| The purpose of this study was to investigate a staging sequence of the standing long jump. Kinematic, kinetic, and anthropometric data on thirty-three subjects (25 males and 8 females) between the ages of 4 and 7 years was collected. Variables included those parameters that were identified by Seefeldt et al. (1972) as differentiating between stages of development in their whole-body configuration model of the standing long jump. High-speed cinematography, force platforms, and various anthropometric instruments were used for data collection.;Data was reduced and analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance, univariate (ONE-WAY) analysis of variance, multidimensional scaling, and individual difference scaling. Multivariate and univariate statistics were used to determine differences between stages of motor skill proficiency in the standing long jump between all variables. Multidimensional scaling and individual difference scaling were used to investigate the validity of the staging sequence as a construct for the assessment and instruction of the motor skill.;The results indicated that the main observable variables that differentiate between the stages of motor ability were (1) position of the body at the moment of landing, (2) the distance jumped, (3) the resultant acceleration of the thighs, (4) the resultant acceleration of the trunk, (5) the resultant acceleration of the arms, (6) the resultant acceleration of the forearms, and (7) the resultant segmental force contributions of the forearms.;The results of the multidimensional scaling and individual difference scaling suggested that the set of variables identified by Seefeldt et al. (1972) did not produce a clear differentiation between stages, and the variable(s) that underlie the progression of an individual from one stage to another could not be identified using this set of variables. Therefore, a subset of five variables were selected for further interpretation based upon their ability to differentiate between stages as evidenced by the univariate tests. This subset included (1) position of the body at landing, (2) acceleration of the thighs, (3) acceleration of the trunk, (4) acceleration of the arms, and (5) acceleration of the forearms.;Using this subset of variables, the individual difference scaling procedure was repeated and revealed a linear pattern of stage membership. This pattern showed a progression from stage 1 to stage 4 and was complimented by a cluster analysis that showed excellent discrimination between stages. Age was found to correlate significantly with the subject's stimulus weights generated by the individual difference scaling. This lead to the conclusion that the progression from one stage to another is an age-related phenomenon. Multidimensional scaling was found to be a useful tool to investigate the construct of a developmental motor sequence. The implications of these results for teachers of the fundamental motor skill (standing long jump) were discussed. |
