Taitoc Philosophy
Philosophy
The general level of physical activity of children and youth has unfortunately decreased in recent years, and the lack of movement, both in quantity and quality, has led to deterioration of fundamental movement skills. As a direct consequence, it has become more challenging to participate and to enjoy various forms of sports. This is a problem that can be addressed by teaching the learner the foundational skills of movement, just like teaching the notes in music or the numbers in math. Without these fundamental building blocks, we can’t expect anyone to become successful at a given activity or a skill. But after learning the basics, we can first start to use the foundational skills in a specific context and eventually applying them in new situations. Once the fundamentals are mastered, they can be utilized for many basic activities or developed further according to higher personal goals and aspirations. ‘Writing’ is a great example of this; we all need to learn how to spell and write words and how to put them together in a sentence, as a basic writing skill. We need the skill of writing at an adequate level for many practical situations in life and work. However, if your aspirations are to become an author and write a book that many will enjoy reading, the skill of writing will need to be practiced, developed and refined even further. The fundamental skills are critical for everyone, but some choose to reach for the elite level, whether in writing or in movement.
In the past, we didn’t need to teach these fundamental skills for movement because the physical development was always provided organically by adequate amounts of spontaneous play, games, sports and other physical activities. Hours of daily movement was enough to lay a solid foundation for the demands of various sports. But the world has changed so much that fundamental movement skills are by no means a by-product of regular life anymore and the physical toolbox for building a healthy and athletic future is often found lacking.
Inspiration, Improvement, Implementation
The values of Taitoc -program and philosophy can be condensed into these three main outcomes. The joy of movement combined with great coaching is a source of inspiration for learning, developing and applying movement and motor skills, whether in sports or in life in general.
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Inspiration and joy are in the heart of learning and the energy that carries the process forward. For this reason, Taitoc -programs focus on learning new skills based on an individual starting point. The various Taitoc -courses and modules are built on the foundation of an encouraging and supporting learning environment. The key ingredients are; plenty of positive experiences surrounding various movement and motor skills and exercises, and an environment for participants to engage in movements that are progressed based on their current skill level as well as their previous experiences. The coaching courses underscore the teachers and instructors role in inspiring and supporting the learners. The coaching education provides tools to adjusting the movement environment and the skill exercises together with the participants and involving them in the full experience of learning and growing with the program.
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All the fun experiences incorporated within the Taitoc programs does not mean lesser quality or the absence of challenges, quite the contrary. One of the three key concepts in Taitoc is constant development and improvement. The comprehensive learning path for the fundamental movements enables a systematic progression for learning the fundamental motor skills that are instrumental for building fitness and athleticism. Taitoc philosophy emphasizes individualized learning, progressive challenges and the path of learning that altogether create a personalized approach to learning and improving. Each athlete and learner will travel their own path, but the destination is same for everyone: achieving movement skills and capacities that enable enjoyable personal participation in physical activity.
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Once a motor skill is learned and becomes a permanent part of the movement library, it will be a resource that can applied in various situations in sport and in life. All of the daily movement is made of the fundamental motor skills and the development of these essential abilities should start early in childhood and continue through the rest of our lives. Taitoc philosophy highlights the importance of identifying the unique starting point for each individual and supporting their journey of learning by fostering the intrinsic motivation towards an active lifestyle and a desire to improve and to grow. The main goal of Taitoc programs is to help develop comprehensive physical abilities and skills needed to enjoy and succeed in physical activities and sports. The Taitoc learning pathway is built on the strong foundation of fundamental movement and motor skills and is delivered through a progressive and personal coaching program. The individualized approach enables the spark of inspiration to take a firm grip and lead the participant through a journey of learning and improvement to a place where they have the ability as well the motivation to apply and implement the skills in various forms of movement and activity.
Different sports have different demands, but even so, they are all built on a common foundation of general motor skills. Music has the notes, math has the numbers and movement has its basics found in a ‘movement library’. The importance of the personal collection of fundamental skills, that we refer to as the ‘movement library’, can’t be overemphasized.
The fundamental movement and motor skills are the foundation that the sport specific skills are built upon. If the movement foundation is weak, it will be challenging to have positive experiences as many of the building blocks or movement patterns are missing and is more difficult to achieve the rewards of success in sports. Also, without the fundamental movement abilities it is also harder to learn new sports and develop athletic skills. In other words, the potential for improvement is much smaller due to poor foundation that it is resting on. Additionally, a movement library that lacks in variety and in quality correlates with increased rate of movement-related injuries.
One of the most important goals with Taitoc is to enable equal chances of participating and enjoying physical activity by creating content that supports and inspires learning. This goal can be achieved by teaching everyone the movement and motor fundamentals unlocking a diversity of opportunities in engaging recreational movement, athletics or fitness for health. Ultimately, it is about giving a freedom of choice about the future of one’s physical activity. For some it will the social aspect of recreational sports, for some an active lifestyle and for some a dream of competitive career in elite sports
A personal movement library enables one to move in a healthy and athletic way and to participate in sports as long as the library provides the necessary fundamental movements needed. What should comprehensive physical training for children and youth look like then? How do you create an environment where the movement library grows and becomes the optimal foundation for fitness and sport skills? Taitoc is designed to answer these questions. Taitoc will guide in identifying and developing the essential content of the movement library. It will teach the principles that make learning movement skills fun and inspiring. Taitoc will be there for the whole journey of learning, developing and mastering the movement skills.
Taitoc -concept is based on the joy of learning and setting up a fire for movement. Even just one learned movement skill can bring joy and inspiration for a lifetime. This is the reason why Taitoc -skill coaching provides individual challenges that allow each and every one to succeed and experience learning. Taitoc progresses step by step towards new and exciting challenges and levels of mastery. Skill mastery evaluation gives tools to assess the progress and directs with the selection of appropriate exercises.
The journey of Taitoc will leave one with experiences and skills that are sure to bring many more successful and fulfilling moments through physical movement.
TAITOC® Training Programs
TAITOC – Optimal use of the program
Taitoc – Individual training sessions
Taitoc coaching and training can be utilized as individual sessions. The exercises and the training sessions may be connected to the sport practice as a movement preparation session or as complimentary sessions as a part of a training camp.
Taitoc – Assessment Tools
The assessements can be included within the sessioons of a skill training group or a camp. Specific progress evaluation sessions and events can be facilitated as individual sessions created only for assessing the level of the participants and idenfifying the areas of improvement within a given group.
Taitoc – Skill Training Camps
The Taitoc content can be used as the content for designing and executing various skill training camps for various age, level or sport groups.
Taitoc – Skill Coaching Groups
Taitoc progamming can be applied in launching new skill coaching groups within the ir own training environment. The prepared skill coaching program templates enable a quick planning process and structured high-quality training sessions to take place for skill training groups of various levels.
Taitoc – Training program building tool
With the training program building tool the entire movement library can be accessed and used for designing custom training programs and for sharing them with your own group.