Jenson Kay-Polley – 9025
Fitness Strength
The sport I have chosen to analyse my participation in is badminton. My most noticeable fitness strength is reaction time and speed. Reaction time is the length of time taken for a person to respond to a stimulus or event, and speed is the rate someone or is able to move. Badminton is a fast, court-based game in which a shuttlecock is passed back and forth between two opponents over a net. Badminton requires me to have quick reaction time so I can move to the correct position to hit the shuttlecock back. The game also requires speed, as I need to be able to get across the court in the time that the opponent passes the shuttlecock over the net. Furthermore, when playing badminton, when you serve you are moving along the frontal plane and on the longitudinal axis. When you are moving, from the back to the front of the court, you are using the sagittal plane and you are on the longitudinal axis. When you are from side to side on the court, you are using frontal plane and are not on an axis.
Speed is one of my observable components of fitness as my somatotype is ectomorph, which allows me to be able to move quick as I have the least amount of body weight in compared to the other somatotypes. In like manner my light frame makes me more applicable to endurance sports, such as marathons, and sports with a need for quick, short distance moves, such as badminton and basketball, my added height gives me a large advantage in sports such as tennis, basketball and badminton. Me having this somatotype enables me to have an advantage over the opponent because I am able to hit the shuttlecock sooner than the other player and I am able to lean up and closer to the net due to my height. I am able to get from one side of the court to the other side quicker than my opponent as I have a light frame and long limbs.
Reaction time is another one of my most evident components of fitness as my information processing is very quick. I am able to take in the input, which would be the opponent serving or reciprocating my shot, and I can use muscle memory during my decision making to get myself into the correct position to preform my output. Me being this quick at information processing allows me to have an advantage over the opponent as I am able to react to what is happening and decide what to do quick than the opponent.
When playing badminton, I experienced that I am able to hit the shuttlecock to the back of the court without having to apply much force causing the opponent to have to run to the back of the court and giving me the upper hand of getting into position. I also discovered that I could get around the court quicker than my opponents could. This enables me to be able to outperform my opponents, due to my ability to hit to the far end of the court, and my ability to get around the court. I also experience that when I consume fats and glucose before my match so I have a more energy, and prolong my performance without fatigue. Having these energy stores enables me to react quickly with speed.
Skill strength
My best skill in badminton is serving. Before serving, I will have to get into the correct position on the court so I can hit at the most tactical position for my shot. I have to get my arm in position below shoulder height, and both feet must be on the ground the throughout the play, shoulder width apart. Badminton ‘players win points by hitting a conical shuttlecock over a high net so that it lands on the other side of the court so the opposition can return it’, in order to do this a critical serve can add up additional points. Cardiovascular endurance can be quite critical if your game of badminton lasts a long period as you are going to have to get around the court and re-centre after every shot exemplifying how important and critical a good serve can be.
There are four types of badminton serves, low serve, when I rock forward on my toes, I disguise the shot to look like a high serve and then at point of contact, I flick my wrist and strike the shuttlecock over the opponents head. A high serve is when I rock forward on my toes and have a sideways stance, and then follow through with intended direction. A flick serve is when I have my racket foot forward, your racket elbow level with my shoulder, I then release the shuttlecock and flick the wrist and strike the shuttlecock below the waist. A drive serve is when the whole shuttlecock has to be below my waist, then tap it with control and little power in a short rebound swing, and then stop the racket after contact to stop a follow through.
While serving, I need to make sure my body stays in correct form and I follow through with my serve properly making sure not to miss place my foot, not to wrong angle the shot and keep my racket at the right degree. I found when playing badminton that when I use a low serve I am able to make the opponent run to the front of the court to return the shot. Then I follow up with a forehand serve causing my opponent to run the maximum distance and bite into their cardiovascular endurance with only two shots into the game.
I am good at serving due to me having an ectomorph somatotype meaning I have a light frame and longer limbs to be able to reach higher and further when serving to gain the advantage and preform with control and upper-handed power. This allows me gain points against my opponent or at least run there cardiovascular endurance down to build up to me gaining puts as their fatigue will kick in sooner.
This allows me to get the upper hand in a game as when I use a high serve I can force my opponent to run the back of the court. This is allowing me to get back into the midpoint of my side of the court and prepare for the return shot from the opponent, who now has to keep running around the court after my tactically aimed, long distance shots.
Fitness component Weakness
My main fitness weakness in my muscular endurance, which critically affects me through long games, as I am unable to keep my performance up after a while. ‘Muscular endurance is the ability of a muscle group to exert submaximal force for extended periods.’ I am unable to keep up my powerful performance as due to my somatotype, ectomorph. The somatotype ectomorph is a lanky body type who is unable to build muscle easily and due to that characteristic, it is hard for me to keep the same level of power when hitting the power shots throughout a long game due to fatigue kicking in. ‘Fatigue is a subjective feeling of tiredness that has a gradual onset. Unlike weakness, fatigue can be alleviated by periods of rest. Fatigue can have physical or mental causes.’ To withstand the force given by the shuttlecock my abdominal muscles, my biceps and triceps
Isometric and isotonic muscle pairs affect muscular endurance. ‘Isotonic contractions generate force by changing the length of the muscle’. ‘Isometric contractions generate force without changing the length of the muscle’. Muscular endurance relies on the isometric and isotonic muscle pairs, as muscular endurance is the ability of the muscles to contact over a period. Isotonic contractions generate force by changing the length of the muscle. They can be concentric contractions or eccentric contractions.
Aerobic respiration takes a part in muscular endurance, as aerobic respiration is the ‘respiration that uses oxygen as a reactant. Aerobic respiration is much more efficient, and produces ATP much more quickly, than anaerobic respiration’. They take a toll on muscular endurance, as it is the act of getting oxygen to my muscles to help my performance, this is aerobic; this would be implemented if I were to run a marathon. The act of using the energy that is already held within the body and muscles, this is anaerobic; this is implemented when I run a 100m.
Since I do not have, good muscular endurance disables me from being able to participate with the power I started with at later stages in the game. This then gives my opponent the advantage over me if they have good muscular endurance. This enables them to be able to hit the critical shots against me with the power and force needed, causing me to put more power into my shots to keep my muscular endurance equivalent to my opponents. This then causes fatigue to kick in sooner than my opponents giving them the upper hand. My opponent will be able to run around the court, reciprocate my shots back to me, and then make me have to run across the court. This causes me to have to use my already fatiguing quadriceps and hamstrings to get across the court in time. I will then eventually miss the shots and not be able to hit the critical shots and let the opponent build points against me and in turn potentially win the game.
Skill Weakness
My skill weakness is my ability to hit smash shots. Smash shots are when I hit a powerful shot and send the shuttlecock the back of the court. This can have a crucial effect on my games as a smash shot can elevate pressure applied by my opponent and possibly give me the upper hand. I am unable to commit to these smash shots as I may have the power, but I tend to play along the longitude axis when I need to be playing along the transvers also known as the mediolateral axis. The longitudinal axis can be illustrated by imagining putting a pin through the body from top to bottom. It would stop the body from bending forward, backwards and side-to-side. It will only allow the body to rotate and run along the transverse plane. The transvers axis means we take the pin and place it from a lateral approach. Using the elbow as an example, the axis comes from the medial side of the joint and then projects out of the lateral side. The placement of the pin allows for flexion and extension in the sagittal plane about this axis.