BackgroundFundamental Motor Skills (FMS) are important building blocks for children’s sport-participation and lifelong physical activity. In the last decade, several international studies have reported delays in the development of FMS. To get better insight into the Dutch situation and to provide future directions, this study examined the development of FMS in Dutch primary school children.MethodThe main goal of this study is to compare FMS of 11–12-year-old Dutch children in 2016 with scores of similarly-aged-children in 2006. In addition, gender, age, BMI were taken into account, to see whether changes in motor performance are related to these child characteristics. FMS-test scores on seven motor competence tests (balance, swing, jump, roll, shoot, throwing and catching, and tennis) from 1939 children in 2016 were set side by side with those of 1648 children in 2006. Temporal changes in motor competence scores were analyzed using regression-analysis.ResultsThis cross-sectional study shows better results for the children in 2006 compared to similarly-aged-children in 2016. Lower scores were found on six out of seven tested FMS, with the largest declines on the object control skills tennis and throwing and catching. Only vaulting jump skills remained on the same level. Overall, children with a higher BMI scored lower on all tests, except for throwing and catching via the wall. On the balancing, jumping and tennis test, the gap with children with a lower BMI widened over the last decade. Girls showed a lower competence level on rolling, shooting and throwing and catching compared to boys. During the last decade, their performance on the tennis test decreased more than for boys.ConclusionsResults of this study are alarming as diminishing motor skills are related to lower sport participation and poorer health outcomes. For the future generation, new interventions are needed to help children reach a sufficient proficiency level in FMS, to prevent or overcome the negative effects of lowered motor skills. Targeting FMS components during physical education and outside of school hours may potentially be a valuable strategy in reverting the lowering FMS levels amongst children.
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The aim of this systematic review was to provide an overview of the effectiveness of fundamental movement skill interventions in young children (2–5 years) and to identify elements that determine the effectiveness of these interventions. A systematic literature search was conducted in four electronic databases (PubMed, Academic Search Complete, Education Resources Information Centre and SPORTDiscus). First, intervention-related data (e.g., intervention length, volume, focus, and content) were extracted. Next, the methodological quality and risk of bias of the selected studies were evaluated using a 10-item checklist. Sixteen studies (13 randomised controlled trials and 3 controlled trials) met the inclusion criteria of which 9 had a high methodological quality. Fourteen studies reported statistically significant intervention effects, ranging from small negative to very strong positive effects. Four studies executed a retention test of which two showed positive effects. Elements that influence the effectiveness are: incorporating all fundamental movement skills in the intervention with a variety of activities; combining deliberate practice and deliberate play; the intervention length; the intervention volume and; providing a training programme with coaching during the intervention for the professional involved in delivering the intervention. However more studies containing retention tests are needed.
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This dissertation describes the dynamics of motor competence (MC) development from early childhood (EC) to middle childhood (MCD). Being motor competent in early childhood creates a window of opportunity for taking part in physical activities later in childhood and adulthood. However, there is a worrying trend in MC development during childhood. This trend shows that, last decades, children struggle more with executing fundamental movement skills (e.g., hopping, dribbling, balancing, throwing and catching) and that general motor fitness levels of children are decreasing. A delay in MC development during childhood has a negative impact on the general health status later in life. Therefore, it is important to support young children to develop their MC. The main research question of this dissertation was: How can motor competence be promoted as efficient and effective as possible in early childhood by sport professionals? Chapter 2 showed that MC development from early to middle childhood proceeds with variation. The majority of the children had a stable ‘normal’ or increasing ‘high’ development of MC over time. However, a concerning level of 18.2% of the young children showed an undesirable pattern (i.e., a negative course of motor development over time and a ‘low’ MQ score during the final measurement) of MC development as they grow older. Chapters 3 and 4 showed that characteristics of the social and physical home environment and direct living environment were associated with MC disparities during early childhood. Both parenting practices and parental PA-involved behaviours were relevant modifiable factors. For example, stronger parental active transportation routines and PA parental practices decreased the odds of a lower MC. Also, the presence of a home garden decreased the likelihood of children being classified as low motor competent. With regard to gender differences, girls showed lower levels of MC compared to boys. Special attention should also be paid to obese children as they experience less enjoyment of PA compared with normal weighted peers (chapter 3). Excessive body weight is also a risk factor associated with an undesirable MC development, just like lack of sports participation (chapter 5). Intervention strategies (chapter 6) incorporating all fundamental movement skills with a great variety of activities for at least 3 to 4 times a week seem to be most effective to stimulate MC development. Methodological and didactical aspects like deliberate practice and play should be implemented together with training and coaching sessions for sport professionals to increase the effectiveness of the interventions. With respect to the efficiency of promoting MC development, policy makers and sport professionals should pay more attention on early childhood and especially focus on those children at risk for a delay in MC development. So, overweighted children and children not participating in organized sports should be given more attention by sport professionals. Additionally, the effectiveness of MC interventions can be increased by making use of the home environment, childcare context and school context of young children. Sport professionals can act as connectors between parents, school, and sports clubs.
