View of ASSOCIATION BETWEEN VISUAL MOTOR SKILL AND NON-VERBAL INTELLIGENCE IN INTERCOLLEGIATE MALE HOCKEY PLAYERS OF MADHYA PRADESH

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ACCENT JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS ECOLOGY & ENGINEERING Peer Reviewed and Refereed Journal, ISSN NO. 2456-1037

Available Online: www.ajeee.co.in/index.php/AJEEE

Vol. 06, Special Issue 04, (ICESD-2021) June 2021 IMPACT FACTOR: 7.98 (INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL) 5 ASSOCIATION BETWEEN VISUAL MOTOR SKILL AND NON-VERBAL INTELLIGENCE IN

INTERCOLLEGIATE MALE HOCKEY PLAYERS OF MADHYA PRADESH Dr. Mohammed Rafique Khan

Sports Officer, St Paul Institute of Professional Studies, Indore

Abstract - The relationship between visual-motor skills with non-verbal intelligence has been explored in the past but these studies are not conducted on hockey players. In the present study association between visual-motor skill and non-verbal intelligence has been explored in a group of intercollegiate male hockey players from Madhya Pradesh. To conduct the study 100 intercollegiate male hockey players from Indore division in Madhya Pradesh were selected purposively. The average age of selected male hockey players was 18.61 years. The visual-motor skill i.e. hand-eye coordination was assessed with the help of digitized mirror drawing apparatus while non-verbal intelligence was assessed with the help of MGTI constructed by Mehrotra (1984). Pearson correlation coefficient was used as a statistical tool. It was found that the visual-motor skill assessed as hand-eye coordination of male hockey players was significantly correlated with their non-verbal intelligence. It was concluded that the visual motor skill and non-verbal intelligence of male hockey players have a strong association with each other. The researcher advocates the need to include activites such as puzzle, picture quiz, maze or blocks etc. in the training program of male hockey players that will be beneficial in improving their hand eye coordination.

Keywords: Visual motor skill, non-verbal intelligence, hockey.

1 INTRODUCTION

Field hockey is one of the fastest sports in the world with ball speed that may reach up to 100mph. Naturally, the importance of visual-motor skills in a sport like field hockey is immense and hand-eye coordination is one of them. Deflecting a pass into the net or intercepting a pass are skills that are dependent upon hand-eye coordination. In modern- day field hockey, the ball travels very fast and hence it is indeed necessary for a player to possesses good hand-eye coordination.

The term hand-eye coordination is self-explanatory because it gives its definition automatically. It is mandatory for a sportsperson opting to take part in hockey to have good hand-eye coordination. The basic skills are also influenced by hand-eye coordination because to execute a pass, receive a pass or deflecting the ball, the execution is dependent on visual information to the brain and relayed to hands.

Visual-motor skills are often termed motor coordination which requires effective signals to guide our hands. The precise movement of hands is the result of coordination between eye and hand. The visual cue along with brain signals are important for good hand-eye coordination. Visual-motor skills in the form of hand-eye coordination may be considered as motor movements that require information provided by the eye to the brain which guides our hands to move accordingly.

So basically hand-eye coordination is largely dependent upon visual input given by the eyes. Hand-eye coordination is also considered a basic cognitive skills in daily life. In hockey, a player needs hand-eye coordination to move his hands or body concerning what he sees. Hand-eye coordination is an extremely difficult and complex cognitive skill to understand. Ludeke and Ferreira (2003) gave the name perceptual-motor response to hand- eye coordination because the movement of hands relies on visual information and brain inputs. The synchronization of hand movements as per visual stimuli denotes hand-eye coordination.

In hockey, both forms of coordination namely foot-eye and hand-eye are considered essential. Being considered under cognitive skill, its association with intelligence has been explored by so many researchers but results were inconsistent. Body training is a natural part of hockey players schedule. These training processes are mentioned in sports training literature but seldom have we found hand-eye coordination training.

Rabbit et al. (1999) found a significant association between intelligence and psychomotor capacities but Mohan et al. (1982) did not found any meaningful relation between intelligence and psychomotor abilities. Surprisingly the research literature does not consist of many studies exploring the relationship between non-verbal intelligence and

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Vol. 06, Special Issue 04, (ICESD-2021) June 2021 IMPACT FACTOR: 7.98 (INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL) 6 hand-eye coordination. Non-verbal intelligence means thinking and problem-solving skills as well as conceptual reasoning. Non-verbal reasoning is also related to certain motor skills to complete the work. Non-verbal intelligence also strengthens the ability to be familiar with the visual sequence, understand the meaning of the information provided by the visual system and useful in visual analogies. Non-verbal intelligence can be enhanced with several activities namely blocks, puzzles, maze etc.

2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Hughes et al. (2009) reported that elite table tennis players had a superior psychomotor performance score as compared to sub-elite and non-elite table tennis players.

Diwan (2014) in this study on archer reported a significant association of hand-eye coordination with the shooting skills of archers.

