LSC: Skill Development and Diet Senior One

Skill Development and Diet

Introduction

In this chapter you will be exposed to the types of skills used in PE and explain the dietary requirements for a physically active person. The general factors that affect skill development and execution will also be covered.

Skill acquisition is a set of internal processes associated with practice or experience leading to a relatively permanent change in the capacity for motor skills.

Motor behaviour is the outcome of motor learning, which should either be performed appropriately or explained. Motor skill is a movement that is performed with a desired environmental goal in mind. Therefore, movements with no particular environment goal are not motor skills but just motor movements.

Ability is a stable characteristic or trait genetically defined that underlie certain skilled performance while capability is a skill of producing a performance result with maximum certainty, minimum energy and minimum time and can be developed by practice.

Basic Skill Development

Basic skills are those that are required for basic movement such as walking, jogging, running, sprinting, catching, throwing, kicking, etc. You started developing some of these skills subconsciously when you were still young but there is need to correctly learn and develop these skills for you to move more efficiently throughout life.

Practice of basic skills

1. Walking

• Walk about in the activity area in an easy, relaxed and natural way (in free space, a circle, around a square, rectangle, triangle and irregular shape) without contact with others.
• Walk in different ways (short steps or long steps, fast or slow, high or low).
• Change of speed during the walk (slow, moderate, fast, brisk and stop).
• Walk on different parts of the legs (balls, tip toes, heels, out step, instep, outside of the out step, inside on the instep).
• Side walking (crossing the legs, without crossing the legs) and backward walk.
• Walk on rhythm (beat, double beat, quartet beat) alone and instep with partner/s.
• Walk on a line and bar on the ground, raised platform such as a bench

2. Running

• Run about in the activity area in an easy, relaxed and natural way (in free space, a circle, around a square, rectangle, triangle and irregular shape) without contact with others.

• Run in different ways (short steps or long steps, fast or slow, high or low, with a high knee lift).

• Responding to signal to start and stop running, change direction, to specific point and back, around obstacles.

• Running with equipment and to a rhythm (alone and instep with partners).
• In pairs and using a fibre ball, try out the skills of catching and throwing, kicking and trapping.

Complex skill development

These include the addition skills that are required for performance of specialized movements. They are in most cases integrated with basic skills. Examples include: run and jump; run, hop, step and jump; run, clear obstacle and land, jump and catch a ball; target throws and target kick.

Factors that affect one’s skill performance

There are many factors that affect an individual’s skill performance. They are categorized into physical, psychological, physiological, mental and environmental.

Foods and their Nutrients

An active participant should eat a lot of fresh fruits, vegetables in addition to energy-giving foods and other foods. Different activities will require different amounts of the respective foods. However, you should have a slot for each type of food in what is called a balanced diet. You should therefore plan for a well-balanced diet in regard to the nature of activity you are to get involved in.

Proper diet helps in the prevention of health-related diseases and conditions that would increase injury risks. Thus, it is important for you to know how to prevent injuries through proper dieting and exercise. Each food item you eat has some active parts in it that make it different from other foods. That is why beef is different from fish. You also see that potatoes are different from rice. These active parts of a food are called nutrients. Nutrients are broadly divided into six different classes i.e. carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, vitamins and water.

Healthy Meal

Understanding healthy eating

Usually, we mistake fatty and junk foods for healthy meals. It is very important to watch what you eat. Your body needs food, and the food that you eat affects your health in many ways i.e. how you look and feel, how well you resist disease and even how well you perform mentally and physically.

Overeating and Under-eating

Very often girls and some boys tend to limit what they eat or increase on what they eat for a number of reasons. Most of the reasons rotate around peer influence such as girls wanting to be seen as slim, or boys wanting to be seen as strong.

Many times, we develop habits which we may not realize unless we are told by a friend or someone who has closely watched our behaviour. Some of the good habits include eating on time and eating healthy meals, among others. On the other hand, eating a lot of junk foods is one of the very common habits in the world today.