Hoeboer Ast Novo 2018 7977partici
Hoeboer Ast Novo 2018 7977partici
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Original research
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: Objectives: The aim of the presented study is to provide age- and gender-related normative values and
Received 16 November 2017 MQ values for a motor skills test, the Athletic Skills Track, among 4- to 12-year-old children.
Received in revised form 21 January 2018 Design: Cross-sectional.
Accepted 26 January 2018
Methods: In 2016, a total of 7977 Dutch children, 4036 boys (mean age 8.6 years, SD 2.1) and 3941 girls
Available online xxx
(mean age 8.6 years, SD 2.1), performed an age-related version of the Athletic Skills Track (AST). The AST is
a track consisting of 5–7 fundamental movement skill tasks that should be completed as fast as possible.
Keywords:
The children performed the test during a regular physical education (PE) lesson under the supervision of
Physical education
Child
their own PE teacher. For each version of the AST (AST-1: n = 917; AST-2: n = 3947; AST-3: n = 3213) age-
Motor skills and gender-related reference centiles were derived from the gathered data using the Lambda, Mu, Sigma
Physical activity (LMS) method.
Motor competence test Results: All children completed the AST within 60 s (mean 29.6 s, SD 7.7). An independent samples t-
test showed that boys were significantly faster in completing the track than girls, except for the 4-
year-old boys. Therefore, age- and gender-related reference centiles were derived. The reference curves
demonstrate an almost linear decrease in time to complete AST-1 and AST-2 with increasing age.
Conclusions: The present study provides age- and gender-related normative values and MQ values for
the AST among 4- to 12-year-old Dutch children. With these normative values PE teachers can interpret
children’s performance on the AST.
© 2018 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2018.01.014
1440-2440/© 2018 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article in press as: Hoeboer JJAAM, et al. The Athletic Skills Track: Age- and gender-related normative values of a motor
skills test for 4- to 12-year-old children. J Sci Med Sport (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2018.01.014
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JSAMS-1801; No. of Pages 5 ARTICLE IN PRESS
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need valid motor skill competence tests. The urgency to increase the AST was conducted. The PE teacher performed the track once
our understanding of motor skill development is also recognised after which the children performed three try-out trials. After having
by PE teachers who are willing to monitor motor skill competence received feedback from the PE teacher during the three try-out tri-
of children more objectively.20 als the children performed one measurement trial independently.
In 2016, researchers21 have developed a robust and feasi- The PE teacher measured the time to complete the track using a
ble motor skill competence test, the Athletic Skills Track (AST) stopwatch and registered it in Excel.
that PE teachers can use to assess children’s FMS in an objec- All 86 PE teachers who participated in this study were trained
tive way. The AST is fundamentally different than conventional according to the AST protocol by the principal investigator of this
motor competence tests. The AST is a track that consists of a study. The protocol provides guidelines about the AST to be used
series of 5–7 detached, rather than isolated, FMS based on coor- per age group. It also provides guidelines about how to deal with
dinative abilities22 (e.g. coupling, spatial orientation, and balance adverse events, such as falling or cheating. The study protocol was
ability).23,24 Previous studies have shown that the AST is a reli- approved by the Ethical Committee of the Faculty of Human Move-
able, valid and feasible assessment tool to assess FMS among ment Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands (ECB
children from 4 to 12 years old in the PE setting.21,25 In the first 2015–31).
study, it was shown that it was possible to measure one class Data analysis was performed with the Statistical Package for
of approximately 24 children in a one hour lesson. All children the Social Sciences (SPSS version 24.0, 64-bits edition, SPSS Inc,
completed the track within 60 s. The concurrent validity of the Chicago, Illinois). Of the 8458 children who were allowed by their
AST was moderate to high; i.e., the correlation coefficient between parents or guardians to participate in the study, 7977 children met
the time to complete the AST and age- and gender-specific motor the inclusion criteria for data analysis (age: between 4 and 12 years;
quotients of the Körperkoordination-Test für Kinder (KTK) ranged all data complete: Age, Gender, AST-track number and AST-time).
