Lesson video

Hi there.

Welcome to your lesson.

Today's lesson is on agility, flexibility, and power, and it's part 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.

So by the end of today's lesson, I'm hoping that we can all define agility, flexibility, and power and consider the appropriate fitness test for each of the components of fitness.

Our keywords today, as you might imagine, would be the three components of fitness that we're going to talk about in today's lesson.

Agility is the ability to control the movements of the whole body and change position quickly.

Flexibility is a range of motion of your joints or the ability of your joints to move freely.

And power is the ability to undertake strength performance quickly.

Today's lesson is split into three parts.

In the first part, we're going to look at agility and look at ways in which we can test agility.

For the second part of the lesson, we're going to look at flexibility and we're going to look at how flexibility can be measured.

And in the third part of the lesson, we're going to look at power and we're also going to look at how power can be tested.

Let's get started.

So agility is the ability to control the movement of the whole body and change position quickly.

So Alex has asked us, "Which sports do you need to constantly change direction in?" Because sometimes in a sport, you're not always running in a straight line or in one direction.

You have to stop, start, and change direction quickly.

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 exactly right.

In something like netball, where you're trying to dodge an opponent to get free to catch a ball, then you would need really good agility, because the faster that you can change direction, the more likelihood is that you'll be able to get free into a space and you'll be able to catch a ball without that defender making that intercept.

So yes, Lucas, well done in acknowledging that dodging would be a good example of agility.

Okay, let's have a go at a question.

Identify the correct definition of agility.

Is it A: to move quickly in opposite directions? Is it B: the ability to control the movement of the whole body and change position quickly? Or is it C: to move the muscles repeatedly for a long period of time? Yeah, it's B, the ability to control the movement of the whole body and change position quickly.

Well done if you got that right.

So many sports require good agility for success.

Some examples of sports that require good agility include tennis or basketball.

In tennis, you would need to constantly change direction at speed and keep control of your body while doing so, in order to react quickly to where the ball has been hit by your opponent.

So you might need to move at different places of the court quickly to be able to give yourself the best chance to return the shot.

Similarly, in basketball, you would need to be able to move or dodge quickly to avoid an opponent taking the ball.

You might be doing this while you're dribbling or while you're running to get free for one of your teammates.

Alex has asked, "Why would these athletes constantly change direction?" Well, in sport, we often have to constantly change direction if we are reacting to maybe where the opposition is or where the opposition has hit or thrown or kicked a ball.

So that's why in sport, we need to constantly change directions.

The Illinois agility run test is a fitness test that measures agility.

What is a protocol? So the protocol is something of how you do something, how you complete it.

So if we are looking for the protocol of the Illinois Agility run test, we are looking at what we need to do in order to set up and complete the Illinois agility test properly.

So what we would need to do, first of all, is we'd need to warm up properly.

And this is important with any fitness test because it ensures that A, we don't get injured, but also it means that we can perform at the best of our ability if we're warm and ready to participate.

We start by lying down, face down at the start cone, the partner would call "On your marks, get, set, go," and would start the stopwatch.

When you hear the word "go," you would jump up and complete the set course by running in and out of the cones as fast as possible.

Your partner would stop the stopwatch as you would run through the finishing cones.

This test could be more reliable if you use timing gates instead of a partner as it would time you when you started running through the cones, completed the Illinois agility run test, and then it would stop as you ran through the finishing cones.

It would be slightly more accurate than maybe someone pressing a stopwatch where human error could occur.

Okay, let's have a go to check.

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

That's false.

Can you tell me why? Yeah, a 400 metre runner would not need to have good agility as they do not change direction or stop until the race is over.

They just run in the same direction.

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

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

I would like you to first of all define agility.

For the second part of the task, I'd like you to identify two sports that would require agility and give an example for each sport.

For the third part of your task, I'd like you to describe the protocol of a fitness test that measures agility, and you may wish to include a diagram of the fitness test to help you.

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

So for the first part of the task, you were asked to define agility, and I'm hoping you've remembered from the keywords that agility is the ability to control the movement of the whole body and change position quickly.

