Cornerstones of teaching tennis for children aged four to six years

The first tennis training stage, which usually takes place between four and six years of age, cannot simply follow an adult training regime with quantitatively reduced loads. Training should account for children’s cognitive, emotional, social, physical and motor development. This article highlights the cornerstones of early tennis teaching, including fundamental motor skills, which help to develop more complex motor actions, and motor abilities, especially strength fitness, which determines posture, jumping, running and throws. This is achieved through fun plays and games, which should include various coordination tasks providing motor experiences and develop more complex actions in future.

A brief review on motor development: fundamental motor skills as a basis for motor skill learning

In this study, we review the relationship between motor development and motor learning, and present a new metaphor that represents the sequence of motor development, which highlights fundamental motor skills as an important phase in the process. As one of the most relevant phases of motor development, several studies that analyzed fundamental motor skills were reviewed in typical developing children as well as in children with disabilities. Most studies revealed motor performance levels below expected since proficiency was not observed. We discuss these results considering fundamental motor skills as essential for the motor development process. Such results raise the awareness of the need to offer children conditions to explore and experience motor activities in order to enhance motor competence.

Associations between body composition and fundamental motor skill competency in children

Background Evidence supports an inverse relationship between weight status and motor competence, but most work utilizes body mass index as the proxy for weight status. Body mass index fails to account for essential components of body composition, which may be critical for motor performance. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationship between fundamental motor skills competency and body composition (i.e., fat mass, fat percentage, and fatfree mass) as measured by bio-electrical impedance analysis and body mass index in children. Methods Two hundred forty-four children from the Southeastern portion of the United States participated in this project (6.05 ± 2.01 years, 53.3% male). Fundamental motor skills were measured using the Test of Gross Motor Development – 2nd edition and body composition was assessed with the Tanita SC-331S Body Composition Analyzer (bio-electrical impedance analysis). Body mass index was calculated using CDC normative growth charts. Results Bio-electrical impedance analysis measures accounted for 23.1%, F(3, 241) = 24.10, p < .001 and 2.7%, F(3, 241) = 2.22, p = .086 variance in locomotor and object control subscales, respectively; body mass index accounted for 8.4% (locomotor) and 0.1% (object control) variance. For the Test of Gross Motor Development -2nd edition total score, bio-electrical impedance analysis measures accounted for 24.4% F(3, 241) = 25.90, p < .001 compared to body mass index which accounted for 7.9% F(1, 244) = 20.86, p < .001 of the variance. Only fat free mass (p < .001) was a significant predictor for locomotor skills and total models for the Test of Gross Motor Development – 2nd edition; BMI was also a significant predictor (p < .001) in both the locomotor and total models. Conclusions Different components of body composition (i.e., fat free mass) were associated with different aspects of fundamental motor skills competency. Excess body fat may be a morphological constraint to proficient locomotor performance when transporting the body through space. In contrast, body composition did not significantly predict object manipulation performance. More work is needed to understand the causality and directionality of this relationship; however, bio-electrical impedance analysis accounts for more variance in fundamental motor skills performance than body mass index in a field-based setting.

The Associations of Objectively Measured Physical Activity, Fundamental Motor Skills and Time in Sedentary Behavior in Children: A Cross-Sectional Study

Reduced levels of children’s physical activity (PA) and fundamental motor skills (FMS) along with increased sedentary behaviors have been observed in recent years. Yet, associations between these variables are not yet well established. This study aimed to observe the associations between FMS, PA and sedentary time in elementary school children. We evaluated 148 children (70 boys; Mage = 8.7, SD = 1.4 years old) from a private school using the Test of Gross Motor Development – Second Edition (TGMD-2) to measure FMS and examine locomotor, object control, and gross motor skills. We used accelerometry to measure PA performed on weekdays, weekends and total PA. We used descriptive statistics, partial correlations controlling for sex and age, and linear regression adjusted for sex and equivalent motor age to explain the relationships. Total moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) (β: 0.153; p = .009) and weekend MVPA (β: 0.171; p = .003) were significantly associated with FMS, regardless of gender and equivalent motor age. Sedentary time was not significantly associated with FMS ( p = .065). Girls and boys who met PA recommendations (≥60 minutes/day of moderate to vigorous PA) had higher frequencies of high ratings on the TGMD-2 ( p < .001 e p = .001, respectively). MVPA was associated with children’s FMS development, possibly affecting the quality of movement performed in children's daily lives.