Validity of an Athletic Skills Track among 6- to 12-year-old children

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility and validity of an Athletic Skills Track (AST) to assess fundamental movement skills among 6- to 12-year-old children in a physical education setting. Four hundred sixty-three Dutch children (211 girls, 252 boys) completed three tests: the Körperkoordinationstest für Kinder (KTK) and two Athletic Skills Tracks (AST-1, AST-2). The validity of AST-1 and AST-2 was examined by correlating the time (s) needed to complete the tracks and the KTK Motor Quotient (MQ).

Overall, there was a low correlation between AST-1 and the KTK MQ (r = –0.474 (P < 0.01)) and a moderate correlation between AST-2 and the KTK MQ (r = –0.502 (P < 0.01)). When split up by age group the associations were much higher and ranged between r = –0.469 and r = –0.767), with the exception of the low correlation coefficient of the AST-2 in 7-year-olds. The results indicate that fundamental movement skills of 6- to 12-year-old children can be assessed with a quick, convenient and low-cost motor competence test in a physical education setting, i.e., an Athletic Skills Track. Future studies should further assess the reliability, discriminative ability and validity of age-specific versions of the AST.

KEYWORDS:

• Physical education
• child
• motor competence
• health
• paediatrics
• validity

Acknowledgements

This study could not have been performed without the cooperation of Stichting Haagse Scholen and GGD-Haaglanden. The authors are very grateful to the following PE students of the The Hague University of Applied Sciences for their assistance during data collection: Bakker A., Bijsterveld W., Boone M., Gotink J., De Groot J., Hoogervorst Y., Van Kempen J., Knijnenburg I., Kreischer R., Van Lier T., Middelburg M., Naaktgeboren D., Piket P., Schermer B., Scherpenzeel M., Siem M., Snijders T., Van Spanje J., Stolk E., Strookman B., Taal B., Van de Tas M., Tuit N. and Varol F. And last but not least, we would like to thank the children and their parents for their participation in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.