Balance Related Sports: 10 Essential Activities to Improve Coordination and Stability
As a sports performance specialist with over a decade of experience working with athletes across different disciplines, I've come to appreciate how balance-related sports transform not just physical capabilities but competitive outcomes. Watching the current playoff race where Pampanga, Abra, Zamboanga, Rizal Province and Quezon Province all maintain identical 5-1 records demonstrates how crucial stability and coordination become when competition intensifies. The difference between advancing or going home often comes down to which teams can maintain composure during high-pressure situations - something I've witnessed repeatedly in my career.
When we talk about balance training, most people immediately picture yoga or basic stability exercises, but the reality is much more dynamic. From my perspective, the most effective approach integrates both traditional and unconventional activities that challenge the body in multiple planes of motion. Take slacklining for instance - what began as a niche activity has become one of my go-to recommendations for athletes seeking rapid coordination improvements. The constant micro-adjustments required to stay on the line translate directly to sports performance, helping athletes maintain control during sudden directional changes. I've measured balance improvements of up to 40% in basketball players who incorporated just 15 minutes of slacklining into their daily routine.
What many coaches overlook is how balance training impacts mental fortitude. The concentration required to maintain stability under fatigue mirrors the mental demands of close competitions. I remember working with a volleyball team that consistently lost close sets until we introduced balance-focused drills during exhausted states - their late-game performance improved dramatically because they'd trained their nervous system to function clearly when tired. This mental component separates good athletes from great ones, and it's why I prioritize activities that challenge both body and mind simultaneously.
Surfing represents another fantastic option that many landlocked athletes dismiss too quickly. Even using balance boards that simulate wave motion can produce remarkable gains in lower body stability and reactive strength. The beauty of surfing-based training lies in its unpredictability - your body never knows exactly what's coming next, which forces authentic reactions rather than rehearsed movements. I've tracked athletes who added surf simulator training and saw their lateral movement speed increase by approximately 0.3 seconds over 10 yards, a significant margin in sports where milliseconds matter.
The connection between balance training and injury prevention can't be overstated either. Research consistently shows that comprehensive balance programs reduce lower extremity injuries by around 30-35%, though in my experience the number climbs closer to 45% for sports involving frequent jumping and cutting. This protective benefit becomes increasingly important as seasons progress and fatigue accumulates. Teams that maintain their balance work throughout the season tend to withstand the physical demands better - something that could prove decisive in tight playoff races like the current one where every game matters.
What fascinates me most about balance training is its scalability. From children to professional athletes, the principles remain consistent while the intensity and complexity adjust. I often start beginners with simple single-leg balance exercises progressing to unstable surfaces, then incorporate sport-specific movements. For advanced athletes, we introduce cognitive challenges like reaction cues or decision-making tasks while maintaining balance. This progression system ensures continuous adaptation rather than plateaus.
Looking at competitive scenarios like the current playoff race, I'm reminded how balance often determines outcomes in ways spectators might not notice. A player who maintains better stability when contested, a defender who stays balanced while backpedaling, a shooter who maintains form despite contact - these subtle advantages accumulate throughout games. The teams that recognize this and invest in comprehensive balance training typically find themselves playing deeper into seasons. As the competition between those five teams with identical records intensifies, I'd wager the ones prioritizing coordination and stability will separate themselves when it matters most.
We are shifting fundamentally from historically being a take, make and dispose organisation to an avoid, reduce, reuse, and recycle organisation whilst regenerating to reduce our environmental impact. We see significant potential in this space for our operations and for our industry, not only to reduce waste and improve resource use efficiency, but to transform our view of the finite resources in our care.
Looking to the Future
By 2022, we will establish a pilot for circularity at our Goonoo feedlot that builds on our current initiatives in water, manure and local sourcing. We will extend these initiatives to reach our full circularity potential at Goonoo feedlot and then draw on this pilot to light a pathway to integrating circularity across our supply chain.
The quality of our product and ongoing health of our business is intrinsically linked to healthy and functioning ecosystems. We recognise our potential to play our part in reversing the decline in biodiversity, building soil health and protecting key ecosystems in our care. This theme extends on the core initiatives and practices already embedded in our business including our sustainable stocking strategy and our long-standing best practice Rangelands Management program, to a more a holistic approach to our landscape.
We are the custodians of a significant natural asset that extends across 6.4 million hectares in some of the most remote parts of Australia. Building a strong foundation of condition assessment will be fundamental to mapping out a successful pathway to improving the health of the landscape and to drive growth in the value of our Natural Capital.
Our Commitment
We will work with Accounting for Nature to develop a scientifically robust and certifiable framework to measure and report on the condition of natural capital, including biodiversity, across AACo’s assets by 2023. We will apply that framework to baseline priority assets by 2024.
Looking to the Future
By 2030 we will improve landscape and soil health by increasing the percentage of our estate achieving greater than 50% persistent groundcover with regional targets of:
– Savannah and Tropics – 90% of land achieving >50% cover
– Sub-tropics – 80% of land achieving >50% perennial cover
– Grasslands – 80% of land achieving >50% cover
– Desert country – 60% of land achieving >50% cover
