The Relationship between Leisure Time Physical Activity and Fundamental Movement Skill Ability in Children who Attend a State School and Children who Attend a Private School

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationships between leisure time physical activity (LTPA) and Fundamental Movement Skill (FMS) ability in children attending a state school and children attending a private school in Bristol, England. Gender differences and the number and duration of sporting and sedentary activities that children participated in and the relationship with FMS ability and FMS mastery was a secondary aim within the study. A representative sample of year one, two and three children from one state school (n = 35; 26% females) and one private school (n = 23; 22% females) participated in the study. The mean age of the children was 6.2 years of age. Physical activity (PA) information was attained via completion of the Children’s Physical Activity Questionnaire (CPAQ) (Telford, 2004) where parents provided information on all sports, leisure and sedentary activities that their child took part in over the previous seven days. Fundamental Movement Skill ability and skill mastery was measured using the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (Ulrich, 2000) where children were asked to perform four locomotor skills (run, gallop, hop and jump) and four object control skills (throw, kick, catch and strike). Quantitative data was uploaded to SPSS and analysed using non-parametric tests. Main findings included significant differences between schools for the total amount of time spent in school PA (P < 0.001) and between genders for the kick (P = <0.001). The total amount of time spent in sports activities was positively associated with the total mastery score for both children that attended the state school (rs = 0.52, P = 0.004) and children that attended the private school (rs = 0.61, P = 0.002). Total sport number was also positively associated with total number of Leisure Time Physical Activity (LTPA) for children who attended the state school (rs = 0.57, P = 0.001) but was not significantly associated for children who attended the private school (rs = 0.23, P = 0.286). More research is required in English children surrounding FMS and LTPA in order to establish whether there is a relationship between increased LTPA and FMS ability. Additional research is also required to establish whether there are differences in PA behaviors and FMS ability in children attending a state school and children attending a private school.