Effects of Task Constraints on Throwing Patterns of Children

In this investigation, the throwing patterns variations of children were examined as the resultants of changing in task constraints. A total of 24 children (12 males and 12 females), aged 5 and 6 years old voluntarily participated in the study. The manipulation of task constrains was done via changes in target orientations (horizontal vs. vertical hoops) and ball sizes (6 cm vs. 12 cm diameters) and were considered as the main constraints. The observable throwing patterns of children were evaluated, and the kinematic changes of the components of their preferred throwing pattern were analyzed. Though, transitions from two- to one-hand throws and switching from underhand to overhand one-hand throws were observed in the first few trials (mostly in throwing the bigger balls), yet, the preferred pattern was found to be one-hand overhand throwing. The kinematic analysis revealed the existence of sensitivity of the backswing, forearm, and upper arm components of overhand one-hand throwing pattern toward the imposed task constrains. It was also found that most changes took place in the kinematic properties related to the forearm component. The findings represent some empirical evidences for dynamical systems theory to explain changes of movement patterns in motor development. We discussed the potential advantages using constraints for appropriate skill acquisition processes in physical education settings.