Well done if you remembered our keyword.

For the second part of the task, you were asked to identify two sports that would require agility and give an example of each, for that sport.

You may have said, I've used, football and tennis would both need agility.

Football would need agility to change direction at speed to react to the intercept, loss of possession or a header, and a tennis player would need agility to change direction at speed in reaction to where the opponent has hit the ball.

You may have picked another example, but as long as you've explained why that example would need agility, then you would've answered this correctly.

For the third part of the task, you were asked to describe the protocol of a fitness test that measures agility and to include a diagram of the fitness test to help you.

So you should have described the Illinois agility run test, and the protocol for this is to warm up thoroughly.

You start by lying face down at the start cone, your partner would call "On your marks, get set, go" and start the stopwatch.

When you hear the word "go," you would jump up and complete the Illinois agility run course and your partner would press stop as you ran through the finishing cones, and you may have drawn a diagram similar to the one that's on the video.

Well done if you got that right.

Okay.

Let's move on to the second part of today's lesson.

We're going to look at flexibility and how we test flexibility.

So flexibility is a range of motion at your joints or the ability of your joints to move freely.

I wonder if you can think of any joints that you've learnt already in your GCSE PE lessons.

Andeep has asked us, "What type of sports require flexibility the most?" So a gymnast would require good flexibility, particularly to perform certain skills required in gymnastics.

In this example here, we've got a gymnast doing a split, a forward split jump, and she would obviously need lots of flexibility in her hips to be able to perform that movement.

The hurdler would also require good flexibility at the hips.

By having good flexibility at the hips, it enables her to clear the hurdle without knocking it over, which means that she can keep her stride and is able to complete the race effectively and quickly by having that better flexibility in her hip.

Let's have a go at a check.

In which example is flexibility most needed? Is it A: a footballer scoring a goal accurately? Is it B: a footballer sprinting to the ball? Is it C: a footballer reaching their arms back behind their head to allow them to complete a throw in to throw the ball further? Or is it D: a footballer holding their position on the ball so another player does not push them off? I am hoping that you said it was C, a footballer reaching their arms behind their head to allow them to throw the ball further.

That would be the example that would need most flexibility, whereas scoring a goal accurately could be coordination.

A footballer sprinting to the ball would be speed, and a footballer holding their position on the ball so another player doesn't push them off would probably be muscular strength.

So well done if you put C for that answer.

So the sit and reach test is a fitness test that measures flexibility.

And a protocol for the sit and reach test include that you must warm up thoroughly to avoid being injured and to perform at your best.

You would remove your shoes and sit with your heels against a specialist box with flat knees.

If you are working with a partner here, it's really important that you ensure that your partner doesn't accidentally bend their knees up or raise their knees.

They must have flat knees against the floor.

You would reach forward and gradually push a ruler along the top of the box, holding the stretch for two seconds.

It's important here that we don't bounce because that's not an accurate reading.

So you would just hold the stretch as far forward as you can for two seconds.

You could repeat this for three times and pick your best score.

Okay, let's have a go at a question.

True or false? A hurdler would require good flexibility.

Yeah, that's true.

Can you tell me why? Yeah, 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.

So well done if you mentioned that.

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

Aisha and Sofia are discussing athletes that require good flexibility.

Aisha says that "Flexibility is only needed by dancers and gymnasts," whereas Sofia says, "Flexibility is needed by a range of different athletes, including games players, gymnasts, and swimmers." Who is correct? You need to justify your answer.

Remember when we justify an answer, we have to give reasons why we're saying that answer.

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

Okay, so you were asked to say who was correct and you were asked to justify your answer.

So give reasons why you've said what you've said.

So you may have written something along these lines: Sofia is correct because despite Aisha correctly identifying that gymnasts and dancers do require flexibility, it is also needed by a large range of athletes.

For example, a netball player will need flexibility at the shoulder to enable a greater reach, which will increase the likelihood of them making an interception and gaining possession of the ball.

