Cadets’ Perceptions of Gymnastics Instruction for Officer Development

Authors

Jeffrey D. Coelho, United States Military AcademyFollow
Lynn R. Fielitz, United States Military AcademyFollow

Abstract

The United States Military Academy has offered gymnastics instruction since 1838. Gymnastics continues to be an integral component of the physical education curriculum. The purpose of this study was to investigate cadets' perceptions of their experiences in a required gymnastics course using the critical incident technique. Students described experiences in the gymnastics class that they believed had a positive or negative influence on their development as cadets and future Army officers. Key elements of their responses were classified into 16 positively perceived and 11 negatively perceived categories. The top positive categories were confidence, encouragement, fear management, modeling, additional instruction, and teamwork. The top negative categories included lack of time, helplessness, discouragement, lack of relevance, unfair grading, and injury

Keywords

Military Instruction, Student Perceptions, Critical Incident, United States Military Academy, Cadet, Physical Readiness Training, Gymnastics, and Motor Fitness

Publication Date

9-1-2006

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2006.1670

Recommended APA Citation

Coelho, J. D., & Fielitz, L. R. (2006). Cadets’ Perceptions of Gymnastics Instruction for Officer Development. The Qualitative Report, 11(3), 605-625. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2006.1670