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 Korperkoordinationstest fur 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.
Journal of sports sciences