Lesson video

Hi there, welcome to your lesson.

Today's lesson is on agility, balance, coordination, flexibility and reaction time, and also more of the components of fitness that you need to know for your GCSE PE.

My name's Miss Hacking and I'm really looking forward to being your teacher today.

By the end of today's lesson, I'm hoping that we can all define agility, flexibility, balance, coordination, and reaction time, and consider the appropriate fitness test for each.

Our keywords today are unsurprisingly all the components of fitness that we're going to be talking about.

So agility is the ability to move and change direction quickly whilst maintaining control.

Flexibility is a range of movements possible at a joint.

Coordination is the ability to use different parts, two or more, of the body together smoothly and efficiently.

Balance is a maintenance of the centre of mass over the base of support and reference can be made to whilst static, which means still or dynamic, which means moving.

Reaction time is the time taken to initiate a response to a stimulus i.

e.

the time taken from the initiation of the stimulus.

Today's lesson is split into four sections.

In the first section we're going to talk about agility and how to test it.

In the second section, we're going to look at flexibility and balance and the different fitness tests.

Coordination is going to be the third part of today's lesson and we're going to look at the definition of coordination and how we test it.

And the final part of today's lesson is looking at reaction time and how we test reaction time.

Let's get started.

So agility is the ability to move and change direction quickly whilst maintaining control.

So Alex has asked, "Which sports do you constantly need to change direction in?" You don't always run in a straight line.

You might run right then left and forwards and back.

Which sports might you need to do that in? So Lucas has mentioned that, "Dodging an opponent would be a good example of agility because you need to change direction at speed and keep control of your body." And he's absolutely right because when you dodge someone in netball or in basketball, you would move one way quickly, the other way quickly and then sprint off.

So hopefully your defender is drawn to the first way that you moved.

So yes, Lucas, you would definitely need good agility to dodge someone.

Okay, let's have a go to check.

Can you identify the correct definition of agility? Is it A, the ability to move and change direction quickly whilst maintaining control? Is it B, the ability to stay upright or stay in control of body movement? Or is it C, the ability to move two or more body parts under control, smoothly and efficiently? Well done if you identify that A, the ability to move and change direction quickly whilst maintaining control was the correct definition of agility.

So many sports require good agility for success.

Examples of sports that require good agility include tennis.

Tennis is an example of a sport that needs good agility because the player is constantly changing direction quickly in response to where their opponent has hit the ball.

Similarly, in basketball, basketball players need good agility to be able to dodge an opponent when they're dribbling, to be able to get free to receive a ball, they need to be constantly changing direction in order to be successful.

Alex has said, 'Why would these athletes constantly change direction?" Well, we've already discussed that, but there may be other athletes that also require good agility.

I wonder if you could think of a few.

So the Illinois agility test is a fitness test that measures agility.

The protocol for this test, as always, is to warm up thoroughly.

That's because you don't want to get injured, but also you want to give yourself the best chance possible to score well in the test.

You would lie face down at the start cone, your partner calls, "On your mark, set, go," and starts the stopwatch as you go through the first set of cones.

You would then jump up and complete the set course by running in and outta the cones in the fastest time possible.

And your partner would stop the stopwatch as you ran through the end cones.

This test could be made more reliable by using timing gates instead of a partner to time.

Okay, let's have a go to question.

True or false? A 400 metre runner would require good agility.

Yeah, that's false.

Can you tell me why? A 400 metre runner would not require good agility as they don't have to change direction or stop until the race is over.

They just have to run in the same direction.

So that's why a 400 metre runner would not necessarily require good agility.

Okay, now it's your turn to have a go to task.

For the first part of the task, I'd like you to define agility.

For the second part of the task, I'd like you to describe the protocol of a fitness test that measures agility.

Include a diagram of a fitness test to help you.

You may wish to pause the video now in order to give yourself time to complete the task.

Okay, so for the first part of the task, you are asked to define agility and I'm hoping that you remembered agility is the ability to move and change direction quickly whilst maintaining control.

For the second part of the task, you were asked to describe the protocol of a fitness test that measures agility.

You were asked to include a diagram of the fitness test to help you.

So I'm hoping that you've spoken about the Illinois agility test.

For the Illinois agility test protocol, you would need to warm up thoroughly, lie face down at the start cone.

Your partner would call, "On your marks, set, go," and would start the stopwatch as you ran through the first cones.

