Basic motor competencies in the 1st and 2nd grade elementary school children in Slovakia

Abstract

Anumber of youth movement activities, e.g. running, walking, jumping, climbing trees, throw-ing and catching a ball, has been on a decline in the current European cultural space. The results of this research contribute to broadening the knowledge about the level of basic motor competencies and qualifications of the 1st and 2nd grade elementary children in the Slovak Republic. The primary data on the basic motor competencies and qualifications of the examined group (n=307, age = 7.58 ± 0.69 years) were collected by means of the MOBAK 1‒2 test battery (Herrmann et al., 2018b). The significance of differences between boys (n=156, age 7.62 ± 0.69) and girls (n=151, age 7.55 ± 0.70) was evaluated by Student’s t-test in two independent groups. The boys in the first grade (n = 97) achieved a significantly better performance in basic motor competency object movements (x = 5.17 ± 1.79 points) than their female peers (n=88, x = 3.52 ± 1.78). The girls in the second grade did not achieve a statistically better performance in the movement qualifications in throwing, balancing and rolling than the first-graders of the same gender. Knowledge of the level of basic motor com-petencies and qualifications of the Slovak elementary school children allows the national and European educational and cultural authorities to design and improve the content of physical and sport education classes.