Тоmasz Niźnikowski¹
Jerzy Sadowski^1
1Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw
Faculty of Physical Education and Health in Biała Podlaska, Poland

Keywords: female gymnasts, feedback, kinematic structure, sports technique, exercise phases, focal elements.

Introduction. The current state of knowledge on learning and improving motor tasks, especially in disciplines with complex sports technique  does not fully meet the needs of elite athletes [1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 14]. The complexity of performing single exercises and whole gymnastic routines has increased significantly in recent years, especially in artistic gymnastics. Many authors [1, 3, 5, 8, 11, 12, 14] point out the need for deep knowledge of technology fundamentals as well as modeling its individual forms and acquisition of skills necessary for efficient and stable participation in competitions. This necessitates constant transforming and improving exercise technique, designing individual elements and creating new variants of their execution. According to experts [1, 2, 6, 10, 12, 14], specific elements of performed exercises often go unnoticed during training sessions, whereas they are frequently the basis for performing exercises and routines with a greater degree of complexity. Recommendations are offered for a detailed study of the phase structure of gymnastic exercises and identification of their key elements [2, 5, 9, 10, 13]. This approach is confirmed by the results of the study by Gervaisa, Dunn [8]. The authors came to the conclusion that gymnasts, "feeling the limits of movement", achieved e.g. better results while performing a double salto backward dismount from parallel bars. King, Yeadon [9] also claim that while performing salto forward, it is more important to assume a proper body position (key element) precisely in time than to use maximum force when pushing off. The foregoing indicates the complexity of the issue of learning gymnastic routines [1, 2, 5, 6, 11, 12, 14]. It has been established that learning gymnastic exercises with a complex coordination structure of movements should be carried out with an emphasis on biomechanical and didactic assessment of exercise phases (key elements) followed by subsequent development of learning and mastering technologies. Corrective actions of the coach being especially effective when individualized in relation to gymnasts may be considered as the most common means of optimization of motor learning in training settings. It is no less important that the volume of corrective guidance corresponds to the complexity of the motor task. The efficacy of motor learning is much higher when gymnasts receive immediate information about the quality of task execution. In sports training settings, corrective guidance is provided in a number of methodological procedures, among which verbal instruction occupies a central position. Determination of the content, form and speed of verbal information reception by gymnasts still remains the actual problem in learning and mastering complex gymnastic exercises [10]. Many authors have shown that limiting the amount of information to the quality of key element execution is more effective in the process of learning than providing a large amount of information. Too much information hampers the athlete from using intrinsic sources of information about the quality of the performed motor task. There is a scarcity of empirical data on the efficiency of various types of verbal guidance in learning and mastering gymnastic routines.

Objective of the research was to study the effects of two different types of verbal guidance in the process of learning a complex gymnastic routine, i.e. round-off – double salto backward tucked during beam dismount.

Tasks. 1. To measure biomechanical indices of the key elements of sports technique of round-off – double salto backward tucked during beam dismount.  

2. To study the influence of two different types of verbal guidance in the process of learning round-off – double salto backward tucked during beam dismount.

Меthods of study. Skilled and highly skilled female gymnasts took part in the study. Their average indices of height, body mass and age (х ± δ) were as follows: 157.5 ± 2.85 сm; 51 ± 2.25kg; 20 ± 2.35 years, respectively. They were randomly divided into experimental (E) (n = 8) and control (C) (n = 8) groups. Prior to the study, the differences between groups were insignificant (р> 0.05).

1. Performance of round-off – double salto backward tucked during beam dismount was video recorded with two digital video cameras JVS 6R-DVL 9800 NTSC (240 frames per second, 3% measurement error) in order to determine the key elements.  The APAS 2000 computer program (Ariel Dynamics Inc.) was used to analyze joint angles of the gymnasts during round-off – double salto backward tucked during beam dismount with the task to perform steady landing, to determine velocities and accelerations of the ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, elbow and wrist joints as well as the GCM of the body, to analyze the supported and airborne body postures and positions and the duration of individual phases of round-off – double salto backward tucked during beam dismount.

2. The efficiency of using two types of verbal guidance was determined experimentally. After completing the task, subjects from group E received information about errors committed in key elements and how to correct them in a subsequent attempt. Other errors were ignored. Participants from group C received information about all committed errors in each attempt and how to correct them (100% feedback). The approach used in group C is typical under conditions of gymnastic training sessions. Each of the two options was assessed on the basis of three tests before and immediately after the training process, as well as 6 days after its completion. Three highly competent gymnastics judges (n = 3) evaluated technical fitness of the gymnasts. Consistency of experts’ opinions was determined using concordance coefficient (r = 0.865). In the process of training, gymnasts made 240 attempts of round-off – double salto backward tucked during beam dismount. The procedures were designed and followed according to the Declaration of Helsinki, and they were approved by the Research Ethics Committee at Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw.

The statistical analysis methods applied in the study, i.e. the normality of distribution and homogeneity of the deviation were verified with the Shapiro-Wilk test. Differences in the application of the two types of verbal guidance were determined with ANOVA. The probability level p <0.05 was used as critical. To reveal significant intergroup differences, the Fisher’s test was employed. Statistical analysis of the results was carried out using the STATISTICA computer software package (version 12.0).

