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Abstract

Negative attitudes towards physical activity (PA) have been reported to have an influence on the PA levels of children and the choices they make to be physically active or not. Research indicated that children's PA levels are more prevalent to decline from the age of 12-years. The effect of a three-month HOPSports BrainBreak ® interventionprogramme on children's attitudes towards PA and fitness have been investigated. Children between the ages of 11 to 12years' attitudes were assessed by means of the Attitudes towards Physical Activity Scale (APAS) questionnaire. The experimental group consisted of 75 children, (44 boys and 31 girls) with a mean age of 11.4 years (±0.54) and 39 children (12 boys and 27 girls) for the control group with a mean age of 11.71 years (± 0.49). Results indicated no significant differences between the two groups' attitudes towards PA and fitness with the pre-test. After the intervention programme there was a significant difference with a large effect size (d≥0.8), which includes the attitudes towards the benefits of PA (α = .70; d = 1.13), importance of PA (α = .65; d = 0.63), self-perception of physical fitness (α = .86; d = 0.77) and their attitudes towards support in the environment and their interest for PA (α = .83; d = 1.25). More focus should be placed on 12year old children and to create opportunities where children can be equally activebecause the decline in PA levels is more prevalent and their attitudes are more influential .