The relation between kinaesthetic acuity and skilled motor ability for primary aged female athletes and non-athletes

Abstract

The present study examined sensitivity to kinaesthetic information for fifty-one girls aged 9 to 10 years. Girls with competitive sporting experience were divided into a gymnastics group, ball-skills group and a combined (gymnastic and ball-skills) group. A non-athlete control group was also included. Baseline measures of general motor ability were obtained using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (Henderson and Sugden, 1992) and measures of sensitivity to kinaesthetic information were obtained using the Kinaesthetic Acuity Test (KAT) [Livesey and Parkes, 1995]. Results revealed a moderate but significant correlation between motor proficiency and kinaesthetic acuity. A stronger finding was the ability of the Kinaesthetic Acuity Test (KAT) to predict the motor performance of girls with high and low kinaesthetic acuity within the sample. High kinaesthetic acuity predicted significantly better motor proficiency and low kinaesthetic acuity predicted significantly poorer motor proficiency. Results further indicated that kinaesthetic acuity did not differ as a function of specific sporting experience.

Keywords::

• Kinaesthetic Acuity
• Motor Ability
• Female Athletes
• Gymnastics
• Ball-skills