Agashe and Singh (2015) reported that the ocular health status is an important marker for hand-eye coordination in a sportsperson.

Lemos et al. (2017) revealed that psychomotor skill has a significant impact on the sports performance of Brazilian female hockey players.

Ramjayam (2017) explored the psychomotor variables of intercollegiate men's hockey players and found no significant difference in finger dexterity and reaction time of Men's hockey players representing different colleges did not differ significantly.

Chandra Mohan and Rajeswaran (2019) reported a beneficial effect of the progressive resistance training program on the psychomotor abilities of male hockey players.

2.1 Objective

The objective of the present study was to ascertain the association between visual-motor skills as assessed by hand-eye coordination with non-verbal intelligence of male intercollegiate hockey players.

2.2 Hypothesis

In the present study, it was hypothesized that a significant correlation will be observed between hand-eye coordination and the non-verbal intelligence of male intercollegiate male hockey players.

3 METHODOLOGY

To test the abovementioned hypothesis, the following procedure was adopted:

3.1 Sample:

To conduct the study 100 intercollegiate male hockey players from Indore division in Madhya Pradesh were selected purposively. The average age of selected male hockey players was 18.61 years.

3.2 Tools:

Mirror Drawing Test:

The visual-motor skill i.e. hand-eye coordination was assessed with the help of digital mirror drawing apparatus. In this digitized test, errors while drawing a star was recorded which is indicative of hand-eye coordination. Naturally fewer errors made by a subject during digital tracing of star indicate better hand-eye coordination.

3.3 MGTI:

To assess the non-verbal intelligence of intercollegiate male hockey players, MGTI constructed by Mehrotra (1984) was used. Only the non-verbal intelligence part of this test was used in the present study. The higher the score, the better is the non-verbal intelligence is the direction of interpretation as suggested in the manual.

3.4 Procedure:

The aforementioned tests were administered to intercollegiate male hockey players. The scoring of each of the test was carried as per the authors manual and then tabulated.

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Vol. 06, Special Issue 04, (ICESD-2021) June 2021 IMPACT FACTOR: 7.98 (INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL) 7 Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated to assess the association between two study variables. The result is given in table 1.

4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Table No. 1 Pearson Correlation Coefficient between Visual Motor Skill (Hand-eye coordination) and Non-verbal Intelligence in a Group of Intercollegiate Male Hockey

Players

N Hand-Eye

Coordination Non-verbal Intelligence Visual Motor Skill

(Hand-Eye Coordination) 100 1 -.676**

Non verbal intelligence 100 -.676** 1

** Significant at .01 level

Figure 1 Scatter Plot

A perusal of statistical calculations given in table 1 indicates a significant negative correlation between visual-motor skill and non-verbal intelligence of intercollegiate male hockey players (r = -.676, p<.01). As per the direction of the scoring pattern, it is clear that an increase in non-verbal intelligence yields enhanced hand-eye coordination or visual motor skill.

The downward slope observed in the scatter plot proves the negative correlation between the two study variables. The R² = 0.458 indicate that non-verbal intelligence creates 45.8% variance on hand-eye coordination. The result of the present study was also supported by the theory of Planinsec (2002a) in which they propounded the influence of cognition in complex motor tasks. The non-verbal intelligence in the present study was assessed by a test that consists of pictures and diagram. So visual information was an important factor while solving the non-verbal test. Hence the result of the present study is not surprising.

5 CONCLUSION

Based on results, it was concluded that visual-motor skill in the form of hand-eye coordination has a meaningful association with non-verbal intelligence of intercollegiate male hockey players. The researcher advocates the need to include activites such as puzzle, picture quiz, maze or blocks etc. in the training program of male hockey players that will be beneficial in improving their hand eye coordination.

REFERENCES

1. Agashe, C.D. and Singh, A. (2015). A study of hand eye coordination among male sportspersons in relation to their ocular health status. Academic Sports Scholar, Vol. 4, Issue 3, 1-3.

2. Chandra Mohan, S. and Rajeswaran, S.T.N. (2019). Effects of training on psychophysical psychomotor abilities and skill performance of field hockey players. International Journal of Physiology, Nutrition and Physical Education; 4(1): 252-254.

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Vol. 06, Special Issue 04, (ICESD-2021) June 2021 IMPACT FACTOR: 7.98 (INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL) 8 3. Diwan, S. (2014). Effect of Eye-Hand Coordination on Shooting Skills of Tribal and Non Tribal Male

Archers. Journal of Harmonised Research in Applied Science, 2(1), 70-73.

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Anthropometric and physical fitness parameters versus specific performance tests in Brazilian field hockey athletes: a pilot study. Biomed. Hum. Kinet., 9(1): 57-63.

6. Ludeke, A. and Ferreira, J.T., (2003). The difference in visual skills between professional versus non- professional rugby players. S Afr Optom, 62(4):150-158.

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