Exercise 2 x per week focusing on Fundamental Movement Skill Development

Replacement of 50% FMS training with integrated strength training.

No intervention.

Intervention programmes were designed based on previous research (Duncan, et al., 2017; Faigenbaum, et al., 2011; Miller, et al., 2006) to ensure all exercises were developmentally appropriate for the age of the participants (an example session plan can be seen in the supplementary material). Each session consisted of five activities and lasted 50 - 60 minutes. Three out of the five activities were identical for the FMS and FMS+ groups, while two differed focusing on skill development for the FMS group and strength development for the FMS+ group. The FMS and FMS+ group received their sessions twice a week for 4 weeks. The sessions were delivered at least 48 hours apart to allow recovery and to reduce the risk of fatigue effecting performance (Faigenbaum, et al., 1996). All sessions were led by a researcher and a qualified sports coach.

The Canadian agility and movement skills assessment (CAMSA), which combines product- and process-oriented outcomes was used to assess FMS. Full details of the CAMSA can be found in the Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy Manual, 2017. Briefly, the CAMSA requires participants to travel a total distance of 20m while completing seven different movement skill tasks (Longmuir et al 2017) around an agility style course. Process oriented criteria were used to assess the performance of each movement skill. In addition, the throw and kick were scored as either hitting or missing a target 5m away (product assessment). Finally, the overall time taken to complete the course was recorded (product assessment) and converted into a timed score using pre-defined time criteria scores. The CAMSA raw score was calculated by adding the individual skill scores (max of 14 points) and the time criteria score (max of 14 points) giving an individual score between 1 and 28 points.

The investigators assessed locomotor performance through a countermovement jump and sprint assessments. Jump height was calculating from flight time measured by the Optojump Next (Microgate, Italy). Children were allowed up to three trial repetitions before completing three maximal jumps with the best performance used for analysis. Jumps were not counted if the children tucked their legs in the air or landing outside of the 1m square testing area. Sprint times were recorded over a distance of 40m to the nearest 0.01 second using an infrared timing gate system (Brower timing systems, Draper, USA). Sprints were repeated three times and the best score taken for analysis.