Fundamental Movement Skills in Children and Adolescents

Abstract

The mastery of fundamental movement skills (FMS) has been purported as contributing to children's physical, cognitive and social development and is thought to provide the foundation for an active lifestyle. Commonly developed in childhood and subsequently refined into context- and sport-specific skills, they include locomotor (e.g. running and hopping), manipulative or object control (e.g. catching and throwing) and stability (e.g. balancing and twisting) skills. The rationale for promoting the development of FMS in childhood relies on the existence of evidence on the current or future benefits associated with the acquisition of FMS proficiency. The objective of this systematic review was to examine the relationship between FMS competency and potential health benefits in children and adolescents. Benefits were defined in terms of psychological, physiological and behavioural outcomes that can impact public health. A systematic search of six electronic databases (EMBASE, OVID MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus and SportDiscus®) was conducted on 22 June 2009. Included studies were cross-sectional, longitudinal or experimental studies involving healthy children or adolescents (aged 3-18 years) that quantitatively analysed the relationship between FMS competency and potential benefits. The search identified 21 articles examining the relationship between FMS competency and eight potential benefits (i.e. global self-concept, perceived physical competence, cardio-respiratory fitness [CRF], muscular fitness, weight status, flexibility, physical activity and reduced sedentary behaviour). We found strong evidence for a positive association between FMS competency and physical activity in children and adolescents. There was also a positive relationship between FMS competency and CRF and an inverse association between FMS competency and weight status. Due to an inadequate number of studies, the relationship between FMS competency and the remaining benefits was classified as uncertain. More longitudinal and intervention research examining the relationship between FMS competency and potential psychological, physiological and behavioural outcomes in children and adolescents is recommended.

The relationships between gross motor coordination and sport-specific skills in adolescent non-athletes

“…Thus, possible differences between genders might have biased the results. Third, the variability concerning the body weight among the participants was also a limitation, since weight status is associated with motor coordination [6]. Nevertheless, the study adds to the underexplored literature on the relationship between motor coordination and sports performance in adolescent non-athletes.…”

“…However, the usefulness of measures obtained from motor coordination tests is not restricted to solely assessing the neurological and functional status in children [3]. For instance, emerging evidence supports associations between the degree of motor coordination and a range of health outcomes among boys and girls [4,5], such as levels of physical activity, physical fitness, and weight status [6].…”

A longitudinal study of gross motor coordination and weight status in children

“…Given that both childhood overweight and obesity as well as lower motor skill levels have been linked with less active lifestyles (24)(25)(26)(27), PA might act as an important mediator (8,28,29). As noted by Wrotniak et al (30), children with poorer motor skills are less likely to be physically active and probably drawn to more sedentary pursuits, which subsequently may lead to the development of overweight and obesity.…”

“…Evidence from multiple cross-sectional studies clearly indicates an inverse association between both factors (8,9). Regardless of motor assessment tool and body mass index (BMI) based classification method being used, lower fundamental motor skill mastery (i.e., qualitative measures related to movement execution) as well as poorer performances on gross motor skill and coordination tests (i.e., quantitative measures related to motor outcome) have been consistently reported in overweight and obese children as compared to healthy-weight peers and/or age-related standards (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16).…”

Configurations of actual and perceived motor competence among children: Associations with motivation for sports and global self-worth

“…The role of motor competence in children's physical activity levels has been conceptualized in a theoretical model by Stodden et al (2008; recently revised by Robinson et al in 2015). Numerous studies have confirmed the proposed positive relationship between children's motor competence and their physical activity levels (e.g., Holfelder & Schott, 2014;Logan et al, 2014;Lubans, Morgan, Cliff, Barnett, & Okely, 2010). …”