18 Examples of Coordination

John Spacey, March 21, 2022

Coordination is the ability to use the senses and multiple parts of your body together in a unified way. Senses are types of human perception such as sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, pain perception, pressure perception, body awareness (proprioception) and balance. These together with the movement of the body allow humans to accomplish complex physical tasks at speed in fast moving and uncertain environments. The following are illustrative examples.

The ability to reach out and grab an object by coordinating your vision, body, arm and finger movements.

Holding a paper airplane without crushing it by sensing how much pressure you are applying with your hands and adjusting to an appropriate level.

A pilot who uses hand-eye coordination to land a jet on a runway.

Coordinating your lungs, head position and mouth to blow out candles on a birthday cake.

A calligrapher who uses their hand with great accuracy, precision and fluidity when holding a pen to paper.

A video game player who controls a virtual character by coordinating vision, hearing and tactile senses with hand gestures on a video game controller.

Moving your legs to walk whereby one leg holds up your body while the other makes a stride forward.

Using your eyes to estimate when and where a fast moving ball will arrive and moving your legs, body, arm and fingers in coordination to catch and grip it.

A chef who pulls back their hand in response to pain as they touch a pan handle that is hot.

A tennis player who adjusts their facial expression in response to vibration, angular and pressure information from their racket hand -- they have hit a shot out of bounds and react with a facial expression before the ball has reached its destination.

A construction worker who coordinates the movement of their legs, the trunk of their body and arms to lift a large piece of wood without hurting their back.

A musician who coordinates their sense of rhythm and timing with their hands as they play the drums with precision and accuracy at high speed.

A cyclist who stops moving their legs and starts using their fingers to apply a handbrake because they see a stop sign.

A skier who feels their skis start to slide on ice who moves their body to try to stabilize their balance.

A high jumper uses proprioception and balance to contort their body in order to make it over a bar as they fly through the air.

A skateboarder in the middle of an uncontrolled fall who begins to position and prepare their body to avoid injury in the milliseconds before impact.

A tightrope walker using their sense of balance to position their body, arms, legs and feet on a rope who hears wind approaching in the distant trees and prepares for an adjustment of position.

Social dancing whereby a dancer follows physical cues of a lead to direct their dance in cooperation with their partner.

Overview: Coordination
Type	Sports
Definition	The ability to use the senses and multiple parts of your body together in a unified way.
Related Concepts	Sports » Senses »