Strength, running speed, agility and balance profiles of 9- to 10-year-old learners: NW-child study

The purpose of this study was to determine the strength, running speed and agility, and balance profiles of 9- to 10-year old learners and the relation between these skills of the learners. Using a stratified random selection from 20 schools with different socio-economic backgrounds, 862 9- to 10-year-old learners (457 boys; 405 girls) were tested in four educational districts. The Bruininks-Oseretsky test of Motor-Proficiency, second edition, was used to evaluate the learners. The results showed statistical (p 0.05) and practical (d 0.5) significant gender differences with regard to strength, running speed and agility and balance skills. The boys preformed significantly better than the girls did in the standing long jump, push-ups, sit-ups, V-sit, shuttle run, walking heel-to-toe forward on a line, while the girls outperformed the boys in the stepping sideways over a balance beam and walking heel-to-toe forward on a line. The majority of the total group were categorised asaverage for strength (76.59%), agility (63.38%) and balance skills (55.85%), while 34.88% of the group showed below-average balance skills. Significant correlations (r≈0.1) were found among the different skills.Key words: Strength; Running speed and agility; Balance; Motor performance; Children