Given the knowledge gap in literature on the impact of undernutrition on muscular power and agility in school-aged children, the aim of this study was to compare physical fitness in such underweight- ...and normal weight children. In this cross-sectional study, 853 children were included (459 boys; mean age: 9.2 (1.8) years). The children were grouped according to their BMI-for-age-and-sex: normal weight (- 1 less than or equai to z-score < 2) and underweight (z-score < - 1). Within the underweight group, three thinness subgroups were composed: grade 1 (- 2 less than or equai to z-score < - 1), grade 2 (- 3 less than or equai to z-score < - 2) and grade 3 (z-score < - 3). Their agility, muscular endurance and power were assessed with the Performance and Fitness test battery (PERF-FIT). Regardless the country they lived in, the underweight children showed better agility (p = 0.012) and muscular endurance (p = 0.004) than those with normal weight. They presented with lower muscular power than the normal weight group, shown by significantly shorter overhead throwing distances (p = 0.017) and less standing long jump peak power (p < 0.001). The standing long jump peak power decreased further with increasing thinness grade (p = 0.027). Conclusion: Underweight children are more agile, but have lower muscular power compared to their normal weight peers. Its relationship with motor competence and physical activity, necessitates attention for tackling muscular strength deficiencies in these children, enabling them to meet the basic requirements for a healthy lifestyle later in life. Keywords: Underweight, Thinness, Muscle strength, Agility, Muscular fitness
Ball skill performance changes over time during childhood and depends on the child's physical and psychological characteristics, environmental opportunities, and task constraints. The aim of this ...study was to examine whether different standardized ball skill-items measure similar constructs and whether results differentiate among age groups.
: A total of 250 children (6-10 years) were administered the Movement Assessment Battery for children second edition (MABC-2), the subtest upper-limb coordination of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency second edition (BOT-2), the tennis ball throw of the Fitness Test Battery (FTB), and the ball skills and overhead throw of the Performance and Fitness test (PERF-FIT).
: Correlations among scores of BOT-2, FTB, and PERF-FIT ranged from fair to moderate, but correlations were low with the MABC-2. Principal component analysis retrieved three components: the first component contained catch, dribble, bounce, and throw items (MABC-2, BOT-2-SF, and PERF-FIT, respectively); the second contained throwing for distance (PERF-FIT and FTB); the third contained aiming (MABC-2). Most ball skill scores differed significantly between 6-7 and 7-8 years, but less between 8-9 years; the PERF-FIT discriminated best between age groups.
: Most ball skill items in motor tests belong to a comparable construct containing throw, dribble, bounce, and catch skills. However, aiming tasks belong to a separate category. Additionally, throwing for distance is a task that requires predominantly explosive power.
This study aims to investigate sex-related differences in raw item scores on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, 2nd Edition (MABC-2) in a large data set collected in different regions ...across the world, seeking to unravel whether there is an interaction effect between sex and the origin of the sample (European versus African). In this retrospective study, a secondary analysis was performed on anonymized data of 7654 children with a mean age of 8.6 (range 3 to 16; SD: 3.4), 50.0% of whom were boys. Since country-specific norms were not available for all samples, the raw scores per age band (AB) were used for analysis. Our results clearly show that in all age bands sex-related differences are present. In AB1 and AB2, girls score better on most manual dexterity and balance items, but not aiming and catching items, whereas in AB3 the differences seem to diminish. Especially in the European sample, girls outperform boys in manual dexterity and balance items, whereas in the African sample these differences are less marked. In conclusion, separate norms for boys and girls are needed in addition to separate norms for geographical regions.
