand, Diver's Stand, Heel Stand, and Sideward Leap. And only completing one trail for the Bass Stepping-stone and Book-balance walk. The Stork, Diver, and Heel stand were all measured on how long you could balance your body in that stance.  The Side Leap and Stepping Stone were measured by how many times you touched the marked target while balancing. The Book Walk was measure by who could complete the task the fastest. The results in our group definitely proved that General Motor Ability does not exists, because the groups result varied throughout the group Jeff having the best time for the Heel Stance, myself having the best time for the Diver Stance, Robert having the most Bass Stepping Stone and Book balance walk. Lindsey having the best stork stance, Sideward leap, and Bass Stepping stone. I believe Lindsey did the best because she has 16 years of ballet. But she wasn't the best at every task other excelled over her even though they don't have extensive balance practice but in Jeff, Robert, and I; we have used balance in performing well in basketball. We learned to associate that with the balancing task we faced in class. I believe these results are somewhat skewed because we were racing through the tasks to complete them, so we didn't focus on quality (form) and each individuals consistency. But by ranking the groups results it show that not just one person was the best at all the balancing tasks.