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The increasing number of young children with a low proficiency in fundamental movement skills (FMS) emphasize the need to intervene. The purpose of a largescale Dutch study called Start(V)aardig is specifying elements that determine the effectiveness of motor interventions and translating these elements into an 18- week FMS intervention to stimulate motor competence level of young children.
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Background: Motivation for physical education (PE) is considered an important factor for the development of children’s physical skills during PE. According to self-determination theory, the satisfaction of the psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence is related to higher levels of autonomous motivation, and lower levels of controlled motivation. To get a better insight into these relations, the present study examines whether satisfaction of the psychological needs is predictive of fundamental motor skills (FMS) and PE-related skills, both directly, and indirectly (via motivation, i.e. ‘the motivational sequence’). As PE-related skills are more representative to the skills that are generally practiced during PE, the strongest relations are expected for these types of skills. Method: In this study, 2224 children (51.6% boys, mean age 11.8 ± 0.55) of 89 primary schools filled out questionnaires assessing the satisfaction of their basic psychological needs and their motivation for PE. Using a block design, FMS was assessed using standardized tests, and a diverse set of PE-related skills that are explicitly practiced during PE lessons were tested using valid and reliable tests. Structural equation models were built in Mplus to examine the hypothesized relations. Results: Competence, peer-relatedness, and teacher-relatedness were predictive of autonomous motivation, whereas only peer-relatedness was predictive of controlled motivation. Different relations with psychological needs and motivation were found for FMS and PE-related skills. Autonomous and controlled motivation predicted PE-related skills, whereas only controlled motivation predicted FMS, in both cases via direct and indirect paths. In addition, direct relations were found between competence and both FMS and PE-related skills, and of peer-relatedness and teacher-relatedness with FMS specifically. Conclusions: Satisfaction of the psychological needs seems important for children’s PE-motivation and for their skill development, both directly and indirectly. These results underline the important role that PE teachers play in constructing a need-satisfying environment. The motivational sequence seems to be more applicable to PE-related skills than to FMS, showing that is important to choose adequate outcome measures when examining PE-motivation.
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Movement is an essential part of our lives. Throughout our lifetime, we acquire many different motor skills that are necessary to take care of ourselves (e.g., eating, dressing), to work (e.g., typing, using tools, care for others) and to pursue our hobbies (e.g., running, dancing, painting). However, as a consequence of aging, trauma or chronic disease, motor skills may deteriorate or become “lost”. Learning, relearning, and improving motor skills may then be essential to maintain or regain independence. There are many different ways in which the process of learning a motor skill can be shaped in practice. The conceptual basis for this thesis was the broad distinction between implicit and explicit forms of motor learning. Physiotherapists and occupational therapists are specialized to provide therapy that is tailored to facilitate the process of motor learning of patients with a wide range of pathologies. In addition to motor impairments, patients suffering from neurological disorders often also experience problems with cognition and communication. These problems may hinder the process of learning at a didactic level, and make motor learning especially challenging for those with neurological disorders. This thesis focused on the theory and application of motor learning during rehabilitation of patients with neurological disorders. The overall aim of this thesis was to provide therapists in neurological rehabilitation with knowledge and tools to support the justified and tailored use of motor learning in daily clinical practice. The thesis is divided into two parts. The aim of the first part (Chapters 2‐5) was to develop a theoretical basis to apply motor learning in clinical practice, using the implicit‐explicit distinction as a conceptual basis. Results of this first part were used to develop a framework for the application of motor learning within neurological rehabilitation (Chapter 6). Afterwards, in the second part, strategies identified in first part were tested for feasibility and potential effects in people with stroke (Chapters 7 and 8). Chapters 5-8 are non-final versions of an article published in final form in: Chapter 5: Kleynen M, Moser A, Haarsma FA, Beurskens AJ, Braun SM. Physiotherapists use a great variety of motor learning options in neurological rehabilitation, from which they choose through an iterative process: a retrospective think-aloud study. Disabil Rehabil. 2017 Aug;39(17):1729-1737. doi: 10.1080/09638288.2016.1207111. Chapter 6: Kleynen M, Beurskens A, Olijve H, Kamphuis J, Braun S. Application of motor learning in neurorehabilitation: a framework for health-care professionals. Physiother Theory Pract. 2018 Jun 19:1-20. doi: 10.1080/09593985.2018.1483987 Chapter 7: Kleynen M, Wilson MR, Jie LJ, te Lintel Hekkert F, Goodwin VA, Braun SM. Exploring the utility of analogies in motor learning after stroke: a feasibility study. Int J Rehabil Res. 2014 Sep;37(3):277-80. doi: 10.1097/MRR.0000000000000058. Chapter 8: Kleynen M, Jie LJ, Theunissen K, Rasquin SM, Masters RS, Meijer K, Beurskens AJ, Braun SM. The immediate influence of implicit motor learning strategies on spatiotemporal gait parameters in stroke patients: a randomized within-subjects design. Clin Rehabil. 2019 Apr;33(4):619-630. doi: 10.1177/0269215518816359.