between r = −0.469 and r = −0.767 (p < 0.05).21 In the second study All data were expressed as Mean, Standard Deviation (SD), and
three age-related versions of AST have been developed. AST-1 range. The normality of the data was investigated by analysing the
has been developed for 4- to 6-year-old children, AST-2 for 6- normal distribution in relation to the medians. In addition, his-
to 9-year-old children and AST-3 for 9- to 12-year-old children. tograms were plotted. Differences between boys and girls were
The test-retest reliability of the AST proved to be high (AST-1: examined per track with independent samples t-tests and with
ICC = 0.881, AST-2: ICC = 0.802, AST-3: ICC = 0.800). The internal a one-way ANOVA it was investigated if the tracks were able to
consistency was above the acceptable level of Cronbach’s ˛ > 0.70 distinguish between age groups within the track.
(AST-1 = 0.764, AST-2 = 0.700, AST-3 = 0.763). The concurrent valid- Age- and gender-related reference centiles were derived per
ity between the AST and the KTK were even higher than in the first track using the Lambda, Mu, Sigma (LMS) method as introduced
study (AST-1: r = −0.747, p = 0.01; AST-2: r = −0.646, p = 0.01; and by Cole27 using R GAMLSS packages.
AST-3: r = −0.602, p = 0.01).25 Based on the reference centiles of the AST, MQ values were cal-
Although the AST appears to be a promising objective tool to culated following the example of the Körperkoordination-Test für
assess children’s motor skill competence in the PE setting, the lack Kinder (KTK).28 The MQ (mean = 100; SD = ±15) gives an indication
of normative values limits the ability to interpret children’s perfor- of children’s level of motor giftedness, ranging from “gifted chil-
mance on the AST. Producing reference norms and Motor Quotient dren” to “children with motor dysfunctions”.28 The norms for the
(MQ) outcomes generates a scoring system that describes individ- MQ of the KTK are based on the performance of 1228 normally
uals global motor competence in meaningful categories, and allows developing German children (1974). The MQ score is standardized
comparison with results from other schools, region, countries and by age and gender. As stated by Kiphard and Schilling28 in a normal
studies.26 Therefore, the objective of the presented cross-sectional population, a MQ score below 85 represents a motor performance
study was to provide age- and gender-related normative values and level that is considered as problematic. The normalised value was
MQ values for the AST for Dutch children from 4 to 12 years old. scaled with 100 as the average value based on the 50th percentile.
The other cut-off points are based on the 10th, 25th, 75th, 90th
percentiles using the following formula: MQ = (50th percentile AST-
2. Method x/time AST-x) × 100.
Please cite this article in press as: Hoeboer JJAAM, et al. The Athletic Skills Track: Age- and gender-related normative values of a motor
skills test for 4- to 12-year-old children. J Sci Med Sport (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2018.01.014
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JSAMS-1801; No. of Pages 5 ARTICLE IN PRESS
J.J.A.A.M. Hoeboer et al. / Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport xxx (2018) xxx–xxx 3
Table 1 groups within the track. The time scores on AST-1, AST-
Descriptive statistics for each group of participants.
