Prof. dr. Matthieu Lenoir, Dept. Movement and Sports Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Sports Sciences, Ghent University, Watersportlaan 2, B-9000 Gent. Tel. 00 32 (0)9 264 63 24. Matthieu.Lenoir@UGent.be
Overview 1. Coordination 2. Stability of coordination 3. Why is motor coordination important? 4. When do we train motor coordination? World Conference on Science and Soccer, Ghent, 2012
Coordination Is the ability to organize a goal-directed action in an efficient, accurate, and consistent manner, but with enough room for flexible adaptations to the demands of the situation Is a matter of organisation, governed by the central nervous system Interacts with strenght, flexibility, speed, and endurance Determines to a great extent Whether a person will be able to master a new technical skill How long this process will take for that person World Conference on Science and Soccer, Ghent, 2012
How to evaluate general motor coordination: Körperkoordinations Test für Kinder (Kiphard & Schilling, 2007) Dynamic balance Lateral speed jumping Moving sidaways Motor Quotient (~IQ) 100 = normal
Is motor coordination a stable characteristic? A characteristic of talent should ideally be relatively resistent to influences of: -time -maturity -training status and thus allow (semi-) long term prediction of progression and/or performance World Conference on Science and Soccer, Ghent, 2012
Is there a secular trend in motor coordination? Secular trends in anthropometry Secular trends in physical fitness.. Secular trends in motor competence? ~quality of the talent pool World Conference on Science and Soccer, Ghent, 2012 Gagné (2005)
Flemish children 2008 versus norms 1974 80 70 70,2 68 60 50 40 30 20 16,8 14 14 10 0 4,3 2 severe motor disorder moderate motor disorder 8,3 0,4 2 normal good high Flanders 2008 Germany 1974 Vandorpe et al (2011) Scand J Med Sci Sports
Decrease in motor coordination 1974 2008 Minus 3,5% (= 1% per decade) BUT: Talent detection / identification is not about averages, but is a search for extremes!! % good / very good: minus 50% % very good: minus 80% % weak / very weak: plus 30% % very weak: plus 125% World Conference on Science and Soccer, Ghent, 2012
Is motor coordination stable over time? Motor coordination in year 1 150 N = 800 U12 140 130 120 110 y = 0,8478x + 18,408 R² = 0,6253 100 90 80 70 60 Motor coordination in year 3 50 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 Vandorpe et al (2012) J Sci & Med in Sport
Is motor coordination stable during maturation? Effects of maturity on (in)stability of physical characteristics are well-known? Effects of maturity on stability of motor coordination?
17 jaar 16 jaar 15 jaar 14 jaar 13 jaar 12 jaar 140 cm 150 cm 160 cm 170 cm 180 cm
17 jaar 16 jaar 15 jaar 14 jaar 13 jaar 12 jaar 4,100 sec 4,500 sec 4,900 sec 5,300 sec
17 jaar 16 jaar 15 jaar 14 jaar 13 jaar 12 jaar 50x / 2x20 sec 60x / 2x20 sec 70x / 2x20 sec 80x / 2x20 sec
Does motor coordination distinguish between sport specific expertise? Case: Selection for Flemish Top Sport School Gymnastics Selected Not selected F (niveau) MQKTK 133.4 ± 9.6 128.0 ± 11.4 20.8*** Semi-specialized skills 66.2 ± 11.2 54.8 ± 11.8 34.5*** World Conference on Science and Soccer, Ghent, 2012
Does motor coordination distinguish between sport specific expertise? Selection for Flemish Top Sport School Gymnastics (7-8 yrs) 140 MQKTK 120 100 80 Selected Not selected Reference World Conference on Science and Soccer, Ghent, 2012
Does motor coordination distinguish between sport specific expertise? Selection for Flemish Top Sport School Soccer (11 yrs) 120 Sedentary Sport Soccer Not selected Selected World Conference on Science and Soccer, Ghent, 2012
Can motor coordination predict performance? 75 70 Competition performance in 2010 65 60 55 50 45 40 110 115 120 125 130 135 140 145 Motor Coordination in 2008 Vandorpe et al 2012, J Sports Sci World Conference on Science and Soccer, Ghent, 2012
Is general motor coordination affected by sport specific practice? World Conference on Science and Soccer, Ghent, 2012
Motor coordination: locomotion When to build a solid motor coordination? Effects of a 20 hrs. Intervention in 5-year old children met lower motor coordination 28 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 Intervention Control 6 Pre Post
Interim conclusions 1. MC is a relatively stable characteristic 2. MC has discriminative value 3. MC has predictive value 4. MC allows an estimation of potential of learning 5. MC can be evaluated by means of nonsportspecific tasks 6. The window of opportunity for the stimulation of MC is in the first years of life (up to 7-8 yrs.)
4. How to build a solid motor coordination? Variation and repetition are the keys to motor coordination Is variation in practice superior to specific skill repetition? Case: Goode and Magill (1986)
MQ (points) 4. How to build a solid motor coordination? Comparison of MC in young athletes practising a single sport / more sports for few / many hours per week (Fransen et al., J Sports Sciences 2012) 130 120 110 100 90 80 SSP-F SSP-M MSP-F MSP-M 1 sport / few hours 1 sport / many hours Multi sport / few hours Multi sport / many hours
5. Applications in the field