You would jump up and complete a set course by running in and out of the cones in the fastest time possible.

And your partner would stop the stopwatch as you ran through the finishing cones.

And you may have drawn a diagram similar to the one on the screen.

Well done if you got that right.

Okay, let's move on to the second part of today's lesson.

In this part we're going to talk about two components of fitness.

We're going to talk about flexibility and balance and how we test them.

So flexibility is a range of movements possible at a joint.

And Andeep asked, "What type of sports require flexibility the most?" Your mind might automatically go to gymnastics because gymnasts do require a lot of flexibility in order to be successful.

As we can see in the image, performing a skill such as a front splits do require a high amount of flexibility in order to be successful.

However, it would be wrong of us to only think that sports like gymnastics and dance require flexibility because lots of sports require flexibility.

In the other example here, we've got a hurdler who would require really good flexibility at the hips in order to give themselves the best opportunity to get over the hurdles and clear the hurdles without breaking their stride.

Okay, let's have a go to question.

True or false? A hurdler would require good flexibility.

Yes, that's true.

Can you tell me why? Yeah, we've just discussed this on a previous slide.

A hurdler would require good flexibility in their hips to be able to lift their legs high enough to clear the hurdle without breaking their stride.

If they didn't have good flexibility, they may knock over the hurdle which would cause them to slow down and maybe even stop and definitely not help them to win the race.

So well done if you put something along those lines.

The sit and reach test is a fitness test that measures flexibility.

And a protocol for the sit and reach test is as follows.

As always, you'd warm up thoroughly, you'd remove your shoes and sit with your heels against a specialist box with flat knees.

Now that's really important and if you are working with a partner when you are conducting this test, always make sure their knees do not accidentally bend and rise up.

They need to be flat along the floor.

You'd reach forward gradually and you push the ruler along the top of the box and hold the stretch for two seconds.

You're not allowed to bounce, you just have to hold as far forward as you can without bouncing.

You would repeat this three times and record your best score.

Okay, let's have a go to check.

Which of the following is a test for flexibility? Is it A, the sit and reach test? Is it B, the standard reach test? Is it C, the Illinois run test? Or is it D, the standing broad jump test? Well done if you correctly identified that the sit and reach test is the test for flexibility.

Okay, balance is the maintenance of the centre of mass over the base of support and there's two types of balance.

Static balance is when there is no movement, for example, holding a handstand.

If you have really good balance and you're able to hold that handstand still, that is an example of static balance.

Dynamic balance is maintaining balance whilst moving.

For example, when a hockey player is being challenged, they may demonstrate good balance by continuing to move and avoid falling over.

So again, we can have balance when we are moving and a lot of games players will need high levels of balance, not just gymnasts in order be to be successful in their sport.

Examples of when balance is needed in sport could include, like we've talked about the gymnasts, but being specific, a gymnast on a beam would require high levels of balance because if they didn't have high levels of balance, they're more likely to fall off and injure themselves or lose points in their routine from having wobbles or falls.

An ice hockey player would also need high levels of balance to be able to remain on their skates and to be able to perform the skills effectively without falling over.

Now Lucas has said, "Think what would happen if these athletes had poor balance." Well, if they had poor balance, they would fall over and they wouldn't be very successful at their sport.

Okay, now it's your turn to answer a check question.

Why does a gymnast need good balance when performing a routine on the beam? So a gymnast would need good balance when performing a routine on a beam to avoid falling off and injuring themselves.

So I'm hoping that you've written something along those lines.

Well done if you did.

So the stork stand test is a fitness test that measures balance.

The protocol for the fitness test that measures balance, the stork stand test, is obviously to warm up thoroughly.

You stand with your hands on your hips and place your heel of your right leg against your left knee.

So basically you are on one foot.

You raise onto the toes of your left foot and that's when the stopwatch starts.

The stopwatch stops when your right foot moves away from your knee or your left heel touches back down onto the floor.

So it's about how well you can balance without doing those things.

You would rest for three minutes and repeat with the opposite leg to get a score for both legs.

Okay, that's how we go to check.

Can you identify the fitness test for balance? Is it the balance beam test? Is it B, the sit and reach test? Is it C, the stork stand test? Or is it D, the vertical jump test? I'm hoping that you remembered it was C, the stork stand test.

That is the fitness test that measures balance.

Well done if you got that right.

Okay, now it's your turn to have a go at a task.

