In qualitative biomechanical analysis, what is the second step?

• A. Observe the student's performance
• B. Develop a description of the best technique
• C. Compare student's performance to desired movement and identify errors
• D. Provide feedback with skill cues

Answer: (A)

In qualitative biomechanical analysis, you move through a sequence of steps to understand and improve movement. The second step is to observe the student’s performance. After you’ve established what the ideal technique looks like, you watch to gather real, descriptive data about how the movement is actually being executed—the timing, posture, alignment, and coordination. This observed data is what you’ll later compare to the ideal to identify errors. The other activities fit in around this: describing the best technique sets the standard, comparing performance to that standard reveals deviations, and providing feedback with cues comes after those deviations are identified.