Assessment of motor competence in brazilian children: comparison between AST-1 and TGMD-2

Resumo

Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the results of the Athletic Skills Track-1 test (AST-1) with those of the Test of Gross Motor Development - 2nd edition (TGMD-2) in children aged 6-10. Methods: One-hundred and six children (50 girls and 56 boys, aged 6 -10) completed the AST-1 and the TGMD-2. Comparisons were made between the children's ages and the total time to complete AST-1 and TGMD-2 gross locomotor (LO) and object control (OC) raw scores were correlated. Results: In general, total time of AST-1 decreased and TGMD-2 raw scores increased with age. A moderate-relationship was observed between AST-1 total time and LO (r = -0.51) and OC (r = -0.66) TGMD-2 raw scores. When separated by gender, the coefficients between AST-1 total time and LO TGMD-2 raw score were high for boys (r = - 0.71) and low for girls (r = -0.45), and OC was also high for boys (r = -0.74) and moderate for girls (r = -0.50). These results indicate that the fundamental movement skills of children aged 6-10 can be assessed with AST-1, a quick and low-cost test, which is similar to the results obtained by TGMD-2. Conclusion: Considering the practicality and less time-consuming nature, the AST-1 should be considered when examining fundamental motor skill performance especially in situations with large number of children.