Most of the current empirical evidence regarding the relationship between health-related fitness and level of motor performance is based on children from high-income countries. Yet, children from ...low-resource areas may have fewer opportunities to develop their fitness skills. The aim of the study was to determine if South African children from both low- and middle-income areas scoring below the 16th percentile on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (probable-Developmental Coordination Disorder (p-DCD)) have lower health-related fitness levels than typically developing (TD) children. We hypothesized that children with p-DCD would have lower overall health-related fitness than TD children. A sample of 146 participants aged 10 to 11 (10.05 years (SD = 0.41)) was collected from schools in the North West Province of South Africa, on the basis of their poverty classification. Children were tested for anaerobic capacity and strength using the Bruininks–Oseretsky test of motor proficiency second edition (BOT-2) and aerobic capacity using the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER). Body composition was evaluated using body mass index corrected for age and sex (BMI-z), body fat (BF), and waist circumference. The data was analyzed using Spearman correlations and chi-squared tests. Statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) were found between groups for running and agility, strength, and aerobic capacity. No significant differences were found between p-DCD and TD groups in terms of body mass (36.1 kg vs. 33.3 kg), waist circumference (62.2 cm vs. 59.8 cm), BMI-z (19.7 vs. 17.6), and fat percentage (20.2 vs. 18.1%). Overweight and obesity prevalence was 15% in those with low socio-economic status (SES) and 27% in high SES. In conclusion, children with p-DCD had lower muscular strength, aerobic capacity, and endurance than TD children. Although it has been reported that children with p-DCD have a higher risk for overweight/obesity than TD children, this is not (yet) the case in 10–11-year-old children living in rural areas in South Africa (North West Province).
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is an emerging focus within South Africa (SA). In Human Movement Sciences (HMS) in SA, research is primarily discipline-specific, and many researchers ...are unfamiliar with SoTL. To explore how we (as HMS lecturers) could integrate SoTL into our research, we formed a community of practice (CoP). The SoTL unicycle depiction of Swart et al. (2016) suited our visual analogy since the focus of HMS is on the human body that is in motion. For us, the unicycle represented HMS SoTL in motion. Swart et al. (2016) viewed the SoTL movement as an academic’s individual journey, whereas we saw SoTL from a CoP perspective. Therefore, we adapted the unicycle into a tandem bicycle, representing our collaborative engagements. Participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) formed our theoretical framework. Through our dialogue, each tandem wheel’s focus emerged. The back wheel was about deciding to SoTL (or not). This became a linchpin of our critical dialogue during the relationship-building phase of our CoP. Once we committed, we needed to learn how to keep our CoP moving forward. This became the middle wheel of our tandem bicycle. Next, the front wheel and handlebar became our guide into what the future of SoTL would be for us. The tandem bicycle, therefore, represents our collective cycles of learning as we became SoTL researchers. We believe our learning can support others transitioning from discipline-specific research to engaging in SoTL.
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Background: Inconsistencies are found regarding the relationship between academic achievement and visual-motor integration (VMI), gender and socio-economic status (SES).Aim: The study examined the ...associations between academic achievement in different compulsory learning areas and VMI skills, and what role gender and SES play.Setting: A total of 863 participants (n = 538, low SES group; n = 325, high SES group) from 20 schools in four school districts in the North West province of South Africa were randomly selected to participate.Methods: The Beery Visual-Motor Integration Test, 4th edition (VMI-4) was used to evaluate the VMI, visual perception and motor coordination skills; and the June mid-year school assessment (JMSA) and the Annual National Assessment (ANA) marks were used to examine their academic achievements. Spearman rank-order correlations and stepwise regression analyses were used to, examine significant associations and unique contributors, respectively.Results: Small-to-moderate significant correlations were found between all the learning areas assessed during the JMSA and the ANA examinations and the VMI-4. The strongest correlations occurred between visual perception and most of the learning areas. Socio-economic status had the greatest predictive association with most of the academic learning areas. The largest contributions (≥ 10% moderate, ≥ 25% great) of SES were found during the JMSA in English, life orientation, mathematics, natural science, social sciences and in the grade point averages. During the ANA, SES had the highest predictive contribution to English and mathematics.Conclusion: The overall academic achievement of learners could be negatively affected by their SES and visual perception skills, that suggest timeously prevention strategies to counter these effects.
