Motor competence, perceived physical competence, physical fitness, and physical activity within Finnish children

The purpose of this study was to investigate reciprocal relationships among students’ motor competence (MC) (leaping, throwing, catching, jumping skills), perceived physical competence, health‐related fitness (HRF) (20 m shuttle run, push‐up, abdominal muscles endurance tests) and objectively measured moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Participants included 422 Grade 5 Finnish children (246 girls). Two separate structural equation models investigated paths (a) from MC through both perceived physical competence and HRF to MVPA, and (b) from MVPA through both perceived physical competence and HRF to MC. Model 1 demonstrated an indirect path from MC through HRF to MVPA and a direct…

Fundamental Movement Skills: An Important Focus

Purpose:Recent international conference presentations have critiqued the promotion of fundamental movement skills (FMS) as a primary pedagogical focus. Presenters have called for a debate about the importance of, and rationale for teaching FMS, and this letter is a response to that call. The authors of this letter are academics who actively engage in FMS research.Method:We have answered a series of contentions about the promotion of FMS using the peer reviewed literature to support our perspective.Results:We define what we mean by FMS, discuss the context of what skills can be considered fundamental, discuss how the development of these skills is related to broader developmental health cont…

Identifying childhood movement profiles and tracking physical activity and sedentary time across 1 year

Identifying childhood movement profiles and tracking physical activity and sedentary time across 1 year

This study identified movement profiles in childhood and tracked longitudinal changes in moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity and sedentary time across identified profiles. A sample consisted of 491 Finnish 5th Grade children (girls 275, boys 216; Mage = 11.27 ± .32). A latent profile analysis strategy was used to identify homogenous movement profiles that included measures of motor competence, perceived competence, and cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness. To examine a one‐year changes in moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity and sedentary time among movement profiles, a mixed between‐within subjects analysis of variance with Tukey's post hoc ‐tests was conducted. Results revealed thr…