Movement analysis, providing feedback & self reflection

Movement analysis & providing feedback

Movement analysis is the process of observing an athlete’s body in motion and being able to perceive and identify issues with the objective of providing corrective feedback to improve performance. When providing feedback it is easy to give a student too many points to focus on and even provide inaccurate feedback.

If you are unsure of what corrective feedback may be the most useful, and the student is performing the trick safely enough, have them attempt it again and re-analyse their movement. It can be very hard to analyse movement when throwing a pad as your attention is drawn to the accuracy of the pad throw – if there is a student with good mat throwing skills, use them to assist the student performing the trick so you can step back and analyse the movement better.

Feed students limited amounts of feedback at a time and give a part of their body and a section of the trick to focus on. For example, when teaching a front flip common feedback is to keep arms up and core engaged on the approach, throw the arms forward and drive hips up behind the body on take-off, and tuck during the flight phase.

Encouraging self-reflection

Self-reflection is crucial for improving the way that we learn and understand ourselves. When learning new tricks on a trampoline our bodies and minds are receiving a large amount of stimulus simultaneously, this is why it is important that we take breaks to give ourselves a chance to rest. Resting periods help us synthesize information and draw conclusions we otherwise would never have come to.

Learning techniques such as self-reflection can be hard to implement when working with young children, but if we encourage the use of them we can do our best to help all of our students become the best, self aware learners they can be. When giving demonstrations and providing feedback regularly take a pause to self-reflect with your student(s). Self-reflection in front of the class will encourage the students to do the same and over time, they will put the same techniques into practice automatically.

When students are waiting for a turn on the trampoline, encourage them to reflect on their previous attempts at a trick with a prompt question such as: How did that feel? Do you know what stopped you from performing the trick correctly? Why do you think you did not get enough rotation in your spin? Can you remember what tips I gave you earlier?

Students who are younger and less aware of themselves can be asked leading questions that suggest a more specific part of their movement to focus on such as: Was the rotation slow because you initiated the twist too early? Do you think you brought your knees up when you landed on your back? Where were your arms on take off?