Relation between motor perfomance and physical fi tness level of schoolchildren

Introduction: Children with poor motor performance, engage in less vigorous and organized activities, contributing to low scores in physical fi tness assessments. However, there is no consensus in the literature about the association between variables. Objective: Evaluate the relationship between motor performance and physical fi tness of students between 7 and 10 years old. Methods: Ninety-eight (98) students enrolled in a public school in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina State, Brazil, participated in this study. For motor evaluation, the Movement Assessment Battery for Children - Second Edition (MABC-2) was used; the assessment of physical fi tness was performed using the guidelines of the Brazil Sport Project (PROESP-BR). Data were tabulated in the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for the descriptive statistical analysis (mean, standard deviation, frequency) and inferential analysis (Student’s t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, and multiple linear regression test). The signifi cance level was set at p < 0.05. Results: The values of the prevalence of motor diffi culty and motor diffi culty risk were 5.9% and 13.9%, respectively, and the value for without diffi culty of movement was 80.2%. Differences were found for males in the agility tests and explosive strength of the lower limbs (p < 0.05), in which the boys with motor diffi culty showed lower values. We noticed that abdominal strength, endurance, and agility significantly contributed to explain the variability in motor performance, which together showed a coeffi cient of determination (R²) of 0.13. Conclusion: Abdominal strength/endurance and agility contributed signifi cantly in explaining the variability in motor performance. Thus, it is fundamental to encourage involvement in activities that contribute to the increase in motor repertoire refl ecting physical fi tness