2 and AST-3 were significantly different between the age
Track N Mean (±SD) 95% CI groups (AST-1 girls: Welch’s F (65.412) = 3138.491, P < 0.01;
AST-2 girls: Welch’s F (105.520) = 5596.357, P < 0.01; AST-
Lower Upper
3 girls: Welch’s F (10.702) = 485.279, P < 0.01; AST-1 boys:
AST-1, Boys, age 4 78 32.3 (7.6) 30.6 34.0
Welch’s F (65.685) = 2639.745, P < 0.01; AST-2 boys: Welch’s
AST-1, Boys, age 5 200 25.3 (7.0) 24.4 26.3
AST-1, Boys, age 6 199 22.6 (5.0) 21.9 23.3 F (80.036) = 3782.352, P < 0.01; AST-3 boys: Welch’s F
AST-1, Boys, total 477 25.3 (7.1) 24.7 26.0 (5.634) = 262.541, P < 0.01). Bonferroni post hoc analysis revealed
that the differences between the age groups within a track were
AST-1, Girls age 4 93 34.2 (8.8) 32.4 35.9
AST-1, Girls age 5 171 27.1 (7.1) 26.1 28.2 all significant (P < 0.01) except for the difference between some
AST-1, Girls, age 6 176 24.0 (5.4) 23.2 24.8 age groups for AST-3 (AST-3 girls: mean difference 9–10 year olds:
AST-1, Girls, total 440 27.4 (7.9) 26.6 28.1 −1.002 s, 95% CI: −2.606 to 0.603; mean difference 9–11 year olds:
AST-2, Boys, age 6 222 34.6 (7.3) 33.6 35.6 0.673 s, 95% CI: −0.919 to 2.264; mean difference 9–12 year olds:
AST-2, Boys, age 7 630 32.5 (7.3) 31.9 33.1 1.409 s, 95% CI: −0.233 to 3.043; mean difference 11–12 year olds:
AST-2, Boys, age 8 633 29.6 (7.0) 29.1 30.1 0.732 s, 95% CI: −0.423 to 1.887; and AST-3 boys: mean difference
AST-2, Boys, age 9 485 27.4 (5.8) 26.9 27.9
9–10 year olds: −0.448 s, 95% CI: −2.170 to 1.274; mean difference
AST-2, Boys, total 1970 30.6 (7.3) 30.2 30.9
9–11 year olds: −0.182 s, 95% CI: −1.902 to 1.539; mean difference
AST-2, Girls, age 6 235 38.4 (8.0) 37.4 39.4 9–12 year olds: 1.274 s, 95% CI: −0.479 to 3.028; mean difference
AST-2, Girls, age 7 636 35.1 (7.8) 34.5 35.8
AST-2, Girls, age 8 622 30.9 (6.7) 30.4 31.4
10–11 year olds: 0.266 s, 95% CI: −0.865 to 1.398).
AST-2, Girls, age 9 384 29.7 (6.7) 29.0 30.3 As can be seen in Table 2, the results of 6-year olds on AST-1
AST-2, Girls, total 1877 33.0 (7.9) 32.7 33.4 cannot be compared with the time of (other) 6-year old children
AST-3, Boys, age 9 140 27.1 (5.9) 26.1 28.1 to complete AST-2. It took 6-year-old boys 34.6 ± 7.3 s to com-
AST-3, Boys, age 10 506 27.5 (6.7) 27.0 28.1 plete AST-2 compared to 22.6 ± 5.0 s for AST-1. Similar findings
AST-3, Boys, age 11 510 27.3 (7.4) 26.7 28.0 are shown for girls. In the transition period between AST-2 and
AST-3, Boys, age 12 433 25.9 (6.5) 25.2 26.5 AST-3 smaller differences are found. The 9-year-old boys and girls
AST-3, Boys, total 1589 27.0 (6.9) 26.6 27.3
needed more or less the same time to complete AST-2 compared
AST-3, Girls, age 9 163 29.4 (6.2) 28.5 30.4 to AST-3 (boys: 27.4 ± 5.8 versus 27.1 ± 5.9 s for AST-2 and AST-
AST-3, Girls, age 10 500 30.4 (7.0) 29.8 31.0
3 respectively; girls: 29.7 ± 6.7 versus 29.4 ± 6.2 s for AST-2 and
AST-3, Girls, age 11 535 28.7 (6.9) 28.2 29.3
AST-3, Girls, age 12 426 28.0 (6.6) 27.3 28.6
AST-3 respectively).
AST-3, Girls, total 1624 29.1 (6.8) 28.8 29.5 Based on the significant differences between boys and girls, ref-
AST-1 = Athletic Skills Track-1, AST-2 = Athletic Skills Track-2 and AST-3 = Athletic
erence centiles were calculated per gender and track using the
Skills Track-3. Lambda, Mu, Sigma (LMS) method27 based on the 10th, 25th, 50th,
75th and 90th percentile. As shown in Fig. 1a and b the reference
curves demonstrate an almost linear decrease in time to complete
Table 2
Results of an independent-samples t-test between boys and girls.
