Effects of Light and Heavy Equipment on Acquisition of Sports-Type Skills by Young Children

Abstract

This study was made to test certain hypotheses concerning proprioceptive facilitation by observing the relative effects of the use of lightweight and heavyweight equipment on the acquisition and retention of selected skills by second and third grade children. The 96 7-and 8-year-old children were equaled into four groups on the basis of summed scores derived from a five-item physical performance test battery. Each group consisted of 12 boys and 12 girls, ande were two equated groups in each grade level. One group at each grade level was randomly assigned to use lightweight plastic equipment, while the other grade group used the standard-type equipment classified as heavyweight equipment. Each lightweight group and each heavyweight group were taught the four sports-type skills and tested in the performance of the skill 2 days after the instructional lesson and retested 9 months later. It was concluded that the learning of sports-type skills by young children of limited strength may be facilitated by the use of lighter-weight equipment. To some extent, this relationship among the factors of equipment weight, strength, and the acquisition of skill would seem to be in accord with the “flower spray ending feedback” theory of proprioceptive facilitation.