Jake Brock
Kinesiology
Professor Sazama
December 10, 2012
Final Reflection Paper
Kinesiology may mean something different to everyone. However the definition of
kinesiology is the study of physical activity through performance, scholarly analysis, and
professional practice. To me this means that you learn to understand how the body works during
sports or physical activity in general. Also I feel this helps people in all kinds of jobs. However
it is most specifically to the people working in this field. I feel that to be a professional in this
field it means that you not only love sports but physical activity in general. Without loving it
there is no way you could go to work every day since it is such a big part of your work. It also
means that you have developed an understanding of the how and why things happen to the body
during physical activity. To be a professional in this field you must also understand the terms
motor learning, motor development, sport and exercise psychology, motivation, biomechanics,
physiology, and physical activity, fitness, and health. Knowing these will help aid you in your
profession.
Motor learning is when you learn to something and do it so often that it becomes
automatic for you. For example when driving a car on a familiar route, you may not even think
about the drive while driving you have already learned how to drive a car and do not think about
how to while driving. The route is also so familiar that you do not even have to think about
where to turn. Therefore you have undergone motor learning. It is important to learn and
understand this information because in this field you will have to more than likely be involved in
some kind of learning. Whether you are a coaching and teaching kids how to play, or you are a
physical education teacher and have to teach kids how to do things in class. You will at first
work with the fundamentals and eventually the kids will show motor learning and it will become
second nature for them. This is when you can start teaching more advanced things. This will aid
me in my profession because I will be able to understand that this is a solid technique to get to
teaching kids the more advanced stuff by having them motor learn the basics first.
Motor development is how your body ages in relation to physical activity. It is important
to learn and understand this information because in this field you will often times need to take
into account that fact that peoples bodies are developing and changing. For example if you are
coaching kids during adolescence their bodies are all at different stages and this needs to be
taken into account. The kids are still growing and their learning will improve during
adolescence. For the kids who have not yet gone through adolescence you need to understand
that they may not be able to use motor learning as well. This knowledge will aid me in my
profession because if I end up working with kids I will not get mad at a kid who has not gone
through adolescence yet simply because I feel he is not learning quickly enough. I will realize
all kids grow at their own rate. I will also realize that development is age related not age
dependent.
Sport and exercise psychology involves the study of human thought, emotion, and
behavior in physical activity. It is important to learn and understand this information because in
this field you will have to deal with people who may be thinking all different things. The better
you can understand their thoughts and emotions the better you can help them achieve their goal.
For example as a coach I may try to find psychological tricks that could help create team
chemistry on my team. I would also want to know my players emotions because all players are
different and I will need to know how each player learns best to get the most out of each
individual player. This knowledge will aid me because I can now coach each kid slightly
different based on how I perceive they learn best. Overall this will help the team by each player
playing at their most potential.
Motivation is a complex set of internal and external forces that influence
individuals to behave in certain ways. It is important for me to understand this concept because
like in any job there is always a need to motivate in this field. For example in coaching you will
need to know how to motivate your team not only to perform well in games but to practice well
so that they have the opportunity to perform well later. This knowledge will aid me going into
my profession because I will be able to motivate players to play to the best of their ability and if I
later become an athletic director I can motivate the coaches under me so that they coach at the
best of their ability.
In the field of physical activity biomechanics is the study of how the principles of
physics and engineering affect human movement and the structure and function of the human
body. It is important for me to understand biomechanics in this field because there is so much
movement involved in this field. For example as a coach with all the movement involved in a
sport I will be able to better understand how the movement of the players works and what they
can do to better their movement and even prevent injury. This will aid me in my profession
because when coaching you can teach the players the right movements that will get the most out
of their performance from a physics standpoint.
Physiology of physical activity is the study of the effects of physical activity on
the body and also how the body responds and adapts to physical activity. This is important to
know in this field because as a professional you need to know what the activity is doing to the
athlete’s body. This will aid me in my profession because if I become a coach I will be able to
know what all the physical activity is doing to my players. This will allow me to be able to
know how much physical activity is too much to exert on my players and how much they can
handle without hurting the body. If I become an athletic director I will also be able to monitor
how much the coaches are making their players do and I will know where to draw the line
because I will know if it is too much for the body to handle or not.
Physical activity is movement that is voluntary, intentional, and to achieve a goal.
Physical fitness is a capacity developed through exercise to help someone perform daily
activities, engage in an active leisure life, and have enough energy to use if needed in case of an
emergency. And physical health is how much a risk you have for a hypokinetic disease. All
three of these are important for a professional in this field because they stress the importance of
living a physical lifestyle. All the jobs in this field involve physical activity and with the
knowledge of these terms these professionals can help people get to a good physical state to
better their lives. This knowledge will aid me in my future because if I become a coach I will
not only make the players be physically active during the sport but also I will stress to them how
important it is to continue being physically active when they grow older. This will lower their
risk of disease and overall let them live a better more healthy life.
Overall to me kinesiology means to learn how the body works during physical
activity or sport competition. This is shown often in many of the kinesiology terms including
motor learning, motor development, sport and exercise psychology, motivation, biomechanics,
physiology, physical activity, fitness, and health. All of these terms and kinesiology in general is
mainly based around physical activity and sports. This is why I feel it is so important that a
professional in this field loves sports and physical activity. Not only do you have to love sports
and physical activity but it will also be highly beneficial to understand the above listed terms as
well to make you better at what you do in any part of the field of kinesiology.