AST-1 and AST-2 with increasing age for boys and girls. The time to
complete AST-3 remains relatively stable among 9- to 12-year-old
Track Boys Girls T P boys and girls (see Fig. 1c).
AST-1, age 4 32.3 (±7.6) 34.2 (±8.8) −1.457 0.147 To ease the interpretation of the outcomes of the AST the refer-
(N = 78) (N = 93) ence curves have been converted into MQ values (Supplementary
AST-1, age 5 25.3 (±6.9) 27.1 (±7.1) −2.457 0.014*
material — MQ values for five categories of motor giftedness). With
(N = 200) (N = 171)
AST-1, age 6 22.6 (±5.0) 24.0 (±5.4) −2.642 0.009* the formula MQ = (50th percentile AST-x/time AST-x) × 100 and the
(N = 199) (N = 176) table PE teachers can calculate and interpret each child’s MQ value
AST-2, age 6 34.6 (±7.3) 38.4 (±8.0) −5.261 0.000* based on the time to complete the track, the 50th percentile of the
(N = 222) (N = 235) track, the age and the gender of the child. For example, a 7-year-
AST-2, age 7 32.5 (±7.3) 35.1 (±7.8) −6.236 0.000*
(N = 630) (N = 636)
old boy finishes AST-2 in 29.5 s. The MQ of this boy is: MQ = 31.4
AST-2, age 8 29.6 (±7.0) 30.9 (±6.7) −3.388 0.001* (50th percentile of AST-2)/29.5 s (time of the boy to complete AST-
(N = 633) (N = 622) 2) × 100 = MQ = 31.4/29.5 × 100 = 106. This child is normally motor
AST-2, age 9 27.4 (±5.8) 29.7 (±6.7) −5.147 0.000* gifted since his MQ value lies between 87 and 116 (see Supplemen-
(N = 485) (N = 384)
tary material — MQ values for five categories of motor giftedness).
AST-3, age 9 27.1 (±5.9) 29.4 (±6.1) −3.260 0.001*
(N = 140) (N = 163)
AST-3, age 10 27.6 (± 6.7) 30.7 (± 7.0) −6.532 0.000*
(N = 506) (N = 500) 4. Discussion
AST-3, age 11 27.3 (±7.4) 28.7 (±6.7) −3.278 0.001*
(N = 510) (N = 535)
AST-3, age 12 25.9 (±6.6) 28.0 (±6.6) −4.791 0.000*
In this study age- and gender-related normative values have
(N = 433) (N = 426) been developed based on the time to complete AST-1, AST-2 and
AST-3 for children in the age of 4- to 12-years old.
AST-1 = Athletic Skills Track-1, AST-2 = Athletic Skills Track-2 and AST-3 = Athletic
Skills Track-3. The results show that boys are significantly faster on all the
*
Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level. tracks except for the 4-year-old boys (boys: 32.3 ± 7.6 s versus girls:
34.2 ± 8.8 s; t = −1.457, p = 0.147). The gender difference that we
have found is in line with other motor competence tests such as
An independent samples t-test showed a significant difference the KTK.28
between boys and girls in time to complete the track (see Table 2). Besides gender differences, age differences have been found as
Boys were significantly faster than girls (on average between 1.3 well. As shown in the reference curves an almost linear decrease
up to 3.8 s), except for the 4-year-olds on AST-1. in time to complete AST-1 and AST-2 can be seen with increasing
A one-way ANOVA revealed that, both for boys and age. The time to complete AST-3 remains relatively stable among
for girls, the tracks were able to distinguish between age 9- to 12-year-old boys and girls. This phenomenon is in line with
Please cite this article in press as: Hoeboer JJAAM, et al. The Athletic Skills Track: Age- and gender-related normative values of a motor
skills test for 4- to 12-year-old children. J Sci Med Sport (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2018.01.014
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JSAMS-1801; No. of Pages 5 ARTICLE IN PRESS
4 J.J.A.A.M. Hoeboer et al. / Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport xxx (2018) xxx–xxx
a
55
50 50
45 46.26
45
43.78
40 39.7 40
0,1 0,1
35 35 36.05
34.2
Time (seconds)
31.7 0,25 33
31.4 31.35
30 30 30
27.8 0,5 28.8 28.06 0,5
25.6 26.3 26.3 27.025
25 25 24.7 24.95
