Methods of the Michigan State University Motor Performance Study

ABSTRACT

The Michigan State University Motor Performance Study (MPS) was initiated in 1967 and lasted 32 years. Three central components existed: 1) Educational component, in which students experienced applied work with youth; 2) Instructional component, whereby enrolled youth received sport-specific skill instruction; and 3) Research component. The primary goals of the research component of the MPS were to examine: 1) the changes over time that occur in the physical growth, biological maturity, and motor skill acquisition of children and youth; 2) the processes involved in the attainment of basic and complex motor skills; and 3) the influence of changes in the learners’ environment on their rates of motor skill acquisition. Several growth and maturation, motor competence, and physical performance/fitness variables were collected, and a follow-up study examined participants’ adult physical activity, sport participation, and health outcomes. This manuscript describes methods used in the research component of the MPS and the follow-up.

KEYWORDS:

• Protocol
• motor competence
• fundamental motor skills
• children
• adolescents

Acknowledgments

We thank all participants and their parents for their long-standing loyalty to the investigation. We also thank all the undergraduate and graduate students who spent countless hours participating in the assessments and/or the motor skills instruction.

Disclosure

The authors certify that has manuscript has not been published elsewhere and that it has not been submitted simultaneously for publication elsewhere. The authors do not have any financial conflicts of interest related to the research reported in the manuscript.