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Motor competence is important for lifelong physical activity (PA). The current study aimed to examine associations between PA and motor competence. In total, 43 children aged 7-12 years with intellectual disabilities and/or autism spectrum disorder completed anthropometric measures, the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-2, and wore a wrist accelerometer to capture total PA, moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), average acceleration, and intensity gradient. No significant associations were found between PA outcomes and motor competence. Motor competence performance was commonly 'below average' or 'average'. The weakest subtests were upper limb coordination and strength. The strongest subtest was running speed and agility. Total weekly MVPA was 336.1 ± 150.3 min, higher than UK recommendations of 120-180 per week for disabled children and young people. Larger scale studies are needed to better understand the relationship between PA and motor competence. Future research should also consider the influence of environmental factors on PA in this group., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Background: Stability skills (e.g., static/dynamic balance) are a precursor for other movement skill development (e.g., jumping, catching). However, young children consistently demonstrate low stability and movement skill ability. There is therefore a need to develop effective strategies to improve stability skills in early childhood., Aim: To pilot the effect of a home-based gamified stability skills intervention on 4-5-year-old children's physical skills, self-perceptions and cognitions., Methods: One-hundred-and-eleven 4-5-year-old children participated from three schools. Two schools were allocated into the intervention group (n = 66 children, 33 boys) and one to the control group (n = 45 children, 25 boys). Stability, fundamental movement skills, perceived motor competence, and cognition were assessed at baseline and at post-intervention. The intervention group was given a booklet detailing the 12-week gamified stability skill intervention. The control group participated in their usual weekly activities., Results: A series of ANCOVAs controlling for baseline values demonstrated significantly higher stability skills (F(1,93) = 24.79, p < 0.001, partial η 2  = 0.212), fundamental movement skills (F(1,94) = 15.5, p = < 0.001, partial η 2  = 0.139), perceived motor competence (F(1,96) = 5.48, p = 0.021, partial η 2  = 0.054) and cognition (F(1,96) = 15.5, p = < 0.001, partial η 2  = 0.139) at post-test for the intervention versus control groups., Discussion: This study demonstrates that a home-based, gamified, stability skills intervention enhances stability skills, fundamental movement skills, perceived motor competence and cognition in children aged 4-5-years old., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The information reported in this manuscript was supported via a small research grant from the British Academy., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The present study examined the efficacy of a coaching curriculum, based on non-linear pedagogy, on improving attacking players' individual learning objectives (ILOs) in elite-youth football. Participants included 22 attacking players (i.e., centre-forwards, wide-players and attacking midfield players) from a professional football academy in England. The players were randomly appointed to both control (CON) and intervention (INT) periods following baseline measures. The INT (non-linear) and CON (linear) periods were both designed to support the ILOs provided to each player as part of the elite player performance plan. The study adopted a randomised cross-over design and ILOs considered important for attacking players (i.e., strong foot finishing, weak foot finishing, 1-v-1 and decision-making) were evaluated using the Loughborough Shooting Skill Test. The results showed significant differences for INT in 1-v-1 ( P < 0.02) and decision-making ( P < 0.01). However, there were no significant differences for strong foot finishing, weak foot finishing or time taken. These results support non-linear pedagogy in developing 1-v-1 game play and decision-making but not for technical shooting proficiency.

Objectives: Internationally, children's movement competence levels are low. This study's aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of a 16 week gymnastics curriculum on stability, locomotive and object control skills and general body coordination. It was hypothesised that the gymnastics intervention group would demonstrate significant improvements beyond a PE comparison group., Design: This study used a non-randomised control design. The intervention and comparison groups were drawn from three primary schools. The study followed the transparent reporting of evaluations with nonrandomized designs (TREND) statement for reporting., Methods: A total of 333 children (51% girls, 41% intervention) with a mean age of 8.1 years (SD=1.1) participated. Intervention children (16 weeks×2h of gymnastics) were compared to children who received (16×2h) standard PE curriculum. Children's movement competence was assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development-2, Stability Skills Assessment and the Körper-Koordinationstest für Kinder. Multilevel linear mixed models, accounting for variation at the class level and adjusted for age and sex, were used to assess intervention relative to comparison differences in all aspects of movement competence., Results: Stability and object control skills showed a significant (p<0.05) intervention×time interaction effect. No difference was found in locomotor skills or general coordination., Conclusions: Gymnastics is effective at developing stability skills and object control skills without hindering the development of locomotor skills or general coordination. Accelerated learning of stability skills may support the development of more complex movement skills., (Copyright © 2016 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: In motor development literature fundamental movement skills are divided into three constructs: locomotive, object control and stability skills. Most fundamental movement skills research has focused on children's competency in locomotor and object control skills. The first aim of this study was to validate a test battery to assess the construct of stability skills, in children aged 6 to 10 (M age = 8.2, SD = 1.2). Secondly we assessed how the stability skills construct fitted into a model of fundamental movement skill., Method: The Delphi method was used to select the stability skill battery. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to assess if the skills loaded onto the same construct and a new model of FMS was developed using structural equation modelling., Results: Three postural control tasks were selected (the log roll, rock and back support) because they had good face and content validity. These skills also demonstrated good predictive validity with gymnasts scoring significantly better than children without gymnastic training and children from a high SES school performing better than those from a mid and low SES schools and the mid SES children scored better than the low SES children (all p < .05). Inter rater reliability tests were excellent for all three skills (ICC = 0.81, 0.87, 0.87) as was test re-test reliability (ICC 0.87-0.95). CFA provided good construct validity, and structural equation modelling revealed stability skills to be an independent factor in an overall FMS model which included locomotor (r = .88), object control (r = .76) and stability skills (r = .81)., Discussion: This study provides a rationale for the inclusion of stability skills in FMS assessment. The stability skills could be used alongside other FMS assessment tools to provide a holistic assessment of children's fundamental movement skills.