Fundamental Movement and Coordination Drills
This domain tests your ability to teach fundamental movement skills (FMS) and coordination as the foundation for later sport-specific and strength work.
Core rules
- FMS fall into three families: locomotor (run, hop, skip, jump, gallop), stability (balance, landing, rotation, bracing), and manipulative (throw, catch, kick, strike, dribble).
- Coordination is built through variety, not repetition of one drill. Change speed, direction, base of support, and implement.
- Progress along predictable gradients: stable to unstable, slow to fast, simple to complex, bodyweight to light load, closed skill to open skill.
- Use external-focus cues ("push the floor away") and short demonstrations, one cue at a time.
- Agility, balance, coordination, and speed - the "ABCs" - are best trained in short 10–15 minute blocks while the child is fresh.
Worked example
Teaching a squat to a 9-year-old: begin with a sit-to-stand from a bench to pattern the hip hinge, then a bodyweight squat to a target, then a goblet squat with a light medicine ball. Add a partner mirror drill and a "freeze" landing game to train control. Only when the child keeps knees tracking over toes and a neutral spine do you add load.
Traps
Skipping FMS to "get to the workout"; drilling one skill until boredom; cueing several corrections at once; using unstable surfaces before basic stability is present; and treating coordination errors as discipline problems.