Motor development and movement in childhood. Relationship between basic motor competencies and leisure time activities of children in Italian-speaking Switzerland
Ilaria Ferrari, Johanna Kress, Simone Storni, Flavio Rossi, Alejandro Arigoni, Kathrin Bretz, Christian Herrmann
Basic motor competencies enable children to participate in a variety of motor and sports situations. This study investigates the relationship between these competencies and different extracurricular motor activities in relation to age and gender. The basic motor competencies of N = 916 children were tested, 339 kindergarten children and 577 first and second grade children. Information on the children’s extracurricular activities was requested by means of a questionnaire from the parental authority. The relationship between leisure-time activities and basic motor competencies was analyzed using a linear regression. The results show differences in basic motor competencies according to age and gender, with older children generally performing better, boys mastering ball activities better than girls, and girls showing better results in self movement without objects. In preschool, participation in free sporting activities and outdoor games are important for a child’s motor development, while sports activities in clubs play a secondary role. For primary school children, the importance of outdoor games decreases, while that of club sports increases.
Keywords
Basic motor competencies, sport, motor activities, pre-school, primary school.