I would like you to complete the table for balance and flexibility, identifying a component of fitness, writing a correct definition, giving a sporting example for both components of fitness, and outlining the fitness tests for those components of fitness.

You may wish to pause a video now in order to give yourself time to complete the task.

Okay, so you're asked to complete the table for balance and flexibility and I'm hoping that you identified that the first row related to flexibility, the definition of flexibility is a range of movements possible at a joint.

And I'd already given you an example of a gymnast doing the splits.

You may have added your own example there.

Well done if you did that.

And the fitness test for flexibility is a sit and reach test.

The second row we were talking about balance and I'd given you the definition here, which was the maintenance of centre of mass over the base of support.

Now the sporting example you could have used could have been maintaining movement when dribbling a ball to avoid falling over or losing possession.

And the fitness test used to measure balance is a stork stand test.

So well done is you got those correct.

Okay, moving on to the third part of today's lesson, we're going to talk about coordination and how we test coordination.

So coordination is the ability to use different parts of the body, two or more parts of the body, together smoothly and efficiently.

An example of coordination is hand-eye coordination.

So examples of when coordination is needed in sport include in badminton you would need high levels of hand-eye coordination to be able to hit the shuttlecock effectively.

In netball, you would need high levels of hand-eye coordination again in order to be able to catch the ball, in order to be able to shoot the ball, in order to be able to time your run.

A dancer would need high levels of coordination to be able to move their arms and legs at the same time, for example, but would also need coordination to move in time with music and potentially in time with other dancers in the performance.

A footballer would need coordination because they would need foot-eye coordination to be able to pass the ball accurately, score the ball, to be able to dribble with the ball correctly, they would need high levels of foot-eye coordination.

Okay, let's have a go to check.

Identify which would need coordination the most.

Would it be A, a 200 metre runner? Would it be B, a table tennis player? Would it be C, a weightlifter? Okay, so they would all need some degree of coordination, but the question is asked which athlete would need coordination the most? And I would've said a table tennis player would need coordination the most.

This is because they need to be able to hit the ball effectively, otherwise they wouldn't be able to get any points.

And so they would need high levels of hand-eye coordination to hit the ball quickly and return the shot from their opponent.

So well done if you got that correct.

So the wall toss test is a fitness test that measures coordination and a protocol for this is as always you warm up thoroughly.

You stand two metres away from a wall, you throw a tennis ball with your right hand and catch it with your left hand, making sure that it bounces off the wall.

You would then throw the ball with the left hand towards the wall and catch it with your right hand.

You would repeat and count the successful catches in 30 seconds.

So for example, if you threw it with your right hand and didn't catch it with your left hand, you wouldn't include that in your score.

You would only include the ones that you caught.

Okay, let's have a go to check.

Can you identify the correct definition of coordination? Is it A, the wall toss test? Is it B, the ability to change direction at speed; nimbleness? Is it C, the ability to use different bodied parts together, two or more, smoothly and efficiently? Or is it D, the ability to respond quickly to a stimulus? Well done if you've noticed that it was C, the ability to use different parts of the body together, two or more body parts, smoothly and efficiently.

Okay, now it's your term for a task, for the first part of the task, I'd like you to define coordination.

And for the second part of the task, I'd like you to justify why a badminton player would require good coordination to be successful.

You may wish to pause the video now to give yourself time to complete the task.

Okay, so for the first part of the task you are asked to define coordination.

So coordination is the ability to use different parts of the body together smoothly and efficiently.

Well done if you remembered the correct definition.

So for the second part of the task, you were asked to justify why a badminton player would require good coordination to be successful.

And you may have said something along these lines.

Good coordination helps to hit the shuttlecock accurately even during fast points.

Good coordination allows quick adjustments to body position for smashes, drops, or defensive shots.

Coordination between hand and eye is essential to time shots correctly.

Footwork coordination helps players move efficiently to reach the shuttlecock anywhere on the court using lunges.

And coordination enables smooth transitions between attacking and defensive play.

Well done if you mentioned any of those points in your answer.

Okay, we are now moving on to the last part of today's lesson.

We're going to look at reaction time and how we test it.

So reaction time is a time taken to initiate a response to a stimulus i.

e.

the time from the initiation of the stimulus.

"So in which sports do you have to react quickly?" That's what Jun's asked us.

In which sports do we need to react quickly to a stimulus? Okay, let's have a go to check.

Can you complete the sentence by filling in the missing word.

Reaction time is a time taken to initiate a response to a blank.