22.45 23 0,75 23.61
20 20.3 20.4 20.475 21.6
0,9 20 19.35 0,9
18.2
17.2 17.08
15 15
10 10
4 5 6 4 5 6
b
55 55
50 49.18 50
45 45.9
44.1 45 44.59
42.7
40 40 39.89
37.8 38.4 40
0,1 38.175 37.8 0,1
35 34 34.375 36.3
35 34.8
Time (seconds)
32.05 33 33.55
0,25 33.3
30 29.7 30.1 29 31.4
28.46 30 29.3 30.2
26.15 26 0,5 28.6 0,5
25 25 27.025 26.6
23.01 25 25.73 24.7
21.7 0,75 24.29 23.5
20 22 21.14
0,9 20 0,9
15
15
10
6 7 8 9 10
c
55 55
50 50
45 45
40 39 40
38.36 37.5
36.15 0,1 36.21 0,1
35 35 35.33 35.8
Time (seconds)
10 10
9 10 11 12 9 10 11 12
Fig. 1. (a) Gender specific percentile plots for AST-1. The percentile plots are based on the 10th–25th–50th–75th–90th percentile (AST-1 = Athletic Skills Track-1). (b) Gender
specific percentile plots for AST-2. The percentile plots are based on the 10th–25th–50th–75th–90th percentile (AST-2 = Athletic Skills Track-2). (c) Gender specific percentile
plots for AST-3. The percentile plots are based on the 10th–25th–50th–75th–90th percentile (AST-3 = Athletic Skills Track-3).
the theoretical metaphor: “the mountain of motor development” AST-2 as AST-3 (AST-2: boys: 27.4 ± 5.8 s, girls: 29.7 ± 6.7 s versus
developed by Clark and Metcalfe.17 This metaphor of motor devel- AST-3: boys: 27.1 ± 5.9 s, girls: 29.4 ± 6.2 s). In this context-specific
opment charactarizes most typically developing individuals in six period children have established their basic motor repertoire and
periods.17 In the fundamental patterns period, fundamental motor they begin to apply the fundamental patterns towards a variety
skills are further elaborated into the building blocks of later con- of tasks and environmental contexts.17 The transitions between
text specific motor skills. This fundamental patterns period lasts for AST-1, AST-2 and AST-3 shows that the 6-year-old boys (22.6 ± 5.0)
most children until the age of 7–8 years old.17 The development of and girls (24.0 ± 5.4) on AST-1 are faster than the 6-year-old boys
the fundamental movement skills in this period can be seen in the (34.6 ± 7.3) and girls (38.4 ± 8.0) on AST-2. This is in line with the
reference centiles of AST-1 and AST-2 as these children are in the fact that AST-1 consists of 5 skills and AST-2 of 7 skills.
age of developing those fundamental building blocks. The relatively Besides reference curves based on time to complete the tracks,
stable line of the reference centiles of AST-3 can be explained by MQ values have been calculated for the AST. This eases the inter-
the fact that the children are at the end of the fundamental pat- pretation of AST outcomes in daily PE practice. The development of
tern period and at the beginning of the following, context-specific, MQ values can be seen as a scoring system that classifies individual
period. This can also explain the lack of difference in the time to scores into meaningful global categories, and allows comparison
complete AST-2 and AST-3 for 9-year old children. Nine-year-old with results from other studies.26
boys and girls needed approximately the same time to complete
Please cite this article in press as: Hoeboer JJAAM, et al. The Athletic Skills Track: Age- and gender-related normative values of a motor
skills test for 4- to 12-year-old children. J Sci Med Sport (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2018.01.014
G Model
JSAMS-1801; No. of Pages 5 ARTICLE IN PRESS
J.J.A.A.M. Hoeboer et al. / Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport xxx (2018) xxx–xxx 5
Please cite this article in press as: Hoeboer JJAAM, et al. The Athletic Skills Track: Age- and gender-related normative values of a motor
skills test for 4- to 12-year-old children. J Sci Med Sport (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2018.01.014