Children's one-hand catching as a function of age, gender, and ball location

A sizable body of literature exists on the product characteristics and developmental sequence for two-hand catching, but to date there is no description of the developmental characteristics of simple one-hand catching in young children. This study investigated the influence of age, gender, and ball location on children's one-hand catching. Boys and girls (N = 240) ranging in age from 5 to 12 years attempted to catch a total of 24 tennis balls, tossed from a 9-ft distance. Tosses were directed to four locations: (a) Waist, (b) Shoulder, (c) Above-the-Head, and (d) Out-to-the-Side. Descriptive data consisted of the percentage of successful catches at each ball location, and the hand-arm orientation selected by the child as a function of ball location. Results revealed that catching performance improved with age, boys caught more balls than girls, ball location influenced catching success, and, in general, the location of the toss constrained the child's selection of an appropriate hand-arm orientation. With the possible exception of the Shoulder location for girls, even very young children are sensitive to the perceptual aspects of the toss and respond with an appropriate orientation.