First let me start off by saying thank you to everyone who has been interacting with me. I’m glad you all find my research on “Dance as a Sports Enhancer” as interesting and informative as I do. In my previous articles I extended the invitation for you all to ask me questions or give your opinions on this topic. One of the questions that I have been asked by many of you was “How does dance promote creativity for athletes, if their sport doesn’t allow them to create their own movements or rules during or for the game”? Well let’s see if I can answer your question because Creativity + Dance = A Confident Athlete!
One of the great things about bringing the element of dance into athletic training is that dance brings out creativity and confidence in athletes. Dance can help athletes make better decisions through a different creative process. If you compare certain movements and techniques in dance to movements and actions in sports you will see that only difference between the two is that they have different objections. Creative dance requires you to make split second decisions about movements that must appear natural and just like in any sport, when you’ve played it long enough the movements become natural. Creative dance is not rehearsed, the dancer is allowed full creative expression, which improves and challenges their ability to pay attention and think quickly.
Decisions are crucial in competitive sports because games can be so spontaneous and some times you can’t always predict your opponent’s next move. According to a 2009 study in the Internet Journal of Applied Health Sciences and Practice states that at least 20 minutes of consecutive aerobic activity is linked to a boost on mental health; and creative dance is a vigorous form of an aerobic activity it will most likely boost your confidence level which may make an individual willing to test out new strategies while practicing or competing in that sport. The mental health section of dancing activities are said to activate different portions of the brain and forces different parts of the body to work together. When that happens it allows the athlete to easily learn and pick up on new techniques that will help their development in the sport especially with speed, coordination and rhythm which is needed and used in every sport.
You can spot these similarities at practice or while the athlete is engaging in the sport.
Here are a few drills that can be modified into dance movements:
High-Knee Skipping With Lower Leg Extension- Which teaches rhythm, You want to get the action started by skipping in place, then move slowly to keep the skipping action going. You want your athlete to think of a “up, extend; up, extended”
High knee running followed by acceleration Sprints –In this drill your athlete is emphasizing the high-knee lift without extension. You want them to keep their torso upright when performing the high-knee lift. On your signal the athlete should sprint forward as fast as possible. They should be exploding forward. You want them to explode forward.
Distance Hopping/ Bounding Striding for Distance- These drills help with increasing leg power and acceleration. With each hop you want your athlete to swing their arms forward and upward and thrust with the legs as powerfully as possible, driving with your jumping leg.
Each of these drills are done in dance classes as warm-ups to prepare the dancers bodies. If you aren’t aware dance involves a lot of speed adjustments and bounding to improve leg strength. From personal experience because I am an athlete I actually articulate these drills better than a lot of dancers in my classes because I understood both disciplines.
The purpose of enhancers for athletes is to boost their energy levels and muscle gain and growth. Dance allows the body to grow naturally. It can teach athletes through demonstrations how to articulate their bodies properly. Just like a dancer , the athletes main focus is to put on a performance of skill. As we learned dance also helps and prepares your mental state which would make dance a safe, smart and healthy way to gain a lead over any competition.
I hope I was able to answer your question guys!
This weeks featured song is by ASTR , she covered one of my favorite songs “Hold On We’re Going Home” by Drake.
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This athlete must know about the movement!
