The Effectiveness of Traditional Games intervention program in the Improvement of Form One School-Age Children’s Motor Skills Related Performance Components

Abstract

Abstract:As children age, motor performance develops. Motor performance abilities enable children to process information in handling specific task efficiently. Although children develop motor skills in a variety of physical activities, it could be, however, easily achieved when they engage in voluntary activities in conformity with their interests. Traditional games offer the opportunity for children to play and officiate the rules without any constraint. The current study intends to explore the effectiveness of the traditional games intervention program in the improvement of form one school-age children’s motor skills related performance components. A total number of 40 form one Malaysian student [male (n=20) and female (n=20)] with age range of 12-13 selected randomly participated in the study. The quasi-experiment method was applied in the study and experiment group (n=40) went through traditional games intervention which consisted of performing selected traditional games for 60 minutes, three times weekly for eight weeks. The pre-test (before treatment), mid-test (week fourth) and post-test (week eight) data were collected and analysed using MANOVA repeated measure. The results indicate a significant improvement of motor performance through traditional games intervention [F (8, 29) = 1704.16, p < .05]. Follow-up tests also show that the traditional games intervention is a factor [F(12,105) =1.99, p < .05] to agility [F(3,36) = .50, p >.05], reaction time [F(3,36) = .51, p >.05], speed [F(3,36) = 3.64, p <.05] and balance [F(3,36) = .02, p > .05]. There is sufficient evidence to conclude that Malaysian based traditional games are effective in improving motor abilities of school-age children.