The Relationship between initial stage of fundamental movements and later motor abilities of children

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to discuss the relationship between the initial stage of fundamental movements and motor abilities of children aged over 4 years. The subjects were 376 children aged from 4 to 6 years. The initial stage of fundamental movement was determined by analyzing the parents responses to questionnaire. The fundamental movement items in this questionnaire consisted of 24 types of movements. The items in the motor performance test were as follows: running (25m), standing long jump, sequence jumping and softball throwing.There was a significant relationship between the initial stage of some of the fundamental movements and some motor abilities in each age group. In other words, the motor abilities of the children who started the movement from the early initial stage were superior to those of the others. The rates of the significant relationship in each age were as follows: 20.8% (age 4), 50.0% (age 5), 20.8% (age 6). The relationship in 5 years old children showed relatively high rate, and it was observed in 5-year-old children that the twenty-five-meter running record related to the initial stage of the fundamental movements. The rate of significant relationship in the performance of 6 year-old children decreased more than that of the 5-year-old children.