One Sport or Many? Comparing the Effects of Athletics and Multiactivity Training on Motor Competence in 6–10-Year-Olds—A Case Study

<b>Background</b>: Motor competence (MC) is defined as the ability to perform a wide range of motor skills with proficiency and control. The present quasi-experimental study design examines the impact of two structured intervention programs on MC in children who practiced athletics at the same club, aged 6 to 10 years, implemented over 12 weeks. <b>Methods</b>: The sample consisted of 64 children, assigned to two intervention groups: Intervention Group A (IG_A) composed of 15 male and 17 female children (9.57 ± 0.86 years) and Intervention Group B (IG_B), of 14 male and 18 female children (9.08 ± 1.33 years). IG_A received athletics-based training exclusively, three times per week, while IG_B undertook two weekly athletics sessions and one complementary activity session, such as handball, gymnastics, swimming, and motor games. MC was assessed using the modified Körperkoordinationstest für Kinder (KTK3+). The KTK3+ consists of three original KTK tasks, [Backward Balance (BB), Sideways Moving (MS), and Jumping Sideways (JS)] and an additional Eye-Hand Coordination (EHC) task. For statistical analysis, ANOVA repeated measures 2 × 2 was used. <b>Results</b>: In relation to JS, the performance on this test did not change with the intervention programs in either of the two groups. For BB and MS, both groups improved their performances in a similar way through the program implementation. Differently, for EHC, results showed that only IG_B improved its performance significantly (<i>p</i> < 0.001) with the program's intervention, with a large Cohen's d effect size (0.84). Finally, as a general analysis, the KTK3+ raw results (RS) and results translated to Global Motor Quotient (GQM), revealed significant differences between IG_A and IG_B post-intervention, with <i>p</i> < 0.001 for both variables' comparison and with large Cohen's d effect sizes for both (1.581 for RS and 1.595 for GQM), favoring IG_B. <b>Conclusions</b>: Both programs led to improvements in the various KTK3+ battery tasks. However, only the program that combined athletics training with multiactivity training led to significant improvements in the EHC test and in the overall KTK3+ results of the children involved.

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Journal
Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology
Published
2025-12-13
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/jfmk10040479
Primary Topic
Children's Physical and Motor Development
Type
article
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article

One Sport or Many? Comparing the Effects of Athletics and Multiactivity Training on Motor Competence in 6–10-Year-Olds—A Case Study

Rui Manuel Neto Matos, Diogo Monteiro, Miguel Jacinto, Sérgio J. Ibáñez et al.
Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology
Children's Physical and Motor Development
article

One Sport or Many? Comparing the Effects of Athletics and Multiactivity Training on Motor Competence in 6–10-Year-Olds—A Case Study

Rui Manuel Neto Matos, Diogo Monteiro, Miguel Jacinto, Sérgio J. Ibáñez, Nataniel Lopes
article en

Abstract

<b>Background</b>: Motor competence (MC) is defined as the ability to perform a wide range of motor skills with proficiency and control. The present quasi-experimental study design examines the impact of two structured intervention programs on MC in children who practiced athletics at the same club, aged 6 to 10 years, implemented over 12 weeks. <b>Methods</b>: The sample consisted of 64 children, assigned to two intervention groups: Intervention Group A (IG_A) composed of 15 male and 17 female children (9.57 ± 0.86 years) and Intervention Group B (IG_B), of 14 male and 18 female children (9.08 ± 1.33 years). IG_A received athletics-based training exclusively, three times per week, while IG_B undertook two weekly athletics sessions and one complementary activity session, such as handball, gymnastics, swimming, and motor games. MC was assessed using the modified Körperkoordinationstest für Kinder (KTK3+). The KTK3+ consists of three original KTK tasks, [Backward Balance (BB), Sideways Moving (MS), and Jumping Sideways (JS)] and an additional Eye-Hand Coordination (EHC) task. For statistical analysis, ANOVA repeated measures 2 × 2 was used. <b>Results</b>: In relation to JS, the performance on this test did not change with the intervention programs in either of the two groups. For BB and MS, both groups improved their performances in a similar way through the program implementation. Differently, for EHC, results showed that only IG_B improved its performance significantly (<i>p</i> < 0.001) with the program's intervention, with a large Cohen's d effect size (0.84). Finally, as a general analysis, the KTK3+ raw results (RS) and results translated to Global Motor Quotient (GQM), revealed significant differences between IG_A and IG_B post-intervention, with <i>p</i> < 0.001 for both variables' comparison and with large Cohen's d effect sizes for both (1.581 for RS and 1.595 for GQM), favoring IG_B. <b>Conclusions</b>: Both programs led to improvements in the various KTK3+ battery tasks. However, only the program that combined athletics training with multiactivity training led to significant improvements in the EHC test and in the overall KTK3+ results of the children involved.

Journal of Functional Morphology and KinesiologyVol. 10(4)
Instituto Politécnico de Leiria (PT), Life Quality Research Centre (PT), Health and Human Development (2HD) Research Network (CM), Universidad de Extremadura (ES)
Openalex Percentile: Top 55%
Children's Physical and Motor Development
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