Fundamental Movement Skills
Fundamental movement skills (FMS) are key building blocks for athletic performance. Mastering these skills is crucial for agility, strength and injury prevention. Fundamental movement skills can be subdivided into four categories:
- Stability
- Locomotion
- Manipulation and Coordination
- Awareness.
1. Stability
Stability is a fundamental aspect of athletic performance and involves the ability to maintain balance and control during various movements. Ensuring stability is crucial not only for enhancing performance but also for reducing injury likelihood.
Effective stability training should encompass core stability, joint stability, and postural alignment. Core strength is vital for maintaining balance during dynamic movements, such as running or jumping. Joint stability helps reduce injury risk during activities that involve rapid changes in direction, such as cutting or pivoting. Additionally, maintaining proper postural alignment through the spine, pelvis, and limbs is essential for controlling movements effectively and achieving optimal performance.
Stability is crucial in the following rugby-specific skills and movements:
- Tackling
- Scrummaging
- Evading
- Turning
- Twisting
- Mauling
- Rucking.
2. Locomotion
Locomotion is the fundamental ability to move from one place to another and is a crucial component of athletic performance. Mastering the mechanics of key locomotion skills—such as running, jumping, and agility—is essential for both effective performance and injury prevention.
Proper mechanics for sprinting, acceleration, and deceleration are vital for efficient movement. In team sports, such as rugby, effective jumping and landing techniques are important not only for performance but also for reducing injury risk. Additionally, team sports often require quick changes of direction, including cuts and pivots, which must be executed efficiently in dynamic and chaotic situations. Mastery of these directional changes helps athletes perform optimally while minimizing the risk of injury.
Locomotion is crucial in the following rugby-specific skills and movements:
- Jogging
- Accelerating
- Sprinting
- Deceleration
- Changing Direction.
3. Manipulation and Coordination
Manipulation and coordination which enable the precise control of body movements are crucial for the successful performance of female athletes in sports such as rugby. Essential manipulation and coordination skills include hand-eye coordination, foot-eye coordination and body awareness.
Hand-eye coordination is a vital skill for athletes in sports such as rugby during activities such as catching and passing. Foot-eye coordination is vital during kicking activities during a game, whether that be during gameplay or while taking a penalty kick.
Manipulation and coordination are crucial in the following rugby-specific skills and movements:
- Kicking
- Tackling
- Passing
- Throwing
- Catching.
4. Awareness
Awareness is linked to manipulation and coordination and is the ability to understand and control how the body moves in space. The development of awareness in female athletes can enhance coordination, movement efficiency and injury prevention. The ability to be aware of where the body parts are in space is crucial for effective performance for female athletes.
Awareness is crucial in the following rugby-specific skills and movements:
- Tackling
- Kicking
- Passing
- Running
- Evading.
