EXAMINATION OF MOVEMENT PATTERNS THAT REFLECT THE PROFICIENCY LEVEL IN STRADDLE VAULT FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN

The purpose of the present study was to examine movement patterns that reflect the proficiency of straddle vault in elementary school students and to clarify the differences in the movement of technique depending on gender, grade, and height of the vaulting box. The subjects were 453 children (220 boys, 233 girls) from the 3rd-6th grade. Their straddle vault movements were recorded from the left and front sides and scored by the observational evaluation criterion. Latent class analysis was used to extract the movement patterns of straddle vault. The probability of belonging to each movement pattern was tabulated by gender, grade, and height of the vaulting box. To investigate the characteristics of the movements for gender, grade, and height of the box, we performed a χ2 test and residual analysis. As a result of identifying the movement patterns by latent class analysis, it became clear that the straddle vault movements of elementary school children can be categorized into five groups: Failure vaulting, Arm dependent vaulting, Unstable landing vaulting, Stable vaulting, and Strong push-off vaulting. There was no difference between boys and girls in the appearance rate of the movement patterns (χ2=7.707, p>0.05). Although there was a significant difference in the appearance rate of patterns between grades (χ2=42.615, p<0.01), but highly proficient movements didn't tend to increase as the grades increased. The five movement patterns clarified in this study are thought to lead to the detailed evaluation of children's straddle vault movements and the enhancement of instruction according to their proficiency.