Fundamental Movement (for ages 3-8)
What is Fundamental Movement and why is it so important?
Fundamental Movement are the “building blocks” to allow kids to complete more complex and specialised skills that children will need throughout their lives to competently participate in a variety of games, sports, or just for fun, from the playground right up to adulthood.
We have all heard the commentary that our children do not get the unstructured physical activity that we all got in our early years. The dawn of the tablet, PlayStation and Peppa Pig have no doubt affected our children’s desire to play in the physical sense.
FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENT are the basic movements traditionally associated with physical activity. The most common FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENT include skills such as running, jumping, throwing, catching, skipping, and hopping
FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENT in Na Piarsaigh
FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENT is a great introduction for all kids into our club as it allows kids from age 3-8 to participate in a fun, non-structured and non-pressurised environment.
The kids learn the ability
• to change direction quickly while maintaining balance
and control of the whole body
• to maintain stability in relation to the immediate
environment
• to integrate a different body part in harmony during
movement
• to, most importantly, have FUN
When FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENT was launched in 2016, the initial numbers were low but once word got out about the benefits and fun the kids were having, numbers rose steadily. It has become a great way of getting kids ‘in the door’ and showcasing the magnificent club and facilities we have. It is fair to say that underage membership has increased substantially over the last couple of years due to the success of FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENT. We are also getting kids/parents from non-GAA backgrounds into the club which is great.
At one stage, we were getting over 200 kids attending which was great but meant we needed to split the age groups and ended up running 2 sessions on a night!
We have also linked in with Mary Immaculate College in a program which see their students come on an 8-week program to assist with FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENT.
We would like to thank Thomas Cronin for his leadership with this energetic and fun program, all the parents, volunteers and coaches for the time and effort they put into making this program a success and our club a great place for the kids to be involved in.