Cross-Education of Skill: Assessment of Overhand Throwing Using Product- and Process-Oriented Assessment

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The aims of the present study were to: (1) investigate the magnitude and direction of the cross-education effect in a unilateral sport skill (overhand throw) and (2) to establish which practice condition (dominant hand only or alternating hands) would yield the best results. Methods: The study involved three experimental groups of 11-year-old children (n = 59). The first group (n = 20) used only the dominant hand to throw the ball. The second group (n = 19) used the nondominant hand only, while the third (n = 20) alternated hands for each throw. A pre- and post-testing of both hands preceded and followed the intervention period. Results: The results of our study revealed no asymmetry in cross-education effect between the limbs for children’s overhand ball throwing. It was also shown that training both hands is superior to training the dominant hand alone. Conclusion: Our findings would be of particular interest to physical education teachers and coaches of unilateral sports who are advised to review their unilateral skill teaching methods as bilateral training offers a superior approach to augmenting the process of motor learning and performance.

KEYWORDS:

• Bilateral training
• contralateral effect
• contralateral practice
• intermanual transfer
• motor learning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availablity statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in Zenodo at https://zenodo.org/records/7874618, reference number DOI 10.5281/zenodo.7874618.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Malta Sports Scholarship Scheme 2018.