Differences in Several Coordination and Precision Tests in 11-year-old Children from Kosovo

Abstract

Coordination abilities are among the most significant components of a child’s motor development, with the greatest rate of growth between 7-11 years of age. This study aims to compare the difference between boys and girls on several different coordination and precision tasks among 177 children aged 11 in Kosovo (83 boys and 94 girls) using a cross-sectional design through the administration of standardized coordinated movement (i.e. rectangular run, side steps, dribbling slalom) and precision tasks (i.e. targeting accuracy, kicking & throwing). Independent-samples t-test indicates that there are significant differences between boys and girls concerning basic agility and applied ball-control tasks. Boys were found to complete the rectangular run (t = -3.05, p = 0.003) and side steps (t = -3.01, p = 0.003) more quickly than girls, demonstrating higher levels of applied coordination for both the hand (t = -5.38, p = 0.001) and foot dribbling slalom (t = -8.25, p = 0.001). In addition, boys exhibited greater performance on all short-stick targeting tasks (t = 3.17, p = 0.002), horizontal throwing with a run-up (t = 2.52, p = 0.013) and kicking at the goal with a run-up (t = 6.24, p = 0.001) than girls. However, there were no significant differences between the sexes on general coordination tasks that do not require the use of a ball. Results suggest that differences between boys and girls at age 11 are task-specific and that differences in movement experience seem to account for these differences rather than general neuromotor maturity.