WEEK 1 Motion, balance and stability

Readings
Amezdroz pg 106-117 and 125- 130

Definition of biomechanics

Biomechanics is the sport science field that applies the laws of
mechanics and physics to human performance, in order to gain a
greater understanding of performance in athletic events
through modeling, simulation and measurement. Biomechanics has a
specific focus on the forces exerted by muscles and gravity on the
skeletal system.

Newton's 3 Laws of Motion
It is important to know what these three laws are and understand
how they are applied to practical situations.
Law of inertia:
A body continues in a state of rest or uniform velocity unless acted
upon by an external force.

PUSH or PULLS can alter a body (object) in the following ways
Cause a body to move (as seen in the previous slide)
Cause a body to accelerate
Cause a body to decelerate
Cause a body to change direction
Cause a body to change shape


What are the practical applications of these laws?
A football will stay on the penalty spot until kicked
A hockey ball will remain still until hit by the stick
A football will roll until slowed by friction or another
player
A hockey ball will not fall from the air without the
application of gravity


Law of acceleration:
When a force acts on an object, the motion experienced by the object
is proportional to the size of the force and in the direction in which it
is applied.

Force = Mass x Acceleration
F = ma
Force is measured in Newtons (N). 1N is the force required to give
acceleration of 1m/s to a mass of 1kg.

Acceleration is the rate at which velocity is increased by 2 m/s, the
acceleration is said to be 2m/s/s. The first per second refers to the
velocity, and the second per second refers to the unit of time in
which an additional amount of velocity is added on.

What are the practical applications of these laws?
If you kick a football hard, it will go a long way
If you kick a football softly it wont go very far
If you hit a hockey ball to the left, it will go left
If you hit a hockey ball to the right, it will go right


Law of action reaction:
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

What are the practical applications of these laws?
If a rugby player pushes to the left with their foot, they
swerve to the right.
A high jumper needs to push down on the ground to be able
to go up.
A football goalkeeper needs to push to the left with their feet
in order to dive to the right.

Activities:
1. What is Newtons third law? Give three examples?
2. Which if Newtons Laws do you think is most important in
performing freestyle. Justify you answer.
3. Give two examples of linear and curvilinear motion. Describe
how they are different to justify your answer.
4. Complete the following problems:
a. A soccer player kicks a soccer ball weighing 0.5kg with
an acceleration of 60m/s/s. What is the force of the kick?
b. A high jumper applies force of 1000N to the ground,
which produces an acceleration of 15m/s/s. What is the
mass of the high jumper?



1. Explain how an athletes base of support and line of gravity
affect their balance and stability
2. Discuss how a gymnasts centre of gravity may change during
a routine.
3. Using your understanding of balance and stability justify the
sloped design of the swimmers starting blocks (Hede, pg. 83)
4. What determines whether an object will float or not?
5. Why does a shot put sink when thrown in the pool when a
rubber ball floats?
6. How is centre of gravity important in swimming? What other
contributing forces are important and why?
7. Practical activities for COG and Centre of Bounancy will be
complete in lifesaving lesson




HOMEWORK
Complete exercises in Figure 7.22 on page 118.





WEEK 2 understanding forces
Understanding Force

Forces produce movement, we cannot see force but we are aware of
it because of the effects it produces. FORCE can therefore be
defined as a pushing/pulling or hitting/throwing action that is
applied to an object to start movement, stop movement or cause
changes in movement. Typical focus include gravity, friction,
buoyancy, air resistance and lift. (Amezdroz, 2010)

Biomechanics is the science concerned with understanding how
internal and external forces acting on the human body and the effects
produced by these forces.

Internal forces are created inside the body by the action of muscles
pulling on bones. Eternal forces are those acting outside the body
such as gravity and friction.

Summation of Force
When several joints are used in a skill, their sequence and timing are
important. This principle tells us when the joints should be used.
Movement should begin with the big muscle groups and move out
through the progressively smaller muscles, from big to small. This
pattern produces optimal forces and flowing, continuous movement.
The continuous, flowing movement produces a summation of
forces, forces adding together. The force generated by one part of
the body is built on by the force of subsequent joints. In the well
timed shot put, the hip action commences just as the leg extension
decelerates. The shoulder action commences as the hip rotation
decelerates and so on.
The release velocity of an implement depends on the speed of the
last part of the body at release. The correct sequence and timing
allow the athlete to attain maximal release velocity.


Momentum


- IAAF "Introduction to Coaching Theory"
http://www.coachr.org/biomechanics.htm