Sharing Good Practice
A SIMPLE SOLUTION TO THE DECLINE IN
PHYSICAL FITNESS AND ABILITY IN CHILDREN
BY: DARLENE KOSKINEN
I
presently run a professional karate
dojo in Finland and teach both
karate and recreational gymnastics
to children of all ages and abilities.
Six of my karate students are now on
the Finnish National Team. Over the
years I have observed the physical
development of hundreds of children,
from as young as three through to
adulthood, and have learned how
to teach skill-focused movement
successfully.
is both alarming and heartbreaking to
see that the level of physical ability in
children has deteriorated so rapidly.
Their basic body movement, spatial
awareness and understanding of
movement instructions is poor. This
results in the children being moody,
harder to inspire and lacking the
enthusiasm to achieve.
Over the past few years I have noticed
a remarkable decline in the physical
capabilities of the children who
start classes with me. I am talking
about their general body awareness,
core strength, overall muscle tone,
flexibility and even the ability to follow
verbal instructions about physical
movement. Due to this lack of experience in the
children’s early years, I find myself
having to teach them the fundamental
core movement skills, before teaching
gymnastics or karate. I am talking
about simple skills such as how to
balance on one leg, how to run in a
straight line, how to do a long jump
or even how to throw and catch a ball.
These skills should be learned in the
early years and they should be taught
diligently, purposefully and joyfully.
As a sports instructor and educator, it By the age of seven children should
be physically prepared for learning
more complex sports and hobbies as
well as for academic learning. From
my perspective and experience, many
early-years childcare centres are not
paying enough attention to physical
development, without which, holistic
development is not possible.
The
demanding
workload
and
responsibility that teachers have to
reach curriculum goals means that
movement is not always considered a
priority in early-years environments. It
is not uncommon to find that children
who have learning difficulties may also
have poor body coordination. This is
incredibly worrying, as it is through
play and movement exploration
that children become normal self-
regulated people who are a joy to be
with. Physical literacy should come first
through regular movement and the
academic learning will naturally follow.
A SIMPLE
SOLUTION TO THE
DECLINE IN
Children learn best when they are having fun! Practicing spatial awareness skills with beanbags
Practicing locomotive and social skills by hopping over ropes in groups Giraffe walk
30
Term 1 Sep - Dec 2019
Class Time