title: The Role of Postural Support in Young Adults' Control of Stationary Kicking.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The requirement for postural stability during the performance of motor skills has been clearly demonstrated in infants, but the necessity for such a postural substrate is not well documented in adults. The present study investigated the role of postural stability during a ballistic ball-kicking task in adults by providing varying degrees of external postural support.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the 1st experiment, 30 participants performed 20 maximal-velocity kicks under each of 3 conditions: grasping a rigid stable handle, light fingertip touch, and grasping a suspended elastic tube. A 2nd experiment with 16 participants varied the position of the stable handle to examine if the handle position in Experiment 1 might simply act as a fulcrum to enhance torque generation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In Experiment 1, ball velocity was significantly higher in the stable-grasp condition in both men and women with the men showing greater improvement relative to the other conditions. Experiment 2 showed that the position of the stable handle did not significantly affect kicking velocity, indicating that the handle was not simply acting as a fulcrum during the kick.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Together, the findings suggest that postural stability may be a rate limiter in the performance of dynamic motor tasks in adults.
authors.affiliation: a Husson University.
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sidaway
authors.affiliation: a Husson University.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bouchard
authors.affiliation: a Husson University.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chasse
authors.affiliation: a Husson University.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dunn
authors.affiliation: a Husson University.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Govoni
authors.affiliation: a Husson University.
authors.forename: Breanne
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McPherson
authors.affiliation: a Husson University.
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.affiliation: b San Francisco State University.
authors.forename: David I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Anderson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D035002:Lower Extremity / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D004856:Postural Balance; D012737:Sex Factors; D012916:Soccer / Q000502:physiology; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Gross motor skills; skill development; soccer