COORDINATION SKILLS: CLASSIFICATION, EXAMPLE (PHYSICAL EDUCATION) - ARTE - 2025

The coordinative abilities are those that allow you to develop individual movements accurately and efficiently. In its broadest sense, they consist of the action of coordinating a set of exercises to adequately perform a motor task.

They are mainly related to the orderly practice of movements to achieve an objective, they are based on perceptions and / or actions, which are applied to the process of regulation and direction of movement.

These types of capabilities are recognized as essential for athletes to be able to exercise certain activities more or less adequately within their disciplines.

Specifically, coordinative physical capacities have to do with any execution of a motor action that requires accuracy. In close combination with other qualities, they give any athlete the essential conditions to achieve high performance.

It is important to note that physical capacities must be worked on from childhood and adolescence, in the manner of technical training, in order to achieve adequate motor development.

For a long time, sports coaches paid more attention to sports practice and conditional abilities (strength, endurance, and speed).

Over the years and in the face of an increasingly competitive environment, they broadened their horizons towards other capacities deeply related to the nervous system.

These capacities linked to the nervous system are known as coordinative, which allow the athlete to perform movements with more precision, economy and efficiency.

Classification of coordinative physical capacities

The most widely accepted classification comprises seven coordinative physical abilities that are fundamental for all types of sports, but with different importance.

These appear as essential elements of sports activities, although there are always some that predominate over the others depending on the sport or discipline that is practiced.

These capacities are differentiation, coupling or synchronization, rhythm, balance, readjustment or change, orientation and reaction.

1 - Ability to differentiate

It is the ability to achieve very fine coordination through partial stages of movement.

In other words, it is the ability to coordinate various movements of different parts of the body, with the aim of achieving great precision and economy in the total movement.

The level of expression of this ability makes it easier for the athlete to have a proper ordering of their partial movements with precise timing and a good perception of their own body.

In this way, it can achieve great accuracy, speed and economy in the execution of the movement.

This ability is present in combat sports, endurance sports, sports with constant motion sequences and in game-sports, which require high precision in varied situations.

2 - Capability of coupling or synchronization

It is the ability to effectively coordinate partial body movements with each other and in relation to the total movement that is performed, to unite mechanized motor skills.

In some sports, synchronization is essential to execute efficient and harmonious movements with all parts of the body.

In other sports, timing must be considered alongside other actions that require the manipulation of implements, such as game elements or weapons.

Gymnastics and sports that combine travel with skills such as spinning, running, jumping or throwing need timing.

3 - Rhythmic capacity or rhythm

It is the ability to produce, through movement, an external or internal rhythm. This comprises the characteristic dynamic changes in a sequence of movements to be carried out during motor performance.

Mainly it is the ability to receive a given rhythm and adapt it correctly to the execution of the movement.

This ability is certainly typical of sports that have musical accompaniment, but it is no less important for the correct learning of skills in sports that require order of movement within a given time and space.

4 - Balance ability

It is the ability of the body to maintain or regain an optimal position, always attending to a center of gravity. It can take place during the execution of actions that require static balance or dynamic balance.

This ability varies greatly depending on the discipline, but can be seen in sports such as cycling, skiing, combat sports, mainly judo and wrestling.

Balance is a fundamental condition for the execution of any type of movement.

5 - Capacity for readaptation or change

It is the ability to vary a programmed bodily action, based on the perception of changes during its development. It is the possibility of adapting to new situations that arise during physical activity.

Rehabilitation is closely related to sports such as football, where the player constantly analyzes the situation of his teammates and rivals, in addition to his own.

The exact perception of changes in situation and the correct anticipation of the appropriate type of rehabilitation are fundamental aspects of this capacity.

6 - Orientation ability

It is the ability to determine the position and movements of the body in space and time, in relation to a specific field of action (field of play) or to a moving object (ball, competitor or partner).

This capacity is especially important, both for technical sports and for combat sports and for game sports, since the athlete must change their position in space consecutively and in various ways. It is a fundamental ability for team or team sports.

7 - Reaction capacity

It is the ability to quickly initiate and properly perform motor actions in a short space of time, in response to a signal.

The reaction must occur at a rate necessary for action, therefore most of the time the fastest reaction can also be the best.

The signals that can be used are acoustic or optical. For example, the shot that marks the start of the competition or movement actions such as taking a penalty kick are some signals to which an athlete must react quickly.

The ability to react is especially important in all combat sports and game sports.

Example of coordinative physical abilities

The tennis player is a clear example of an athlete who must maintain a balance between conditional and coordinative physical capacities.

If that tennis player trains strength and endurance in the gym, he could possibly hit the ball at high speed, as well as go through a long game without problems.

However, as much as you are able to hit the ball with great force, if you do not have the coordinative ability to point it to the point zone, it is of no use. This timing of movements is vital to beating the opponent.

The same would happen when it comes to maintaining the level throughout the match. Although the tennis player has a lot of physical resistance worked on for months, this can be affected if he does not have the coordinative ability to adapt to the circumstances of the encounter.

Another example would be an NBA player. Even if he has a lot of strength and endurance to play several games a week, then he would be unable to maintain the level of competition of a zumba dancer or a cyclist. Their coordinative capacities are not developed to be able to compete.

Difference with conditional capabilities

Physical capacities can be coordinative, but also conditional. The former are linked to the nervous system, while the latter to the physical. Some of the conditional abilities are flexibility, strength, endurance, or speed.

That is, they are functional capacities in which a motor action is developed consciously.

In turn, while the conditional capacities are faculties of the physical condition of a person based on their organic base, the coordinative ones refer to those capacities to execute various movements in a harmonious way.

References

1. ARELLANO, MJ (2012). RELATIONSHIP OF THE COORDINATIVE CAPABILITIES, RHYTHM, COUPLING, REACTION, BALANCE AND ORIENTATION, IN THE EXECUTION OF THE DIFFERENT PHASES OF THE FREE STYLE TURN IN THE SPORTS OF SWIMMING A THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE. SANTIAGO DE CALI: UNIVERSITY OF THE VALLEY.
2. Cabral, NG (2005). EF Sports. Obtained from Coordination skills in students: efdeportes.com
3. Porto, JP (2016). of. Obtained from Definition of Coordinative Capabilities: definicion.de
4. (June 12, 2013). Royal Spanish tennis federation. Obtained from Coordinative Qualities: fedecoltenis.com
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