Results of study. Learning efficiency was determined on the basis of an average score of three experts. Differences in the effects of learning and mastering the performance of round-off – double salto backward tucked during beam dismount (Fig. 1)  were revealed. Participants from group E received information only on those key elements in which they completed the task with technical errors (other errors were ignored within the acceptable range). Gymnasts from group C received information about all errors.

Figure 1. Group average scores of round-off – double salto backward tucked during beam dismount

Statistically significant differences were revealed between the average results for groups E and C (F(2, 28) = 12.530, p =0.00013) (Таble 1).

Таble 1. Significance of differences

It was noted that the differences in the average scores for motor task performance between both groups were statistically insignificant (p > 0.05) before the experiment. After the experiment, the differences between the groups in three tests were statistically significant (p<0.05) in favor of group E. This indicates that in the process of learning round-off – double salto backward tucked during beam dismount, highly skilled gymnasts require less information. Therefore, the coach and athletes should mainly focus on a proper execution of  key elements of round-off – double salto backward tucked during beam dismount, i.e. the preparatory phase, the launching posture, the main phase, the multiplication of body postures, and the final phase (landing) [5,6]. It was the experimental group (E) that received verbal information about  errors committed in key elements of sports technique only. Gymnasts from the control group (C) received verbal information on all errors in the performed task, which produced negative learning outcomes.

Conclusion. In the process of motor learning of a complex gymnastic routine, the impact of the coach’s remarks on the athlete may lead to both positive and negative effects. One of the factors that influences learning efficiency is the knowledge of performance or the knowledge of results. According to the guidance hypothesis, 100% feedback leads to an improvement in performance  immediately after completion of the learning process but it results in the deterioration of performance during the retention test, as opposed to those who received verbal guidance in a smaller volume [15]. The work of Niźnikowski, Sadowski [6] reveals fundamental biomechanical indices of the kinematic structure of round-off – double salto backward tucked during beam dismount and identifies the key elements in the exercise phases that serve the function of signaling postures, boundary body positions, which promote effective motor tasks, including motor connection or junction of exercise phases. In view of this, the objective of the work was to study the efficiency of learning this complex motor task with the utilization of two different types of verbal guidance. The first of them, used in the experimental group, was aimed at correcting errors committed by female gymnasts in the key elements of sports technique; the other type, which focused on correcting all technical errors, was used in the control group. A positive (significant) result was observed when the coach and gymnasts put an emphasis on the correction of technical errors in the key elements of the motor task. The results turned out to be better in the experimental group, in which the scope of verbal information was significantly limited compared to the control group. It seems that a large amount of information led to excessive irradiation of excitation and inhibition processes in the central nervous system, which reduced the quality of the formation of motor task kinematic structure. Our results confirm the guidance hypothesis [15]. In this regard, it is necessary to attract the attention of coaches, female athletes and specialists to the development of such training programs that allow accentuating performance stability of technique of key elements in the process of learning, since they are the foundation for qualitative fulfillment of an integral task. In the course of learning complex  motor tasks by highly skilled female gymnasts, one should avoid too detailed information, the extent of which may exceed the athlete's ability to process it, thus resulting in hampering the learning process.

Conclusions

1. One of the ways of optimizing technical preparation of those engaged in artistic gymnastics is to increase the efficiency of learning gymnastic routines at the expense of reducing the amount of verbal guidance regarding errors committed in the process of motor task learning.

2. Verbal information about errors in the key elements of sports technique conveyed to a gymnast by her coach contributes to a more effective solution of the motor task aimed at improving the kinematic structure of round-off – double salto backward tucked during beam dismount.  At the same time, the amount of verbal information provided by the coach about all the technical errors committed during exercise performance negatively affects the process of sports technique mastering, in particular the process of learning motor tasks.

References

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Corresponding author: tomasz.niznikowski@awf-bp.edu.pl

Abstract

Аbstract. Objective. To study the effects of two different types of verbal guidance in the process of learning a complex gymnastic routine known as  round-off – double salto backward tucked during beam dismount (RDSBT).

Маterial and methods. Skilled female artistic gymnasts (n = 16) participated in the study. Their average indices of height, body mass and age (х ± δ) were as follows: 157.5 ± 2.85 сm; 51 ± 2.25 kg; 20 ± 2.35 years, respectively. Based on biomechanical measurements, the key elements of sports technique of RDSBT were determined. A pedagogical experiment was carried out to assess the efficiency of learning and refining RDSBT using two types of verbal guidance. The subjects (n = 16) were randomly divided into experimental (E) (n = 8) and control (C) (n = 8) groups. In the process of learning, female athletes from the experimental group (E) received immediate verbal information about faults committed in the key elements of the mastered motor task, whereas those from the control group (C) obtained the same type of information about all the errors made during the performance of round-off – double salto backward tucked during beam dismount.

Results. Statistically significant differences were revealed between average results of groups E and C (F(2, 28) = 12.530, p < 0.05) in all the tests in favour of group E. Differences between average results of each group both before and after the experiment as well as in the retention test were statistically significant (p <0.05).

Conclusions. The obtained results demonstrate that a wealth of immediate verbal information conveyed by the coach about technical faults committed by female gymnasts negatively affects the process of motor task learning.  At the same time, verbal information passed on to the gymnast by the coach concerning errors in the key elements of sports technique (critical signals) contributes to a more efficient solution of the motor task. The limitation of corrective actions only to the key elements of the motor task, which are designed to trigger a sequence of motor tasks, produces significantly better learning outcomes in a complex task.