The early detection and continuous monitoring of children’s motor competence levels and physical fitness is very important. The purpose of this study was to determine the differences in motor coordination of children enrolled in soccer and multisport activities. The participants of this study included 147 boys and girls (mean age 7.60 ± 0.85 years). The total sample of subjects was composed of two subgroups: children who were enrolled in organized exercise programs—multisports (n = 77), and children who were engaged in soccer training (n = 70). Motor coordination was evaluated with the Kiphard–Schilling body coordination test (KTK). Physical fitness was assessed with a 20 m shuttle run test, 4 × 10 m shuttle run test, standing long jump, and handgrip strength. The ANCOVA showed significant differences (p < 0.05) with large effect size between groups for tests hopping for height (d = 0.93), total motor quotient (d = 1.31), jumping sideways (d = 1.32), and moving sideways (d = 1.59), after adjusting for age and gender. There were no significant differences between groups in the physical fitness tests. It can be concluded that children enrolled in multisport activities have higher levels of motor coordination than children who are enrolled only in soccer. Therefore, multiple sport training programs should be considered and encouraged by parents, educators, and other training professionals.
Motor skill competence of children is one of the important predictors of health because if a child is physically active during early childhood, the possibility of occurrence of many chronic diseases in adulthood will be reduced. The aim of this study was to systematically review the studies conducted in healthy children using the shorter form of the Bruininks-Oseretsky (BOT-2) and to determine the applicability in cross-sectional studies and pre-post designs. The search and analysis of the studies were done in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. An electronic databases search (Google Scholar, PubMed, Mendeley, Science Direct, and Scopus) yielded 250 relevant studies conducted from 2011 to 2020. A total of 21 studies were included in quantitative synthesis, with a total of 3893 participants, both male and female. Through this study, the BOT-2 test proved its broad applicability, so it can be concluded that this test can be used to improve motor proficiency in a healthy population of children. Hence, it is necessary to invest a lot of time during the implementation of various programs so that children would adequately develop their basic motor skills so they broaden their own repertoire of movements.
The aim of this research was to determine the effects of developmental gymnastics on motor fitness in preschool girls. This study was performed on a sample of 56 healthy preschool girls that were divided into two groups, a developmental training group and a control group. Motor fitness tests were used from several test batteries: the 20m dash, Obstacle course backwards, Standing broad jump, Arm plate tapping, Seated straddle stretch, Bent arm hang, Sit ups. The basic characteristics of developmental gymnastic training process consisted of station and circuit work and obstacle courses two times a week lasting for 60 min with intensity around 160-180bpm. After the training intervention, the training group showed significant (p < 0.05) improvements in almost all the parameters analyzed (e.g., Obstacle course backwards; Standing broad jump; Arm plate tapping; Bent arm hang and Sit ups) compared with pretest values, with percentages of change and ES ranging from 13.3% to 48.2% and 0.64 (moderate) to 1.20 (large), respectively. No significant changes were observed in the control group after the training intervention except for the standing broad jump and arm plate tapping (p < 0.05). This study provides evidence on the effectiveness of developmental gymnastics programs for the optimal development of young children’s motor fitness.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted almost every aspect of life, especially daily physical activity and healthy eating habits but also mental health. Our study aimed to examine the relationship between the physical activity level, eating habits and mental health of Serbian adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 3506 students from the territory of the Republic of Serbia participated in this study. IPAQ-short version and HBSC-FFQ were used to assess physical activity level and eating habits, along with self-rated health. Moderate correlations were identified between physical activity, eating habits and mental health, along with average physical activity, very high life satisfaction (β = 0.177, p < 0.01) and very low emotional distress (β = −0.150, p < 0.01). A significant predictor of mental health was the frequency of breakfast on weekdays (β = 0.167, p < 0.01 for life satisfaction and β = −0.153, p < 0.01 for emotional distress), but not on weekends. Since the pandemic’s course is uncertain, the focus should be on maintaining good physical activity, nutrition and well-being.
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