I really like that this answer has given another example to support what they've said because they've said that Sofia is correct and they've given an example to support what they've said.

They've justified their answer.

So well done if you've done something along those lines.

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

We're going to look at power and how we test power.

So power is the ability to undertake strength performances quickly, and we can remember power by remembering the equation Power = strength X speed.

Now, Laura has asked us if we can think of any athletes that may benefit from having good power.

So, many sports require power to support performance, and here are just a few: So a high jumper would need good power in order to be able to jump higher to clear the bar.

The more power they have, the more successful they will be at the high jump and be able to jump higher and beat their opponents.

A basketballer would need incredible power, particularly when jumping for a rebound because the more power they have, the higher they can go and the more likelihood it is that they would get that rebound.

And a sprinter would require incredible power, especially at the start of a race when they're pushing off from the starting blocks.

By having a explosive power at the start of their race will mean that they will have a faster start and therefore may be able to gain advantage on their opponents.

Okay, let's have a go at a check.

Can you identify the correct equation for power? Is it A: power = strength X speed? Is it B: power = speed X balance? Is it C: power = strength X flexibility? Or is it D: power = flexibility X balance? That's right, it's A: power = strength X speed.

Well done if you remembered that equation correctly.

Okay, so the test that measures power is a vertical jump test, and let's look at how the vertical jump test is conducted.

So the protocol for the vertical jump test is that you warm up thoroughly.

Like with any fitness test, we need to make sure we don't get injured when we are trying to perform the fitness test, but also we want to perform at our best.

So warming up will help that.

We would stand with our dominant side against the wall and we would reach up as high as possible and record this mark.

We would then jump as high as we can and retouch the wall to mark the wall with chalk perhaps.

And we would then measure the distance between our first mark and our second mark.

So as we can see on this diagram, she gets her hand measured as she reaches up high, and then she jumps as high as she can, and the distance that will be measured will be from the first mark of her reach to where she can reach when she jumps.

And that is how you work out your data for the vertical jump test.

Okay, let's have a go at a check.

Identify which fitness test measures power.

Is it the hand grip dynamometer test? Is it the 30 metre sprint test? Is it the vertical jump test? Or is it the Harvard step test? A: hand grip dynamometer test, B: 30 metre sprint test, or C: vertical jump test, D: Harvard step test.

That's right, it's the vertical jump test because we know that the hand grip dynamometer test measures strength, the 30 metres print test measures speed, and the Harvard step test measures cardiovascular endurance.

So vertical jump test measures power.

Well done if you got that right.

So for your final task, I would like you to complete the table, identifying the component of fitness, a definition for each of those components of fitness, a sporting example, and a fitness test that measures that component of fitness.

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

Okay, so you were asked to complete the table.

So for the first row, you might have identified power as a component of fitness, and the definition of power is the ability to undertake strength performances quickly.

A sporting example could be a hockey player doing explosive movements like rapid sprints or hard shots, and the fitness test used to measure power is a vertical jump test.

Well done if you remembered that for power.

Flexibility was the second row, and you might have remembered the definition for flexibility is a range of motion of your joints or the ability of your joints to move freely.

An example of this I had already written for you is a gymnast doing the splits, and the fitness test used to measure flexibility is a sit and reach test.

Agility is our final component of fitness, and the definition for agility is the ability to control the movement of the whole body and change position quickly.

An example of this could be dodging an opponent in basketball, and the Illinois agility test measures agility.

Well done if you remembered all this information from today's lesson.

That leaves us just enough time to summarise today's lesson.

So power is the ability to undertake strength performances quickly.

It is required by a long jumper to explode off the board and jump a long way.

A fitness test used to measure power is a vertical jump test.

Flexibility is a range of motion of your joints or the ability of your joints to move freely.

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

The sit and reach test measures flexibility.

Agility is the ability to control the movement of the whole body and change position quickly.

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

A fitness test used to measure agility is the Illinois agility run test.

Well done today.

You've learned three more components of fitness: agility, flexibility, and power.

I'll look forward to seeing you again soon.