The purpose of this study was to investigate agility performance of rugby players using various intensity running tests. A further aim was to investigate if any differences existed between playing positions in relation to agility performance. Nineteen subelite players (mean +/- SD age, 23.0 +/- 5.4 years) participated in the study. Players underwent measurements of anthropometry (height, body mass, and sum of four skinfolds). Running tests investigated were speed (10 m and 40 m sprint), agility (T Test and Illinois), and multistage fitness tests (20 m, 10 m, and 5 m), with all tests for agility measured against the Illinois agility test. Results indicated that backline players produced significant correlations (P < 0.05) in agility compared with forwards. The findings indicate that developing or using existing rugby-specific agility programs to aid performance may be of greater benefit and of higher priority in training programs designed for backs rather than forwards.

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The aims of this study were to determine proficiency levels of fundamental movement skills (FMS) using cluster analysis in a cohort of UK primary school children; and to further examine the relationships between FMS proficiency and other key aspects of health-related physical activity behaviour. Participants were 553 primary children aged between 9 and 12, 294 boys and 259 girls, who were assessed across eight different FMS. Physical activity behaviours included markers of physical fitness, recall of physical activity behaviour and physical self-concept. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to classify groups based on FMS proficiencies and discriminant analysis to predict FMS proficiency based upon the physical activity variables. This interpretation of FMS performance revealed distinct groups of FMS proficiency in both genders with several gender specific components of physical activity shown to discriminate children with differing levels of FMS proficiency (p < .05, r > .40).

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The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the fundamental movement skills (FMS) of primary school children and aspects of their home environment. Four-hundred-and-eighty-four primary school children were recruited to the study, consisting of 255 boys and 229 girls, aged between 9 and 11 years. Participants were assessed on eight different FMS and placed into different ability profiles according to the similarity of their FMS proficiencies. Four-hundred-and-eighty-four parent questionnaires were completed and matched to the profile membership of the participants. For boys, positive relationships were found between their FMS ability and the variables of parent–child interaction in video gaming, parental beliefs concerning the importance of social development, motor development and children’s participation in physical activity, parental awareness of their own child’s extracurricular participation in community sports clubs and physical activity preferences. For girls, positive relationships with FMS proficiency were found for parental beliefs concerning the importance of participation in physical activity for social function and the importance of participation in physical activity for learning rules. In the case of girls only, several family characteristics were also significantly related to FMS proficiency. These were the following: the involvement of members of the extended family in their before and after-school care provision; their parents’ employment status; and their mother’s physical activity participation. In conclusion, parental beliefs and behaviours have the potential to influence children’s FMS performance and their impact needs to be considered in any interventions to improve the FMS of children of primary school age.

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