Changes in Badminton Game Play across Developmental Skill Levels among High School Students.

AbstractThe study examined changes in badminton game play across developmental skill levels among high school students in a physical education setting. Videotapes of badminton game play of 80 students (40 boys and 40 girls) in the four developmental skill levels (each skill level had 10 boys and 10 girls) were randomly selected from a database associated with the South Carolina Physical Education Assessment Program. An observational instrument was developed to code and compare components or categories of badminton skill and tactics used among participants across the four developmental skill levels. Descriptive statistics (mean, SD, and percentage) of occurrence in skill/tactic components and sub-components were calculated for each skill level and compared among the four skill levels. The results revealed clear stages or changes in student badminton performance across different developmental skill levels. The results also indicated that, while students' performance progress were observed when the skill level became higher, students used a large portion of immature serves and strokes across all the skill levels, and the rates of using standard serves and strokes, forceful stroke, and return to home base were low. Performing immature forms of sports skill may be a widely existing but ignored phenomenon in the physical education setting and needs more investigation.Key words: motor competence, performance, strokes, changesSports and games have historically been an important part of physical education curricula, especially at secondary levels . Helping students develop motor competence has become a primary goal of physical education programs (National Association for Sport and Physical Education, 2004). The significance and implication of motor skill acquisition is far beyond the scope of discipline mastery and lies heavily on the potential to facilitate children's lifespan physical activity participation (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001). Motor skill level is identified as an enabling factor of youth physical activity participation (WeIk, 1999), and youth who are skilled are considered to be more likely to get involved in physical activity as opposed to those with poor motor skills (Okely, Booth, & Chey, 2004; Okely, Booth, & Patterson, 2001). Conversely, those with poor motor performance are more likely to be excluded from games, resulting in a vicious cycle of decreasing physical activity participation (Bluechardt, Wiener, & Shephard, 1995). If developing motor competence is important to levels of physical activity, it is critical for physical educators to understand how to help students develop motor skills and how sports and games should be taught.Researchers in motor development and motor learning have used different models, such as the stage model and the expertise model, to study the development of motor skills (Thomas, Thomas, & Gallagher, 1993). For example, by applying stage theory, researchers in motor development have extensively studied developmental sequences for fundamental skills such as throwing (Roberten, 1977, 1978), hopping (Halverson & Williams, 1985), and catching (Strohmeyer, Williams, & Schaub-George, 1991). According to Barrett, Williams, McLester, and Ljungkvist (1997), developmental sequences are defined as "descriptions of the series of changes in motor skills (i.e., developmental levels or steps) from their initial attempts to their most advanced performance" (p. 469). One way to study developmental sequences of motor skills is the component approach proposed by Roberton (1982) in which steps or levels of the individual components of the body are identified.A limited number of studies have examined developmental sequences for sport specific skills. While studying developmental sequences for the overhead tennis serve, Messick (1991) examined six body component actions of the serve. …