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Highly Active Middle School Athletes Demonstrate Poor Motor Skill Proficiency.

Lauren S Butler¹, Dai Sugimoto², Ashley Erdman³

¹Nicklaus Children's Hospital, Miami, Florida.

|June 17, 2023

Summary

Highly active youth athletes often lack proficiency in fundamental movement skills (FMS). Early sports specialization does not appear to impact FMS development in middle school athletes, regardless of sex.

Keywords:

fundamental movement skills physical literacy sports specialization

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Area of Science:

Sports Medicine
Pediatric Sports Science
Motor Development

Background:

Fundamental movement skills (FMS) are crucial for lifelong physical activity and sports participation.
Early sports specialization may hinder the development of essential motor skills in young athletes.
Assessing FMS proficiency in highly active youth is important given trends in athletic development.

Purpose of the Study:

To evaluate FMS proficiency in highly active middle school athletes.
To determine if FMS proficiency varies based on the level of sports specialization.
To investigate sex-based differences in FMS proficiency among these athletes.

Main Methods:

Cross-sectional study involving 91 middle school athletes (44 male, mean age 12.6 years).
Assessed FMS using the Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD-2).
Quantified activity levels and sports specialization using validated scales (Pedi-FABS, Jayanthi Scale).

Main Results:

No athletes achieved high proficiency (percentile rank >99%) in any FMS domain assessed by the TGMD-2.
Mean percentile ranks for locomotor, object control, and gross motor skills were 56.2%, 64.7%, and 62.6%, respectively.
No significant differences in FMS proficiency were found between athletes with low, moderate, or high specialization levels, nor between sexes.

Conclusions:

High levels of sports participation do not guarantee adequate mastery of fundamental movement skills in youth athletes.
Neither the degree of sports specialization nor sex influenced FMS proficiency in this cohort.
Further research may be needed to identify effective strategies for improving FMS in young athletes.