Appendices

A developing child’s body will grow and develop. This growth and development occur because of a combined interaction of:

• The internal body systems (eg, cardiorespiratory system, musculoskeletal system, and neuromuscular system)

• The external environmental systems (eg, amount of play area to explore, toys, other children to observe play)

• The tasks that are given to the child (those activities that motivate the child’s behavior)

If the child is given the opportunity (affordances) to participate in learning to manipulate a ball, and the child’s constraints work in favor of the child learning about foot and ball manipulation, then motor patterns will emerge in which the child learns to play and kick a ball.

When a child is developing in utero they will begin to show movement. This initial movement originates in the activation of specific cortical structures that cause movement of the developing fetus (primary variability). As the fetus develops sensory organs that interact with the brain, it begins to learn from these movements, which furthers the development of a feedback mechanism. As this feedback mechanism advances in the infant and child, they learn from the interaction of the body and its environment. This progressive learning evolves into more and more mature movement activities, with greater expression of variation in movements. This continued development of movement is an ongoing interaction of neural control, gene expression, and environmental influences that eventually lead to learning the skill of kicking a ball.

Children learn to move their body by performing tasks that build on previously learned tasks.

Learning to kick a ball is a specific skill that, when practiced, will progressively lead to refined coordination of the activity of kicking a ball. Practice is very important for this skill to be achieved at a proficient level. The motor memory advances as this skill is worked on. Initial kicking practice will result in immature kicking patterns. There will most likely be invariant features of the movement; however, as the skill improves, the parameters of the task, including the force and speed, will change, leading to an improved kicking pattern.