So I'm hoping that you remembered the reaction time is a time taken to initiate a response to a stimulus.

Well done if you got that right.

You may wish to check your spelling there to make sure that you spelled that word correct, stimulus.

So in response to Jun's question, there are many sports that require good reaction time.

Some of these include: a hundred metre sprinter would require good reaction time in order to react quickly to the starting gun in order to get a really fast start and enable them to beat their opponents or have more chance at beating their opponents by getting a good start to the starting gun.

A hockey player would require good reaction time to be able to react quickly to where the ball's being hit so they can position themselves effectively or get to the ball quicker than their opponents.

A kickboxer would require good reaction time in order to react to where their opposition is standing, or to be able to react quickly to where their opponent is aiming their kicks or their hits so that they avoid getting hits and that they can react quicker to give a kick or hit back to their opponent.

And a table tennis player would require good reaction time in order to be able to react quickly to where their opponent has hit the ball table.

Tennis is a very quick game, so the quicker the reaction time, the more time a player has to move and effectively return their table tennis shot.

Okay, let's have a go to question.

True or false? A 200 metre runner wouldn't require good reaction time, they just need speed.

That's false.

Can you tell me why? Yeah, a 200 metre runner would require good reaction time to react quickly to the starting gun to enable them to get a successful start.

If they can react quicker to the starting gun, they'll get a faster start and have more chance at beating their opponents.

So well done if you mentioned something along those lines.

So the ruler drop test is a fitness test that measures reaction time.

The protocol for the ruler drop test is as follows.

A ruler is held by an assistant.

So the performer holds a thumb and index finger of their dominant hand level with zero centimetre line on the ruler.

The assistant can't warn a performer when they were let go, so you can't say, "One, two, three , go," because then it's not reaction time because they know when the ruler is going to be dropped.

So the assistant needs to almost take the participant by surprise so that they can instantly react as quickly as they can.

The assistant lets go of the ruler and the performer must catch it between their finger and their thumb.

You would repeat this test three times and record the best score.

The score is a number of centimetres you caught it on.

Okay, let's have a go to check.

True or false? The ruler drop test measures flexibility.

Yep, that's false.

Can you tell me why? So the rule or drop test measures reaction time.

The sit and reach test measures flexibility.

So make sure you've got those fitness tests the right way round.

Okay, now for your final task.

For the first part of the task, I'd like you to define reaction time.

For the second part of the task, I'd like you to justify why a table tennis player needs good reaction time to be successful.

And as Jacob has mentioned, remember justify is asking you to support an answer with evidence.

You may wish to pause the video now to give yourself time to complete the task.

Okay, so you are asked to define reaction time and I'm hoping that you've remembered our keyword definition of reaction time is a time taken to initiate a response to a stimulus i.

e.

the time from the initiation of the stimulus.

Well done if you got that right.

And for the second part of the task, you are asked to justify why a table tennis player needs good reaction time to be successful.

I'm hoping that you've written something along these lines.

A table tennis player would need good reaction time to enable them to react quickly to where the opponent has hit the ball.

Without good reaction time, the table tennis player would not be able to return their opponent shot and therefore would not be able to get any points.

Well done if you put something along those lines.

Okay, that leaves us just enough time left to summarise today's lesson.

So agility is the ability to move and change direction quickly whilst maintaining control.

It is required by a badminton player to change direction quickly to move to where the opponent has hit the shuttlecock.

A fitness test to measure it is the Illinois agility test.

Flexibility is a range of movements possible at a joint.

It is especially important for gymnasts to get into different positions such as the splits.

The sit and reach test measures it.

Balance is a maintenance of the centre of mass over the base of support.

It is especially important for a gymnasts to hold positions on the beam.

Again, if they don't have good balance on the beam, they're more likely to fall off and injure themselves.

The stork stand test measures balance.

Coordination is the ability to use different parts of the body together smoothly and efficiently.

So at least two body parts together.

It is important for a netball player to catch a ball and a wall toss test measures it.

Reaction time is a time taken to initiate a response to a stimulus, i.

e.

the time from the initiation of the stimulus.

It is especially important for 100 metre sprinter to react to the starting gun.

And a ruler drop test measures it.

Well done today, we've learned another five components of fitness and I'm hoping that you are able to remember the definition, the fitness test, and the athletes that would require good levels of each of those components of fitness.

Well done today, you've worked really hard and I'll look forward to seeing you again soon.