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The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility and validity of an Athletic Skills Track (AST) to assess fundamental movement skills among 6- to 12-year-old children in a physical education setting. 463 Dutch children (211 girls, 252 boys) completed three tests: the Körperkoordination-Test für Kinder (KTK) and two Athletic Skills Tracks (AST-1, AST-2). The validity of AST-1 and AST-2 was examined by correlating the time (sec) needed to complete the tracks and the KTK Motor Quotient (KTK MQ). Overall, there was a small correlation between AST-1 and the KTK MQ (r = - 0.474 (p = 0.01)) and a medium correlation between AST-2 and the KTK MQ (r = - 0.502 (p = 0.01)). When split up by age group the associations between the Athletic Skills Tracks and the KTK MQ were large for 12-year old children (AST-1: r = - 0.767; AST-2: r = - 0.727) and smallest for 8-year olds with a medium association (AST-1: r = - 0.501; AST-2: r = - 0.469). The results suggest that children’s motor skills can be assessed with a quick, convenient, and low-cost motor competence test in a physical education setting, i.e. an Athletic Skills Track. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in "Journal of Sports Sciences" on 3 March 2016, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2016.1151920
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The main aim of this study was to determine the agreement in classification between the modified KörperKoordinations Test für Kinder (KTK3+) and the Athletic Skills Track (AST) for measuring fundamental movement skill levels (FMS) in 6- to 12-year old children. 3,107 Dutch children (of which 1,625 are girls) between 6 and 12 years of age (9.1 ± 1.8 years) were tested with the KTK3+ and the AST. The KTK3+ consists of three items from the KTK and the Faber hand-eye coordination test. Raw scores from each subtest were transformed into percentile scores based on all the data of each grade. The AST is an obstacle course consisting of 5 (grades 3 till 5, 6–9 years) or 7 (grades 6 till 8, 9–12 years) concatenated FMS that should be performed as quickly as possible. The outcome measure is the time needed to complete the track. A significant bivariate Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.51 was found between the percentile sum score of the KTK3+ and the time to complete the AST, indicating that both tests measure a similar construct to some extent. Based on their scores, children were classified into one of five categories: <5, 5–15, 16–85, 86–95 or >95%. Cross tabs revealed an agreement of 58.8% with a Kappa value of 0.15 between both tests. Less than 1% of the children were classified more than two categories higher or lower. The moderate correlation between the KTK3+ and the AST and the low classification agreement into five categories of FMS stress the importance to further investigate the test choice and the measurement properties (i.e., validity and reliability) of both tools. PE teachers needs to be aware of the context in which the test will be conducted, know which construct of motor competence they want to measure and know what the purpose of testing is (e.g., screening or monitoring). Based on these considerations, the most appropriate assessment tool can be chosen.
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Objectives: The development of children’s motor competence (MC) from early to middle childhood can follow different courses. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to describe and quantify the prevalence of patterns of MC development from early to middle childhood and to identify undesirable patterns. Design: The study used a longitudinal design. Data were collected in three consecutive years, between February 2020 (T0) and May 2022 (T2). Methods: A total of 1128 typically developing Dutch children (50.2% male) between 4 and 6 years old at baseline (M = 5.35 ± 0.69 years) participated in this study. MC was measured with the Athletic Skills Track and converted into Motor Quotient (MQ) scores. To convert all individual MQ scores into meaningful patterns of MC development, changes in MQ categories were analyzed between the different timepoints. Results: A total of 11 different developmental patterns were found. When grouping the different patterns, five undesirable patterns were found with 18.2% of the children, showing an undesirable pattern of MC development between T0 and T2. The patterns of motor development of the other children showed a normal or fluctuating course. Conclusions: There is a lot of variation in MC in early and middle childhood. A substantial percentage of young children showed undesirable MC developmental patterns emphasizing the need for early and targeted interventions.
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Background: Motor learning is central to domains such as sports and rehabilitation; however, often terminologies are insufficiently uniform to allow effective sharing of experience or translation of knowledge. A study using a Delphi technique was conducted to ascertain level of agreement between experts from different motor learning domains (i.e., therapists, coaches, researchers) with respect to definitions and descriptions of a fundamental conceptual distinction within motor learning, namely implicit and explicit motor learning. Methods: A Delphi technique was embedded in multiple rounds of a survey designed to collect and aggregate informed opinions of 49 international respondents with expertise related to motor learning. The survey was administered via an online survey program and accompanied by feedback after each round. Consensus was considered to be reached if $70% of the experts agreed on a topic. Results: Consensus was reached with respect to definitions of implicit and explicit motor learning, and seven common primary intervention strategies were identified in the context of implicit and explicit motor learning. Consensus was not reached with respect to whether the strategies promote implicit or explicit forms of learning. Discussion: The definitions and descriptions agreed upon may aid translation and transfer of knowledge between domains in the field of motor learning. Empirical and clinical research is required to confirm the accuracy of the definitions and to explore the feasibility of the strategies that were identified in research, everyday practice and education.
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