Co-ordination of movement plays a key role in human development and is an active area in sport and health sciences. This book looks in detail at how children develop basic skills, such as walking and reaching for objects, and more complex skills, such as throwing and catching a ball accurately or riding a bicycle.

Development of Movement Co-ordination in Children is informed by five major theoretical perspectives - neural maturation, information-processing, direct perception, dynamic systems and constraint theory - and these theories are explained in an introductory chapter.

The international contributions are then brought together under the headings of ergonomics, health sciences and sport. Focusing on practical applications, individual chapters cover many different aspects of movement behaviour and development, ranging from children's overestimation of their physical abilities and the links to injury proneness to the co-ordination of kicking techniques. Both normal and abnormal development is considered.

Development of Movement Co-ordination in Children will be of considerable interest to students, teachers and professionals in the fields of sport science, kinesiology, physical education, ergonomics and developmental psychology.

This book offers an ecological conceptualisation of physical literacy. Re-embracing our ancestry as hunter gatherers we gain a new appreciation and understanding of the importance of play, not only in terms of how children learn, but also in showing us as educators how we can lay the foundations for lifelong physical activity. The concept of physical literacy has been recognised and understood throughout history by different communities across the globe. Today, as governments grapple with the multiple challenges of urban life in the 21st century, we can learn from our forebears how to put play at the centre of children's learning in order to build a more enduring physically active society. This book examines contemporary pedagogical approaches, such as constraints-led teaching, nonlinear pedagogy and the athletic skills model, which are underpinned by the theoretical framework of Ecological Dynamics. It is suggested that through careful design, these models, aimed at children, as well as young athletes, can (i) encourage play and facilitate physical activity and motor learning in children of different ages, providing them with the foundational skills needed for leading active lives; and (ii), develop young athletes in elite sports programmes in an ethical, enriching and supportive manner. Through this text, scientists, academics and practitioners in the sub-disciplines of motor learning and motor development, physical education, sports pedagogy and physical activity and exercise domains will better understand how to design programmes that encourage play and thereby develop the movement skills, self-regulating capacities, motivation and proficiency of people, so that they can move skilfully, effectively and efficiently while negotiating changes throughout the human lifespan.

This book offers an ecological conceptualisation of physical literacy. Re-embracing our ancestry as hunter gatherers we gain a new appreciation and understanding of the importance of play, not only in terms of how children learn, but also in showing us as educators how we can lay the foundations for lifelong physical activity. The concept of physical literacy has been recognised and understood throughout history by different communities across the globe. Today, as governments grapple with the multiple challenges of urban life in the 21st century, we can learn from our forebears how to put play at the centre of children's learning in order to build a more enduring physically active society. This book examines contemporary pedagogical approaches, such as constraints-led teaching, nonlinear pedagogy and the athletic skills model, which are underpinned by the theoretical framework of Ecological Dynamics. It is suggested that through careful design, these models, aimed at children, as well as young athletes, can (i) encourage play and facilitate physical activity and motor learning in children of different ages, providing them with the foundational skills needed for leading active lives; and (ii), develop young athletes in elite sports programmes in an ethical, enriching and supportive manner. Through this text, scientists, academics and practitioners in the sub-disciplines of motor learning and motor development, physical education, sports pedagogy and physical activity and exercise domains will better understand how to design programmes that encourage play and thereby develop the movement skills, self-regulating capacities, motivation and proficiency of people, so that they can move skilfully, effectively and efficiently while negotiating changes throughout the human lifespan.

This important new book is the first text on motor learning and control to focus exclusively on the development of movement coordination in children. It is also the first book to bring together in one volume both cognitive and ecological-psychological approaches to the subject. Based on cutting-edge theory and research, the book explores how children develop coordination within three real-world settings:
* everyday behaviour, including studies on spoon use, handwriting and posture
* movement disorder, including studies of perceptual motor behaviour of children with Down's Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy
* sporting activity, including studies of catching and throwing behaviour.
The book therefore makes a unique contribution to our understanding of the development of children. It will be essential reading for all those with a particular interest in movement coordination within the fields of sport science, health science and ergonomics, as well as all psychologists, developmentalists, educators and clinicians working with children.

Time-to-contact is the visual information that observers use in fundamental tasks such as landing an airplane or hitting a ball. Time-to-contact has been a hot topic in perception and action for many years and although many articles have been published on this topic, a comprehensive overview or assessment of the theory does not yet exist. This book fills an important gap and will have appeal to the perception and action community. The book is divided into four sections. Section one covers the foundation of time-to-contact, Section two covers different behavioral approaches to time-to-contact estimation, Section three focuses on time-to-contact as perception and strategy, and Section four covers time-to-contact and action regulation.