Vision is one of the most complex and dominant sensory systems necessary for information feedback from the environment. Few studies have already reported a positive effect of a sport vision program ...on elite sport teams’ visual skills; however, few studies have focused on the effect of sport vision programs on children’s visual skills. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of a sports vision program on Grade 4 and 5 female netball players’ visual skills. Girls (N = 25) with a mean age of 10.08 years (SD = 0.65) formed part of this study. A pre-test–post-test design was followed with a retention test. The eight-week sports vision program was executed twice a week for 60 min on the experimental group (n = 13). The Developmental Test of Visual–Motor Integration (VMI-4), the Wayne Saccadic Fixator (WSF) and the Developmental Eye Movement (DEM) test were used to evaluate the girls’ visual skills, hand–eye coordination, visual reaction time, peripheral vision and saccadic eye movements. No statistical differences were found between the two groups before starting with the sports vision program. After intervention, significant differences between the two groups were reported, with the experimental group performing better in hand–eye coordination (p = 0.001) and reaction time (p = 0.001). Results further indicated that the experimental group experienced significant improvements (p ≤ 0.05) in motor coordination, hand–eye coordination, reaction speed and visual tracking after intervention with significant lasting effects (p ≤ 0.05). The control group performed significantly worse in reaction time (p = 0.01). A sports vision program can be recommended for Grade 4 and 5 female netball players to improve certain visual skills.
Background: A worldwide occurrence like stunting and wasting affects both children’s health and academic performance.Aim: The aim of the study was to determine the effect of stunting and wasting on ...academic performance amongst primary school boys over a period of 7 years (2010–2016) in the North West Province of South Africa.Methods: The study forms part of a longitudinal research design, the North-West Child-Health-Integrated-Learning and Development (NW-CHILD) study, stretched over a period of 7 years from 2010 to 2016. Baseline measurements and two follow-up measurements of boys (n = 181) formed part of this study. Two-way frequency tables and Analyses of variance (ANOVA) tests were used to analyse the data (p ≤ 0.05).Setting: The study was conducted in the North West Province of South Africa.Results: The prevalence of stunting (3.32% – 6.63%) and wasting (3.86% – 6.63%) increased each year from 2010 to 2016. Language, mathematics and overall average academic scores were affected statistically by stunting and wasting (p ≤ 0.05). Over a period of 7 years (overall), it was found that stunting and wasting influenced academic performance, especially concerning language and mathematic subjects.Conclusion: Stunted and wasted primary school boys in the North West Province of South Africa reported a strong negative association with academic performance, especially language and mathematic subjects. Limited data are available concerning stunting, wasting and academic performance, and further studies are therefore recommended to strengthen and support the findings of this study with regard to a better understanding of the effect.
Background: Visual motor integration plays an important role in academic skills of learners in the early school years and can have an impact on their overall academic performance.Aim: This study ...aimed to determine the influence of socio-economic status (SES) on changes in visual-motor integration, visual perception and motor coordination over a period of three years.Setting: Four school districts in the North West province of South Africa were used.Methods: Five hundred and seventy-three learners (282 boys, 291 girls) were randomly selected (representing different SES schools) and evaluated at baseline during 2010 when they were in Grade 1 (6.9 years ± 0.38), and again 2013 (9.9 years ± 0.42), as part of a longitudinal research study. The Beery Visual-Motor Integration Test 4th edition was used to evaluate the visual-motor integration, visual perception and motor coordination skills at baseline and three years later.Results: Baseline measurements were higher among high SES learners in all three skills. Although learners from high SES still outperformed the learners from low SES three years later, low SES learners showed statistically significant improvements over the three years in visualmotor integration (88.24 to 89.85, p = 0.041) and visual perception (89.69 to 90.04, p ≤ 0.001).Conclusion: Age-related development and improvement of the visual-motor integration skills were reported over the three-year period. However, more learners from the low SES still showed delays in these skills. Delays in the development of these skills could contribute to poorer academic and learning-related achievements.
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