Physical Education Class 12 Notes Unit 5 Children and Women in Sports
→ Motor Development: Motor development refers to the development of a child’s bones, muscles, nerves and ability to move around and manipulate his or her environment. It is a progressive change and goes on all the time from conception until late teens.
→ Motor development is divided into two categories:
→ Gross Motor Development: It is the development of skills which control actions like throwing and kicking balls as well as walking and jumping.
Fine Motor Development: This refers to the stage when children learn to use their smaller muscles like muscles in the hands, fingers and wrists for activities like writing, holding, eating etc.
→ Factors Affecting Motor Development: Heredity, environment, biological factors like gender, exercise, nutrition, postural deformi¬ties etc. are some factors affecting motor development in children.
→ Exercise Guidelines at Different Stages of Growth and Develop-ment: There are various guidelines related to exercise at different stages of growth and development:
→ Infancy (1 to 2 years): During this stage, exercises to develop head control, sitting, crawling etc. should be encouraged. Infants should be indulged in exercises such as moving arms, legs and reaching to various objects. Throwing, catching and kicking a ball are most suitable exercises for infants.
→ Early Childhood (3 to 7 years): Structured as well as unstructured physical activities should be performed for at least 60 minutes by children, on most days of the week during this stage of growth. Exercises which help in developing movement skills (throwing, jumping, catching or kicking the ball) should be encouraged. Emphasis should be laid down on participation and not on competition.
→ Later Childhood (8 to 12 years): During this stage, participation in organised or team games which aim to develop social-consciousness in children should be encouraged. Children should also be introduced to competitive sports and taught the basic rules of sports competition i.e., fair play etc. The concept of exercises that build endurance (swimming and cycling), strength, agility, coordination and balance should be introduced to them.
→ Adolescence (13 to 19 years):
→ Adolescents should aim to do moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activities for 60 minutes or more each day.
→ They should also indulge in aerobic activities (swmming, skipping, bicycling, swimming etc.) as well as age appropriate muscle and bone-strengthening activities (push-ups, climbing trees, lifting weights, working with resistance bands etc.) for at least 3 days a week.
→ Activities like playing basketball, tennis, hockey should also be included.
→ Adulthood (above 19 years):
→ Adults should aim to do moderate-intensity activities such as brisk walking, cycling, dancing and swimming for at least 150 minutes a week.
→ They should also indulge in weight training, push-ups, sit- ups, pull-ups, leg squats etc. for muscle-strengthening which increases bone strength and muscular fitness.
→ They should perform resistance exercises at least two days a week to tone their muscles and bones.
→ Common Postural Deformities: Postural deformities reduce the efficiency of individual to great extent and cause many more health problems. These can easily be corrected or prevented if early steps are taken. Some postural deformities are Knock- knees, Flatfoot, Round shoulders, Lordosis, Kyphosis, Bow legs and Scoliosis.
→ Knock Knees: Knock knees is one of the major postural deformities. In this deformity, both the knees knock or touch each other in normal standing position. The gap between ankles goes on increasing. The individual faces difficulty in walking and running. He cannot walk or run in a proper manner. Owing to this deformity, they cannot be good players and even they are not selected in defence services.
→ Corrective measures:
- Perform Padmasana and Gomukhasana regularly for some time.
- Cod liver oil may be beneficial in reducing this deformity up to some extent.
- Keep a pillow between the knees and stand erect for some time.
- Use of walking calipers may also be beneficial.
Horse-riding is the best exercise for correction of knock knee.
→ Flatfoot: It is a deformity of the feet. In this deformity, there is no arc in the foot and the foot is completely flat.
→ Corrective measures:
- Walking on heels.
- Walking on inner and outer side of feet.
- Walking on toes.
- To perform up and down the heels.
- Jumping on toes for sometime.
→ Round Shoulders: It is a postural deformity in which the shoulders become round as they are drawn forward, the head is extended with the chin pointing forward.
→ Corrective measures:
- Keep your tips of fingers on your shoulder and encircle your elbows in clockwise and anticlockwise direction for same number of times.
- Hold the hanging portion of horizontal bar for sometime.
- Perform Chakrasana and Dhanurasana regularly.
- Lordosis: It is the inward curvature of the spine. Here, lumbar curve becomes more pronounced and front central position of pelvic region is tilted forward. It creates problem in standing and walking.
→ Corrective measures:
- Forward bending from hip level.
- Alternate toe touching.
- Sloop walking.
- Perform Paschimottanasana and Halasana.
- Perform sit-ups regularly.
→ Kyphosis: It is a deformity of the spine in which there is an increase or exaggeration of a backward curve.
→ Corrective measures:
- Perform Dhanurasana regularly.
- Bend your head backward in a standing position.
- Reverse sit-up.
- Perform Bhujangasana.
→ Bow Legs: It is a deformity opposite of knock knees. In this deformity, if there is a wide gap between the knees when standing with feet together.
→ Corrective measures:
- Vitamin ‘D’ should be taken in required amount.
- Balanced diet should be taken.
- Bow legs can be corrected by walking on the inner edge ofthe feet.
- Walking by bending the toes inward.
→ Scoliosis: Postural adaptation of the spine in lateral position is called scoliosis. It means bending, twisting or rotating.
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→ Corrective measures:
- Perform Ardha Chakrasana.
- Holding the horizontal bar with your hands and swing your body to the left and right sides.
→ Sports Participation of Women in India: Sport is universal in nature. In earlier days only men used to participate in most of the sports and women were not allowed to participate. But, now women have also started active participation in all sports events.
→ Factors affecting women’s participation in sports: Personal safety, no parental encouragement, traditional society, male-dominant culture, lack of female coaches, lack of sports infrastructure, false social beliefs, low media representation and lack of role models are some major factors affecting participation of women in sports.