stability

why do we want to have stability?

• to prevent toppling

what is toppling caused by?

• it is caused by weight acting at centre of mass creating a moment about the near edge of base of support

what sports need toppling?

• diving

• gymnastics

how does toppling happen?

• when centre of mass goes beyond base of support

what is centre of mass?

• the single point in the body that represents all the spread out mass of a body

what does gravity do to centre of mass?

• it pulls on it - com can be in or out of the body

what does the placement of centre of mass depend on?

• the shape of your body

• eg. if I was stood with arms in the air on both feet it would pull my com upwards as my body is pulling upwards

• eg. if I was stood on one leg my com would lean to one side

what is the spread of body?

• the mid point of everything

how to maintain balance and what dictates toppling?

• the centre of mass must be over the base of support

• the position of com is what causes and athlete to topple

what are 4 ways to increase stability and examples

• position of centre of gravity/stance - eg. a cricketer going lower to the ground

• size of base of support - eg. the cricketer had widened legs in a lunge

• distribution of weight - eg. the crickters’s head was over the centre of mass

• points of contact - eg. the cricketer increase the floor map so there was more points of contact with the ground

give an example of a gymnast using toppling to their advantage

• they use it to initiate a controlled spinning (or twist) to fall and lead into skills/flips