One Sport or Many? Comparing Athletics and Multiactivity Training on Motor Competence in 6-10-Year-Olds

Background: Motor competence (MC) is defined as the ability to perform a wide range of motor skills with varying degrees of proficiency and control. The present randomized, controlled trial (RCT) design examines the impact of two structured intervention programs on MC in children aged 6 to 10 years, implemented over a 12-weeks. Methods: The sample consisted of 64 children, assigned to two intervention groups: The Intervention group A (IG_A) composed of 15 male and 17 female (9.57 ± 0.86 years) and the Intervention group (IG_B), of 14 male and 18 female (9.08 ± 1.33 years). IG_A received athletics-based training exclusively, three times per week and IG_B two weekly athletics sessions and one complementary activity session, such as handball, gymnastics, swimming and motor games. MC was assessed using the modified Körperkoordinationstest für Kinder (KTK3+). The KTK3+ consists of three original KTK tasks, [Backward Balance (BB), Sideways Moving (MS) and Jumping Sideways (JS)] and an additional Eye-Hand Coordination (EHC) task. For statistical analysis, ANOVA repeated measures 2x2 was used. Results: In relation to JS, the performance on this test did not change with the intervention programs in none of the two groups. For BB and MS, both groups improved their performances in a similar way through programs implementation. Differently, for EHC, results showed that only IG_B improved significantly (p <.001) its performance with the program’ intervention, with a large Cohen’s d effect size (.84). Finally, as a general analysis, KTK3+ raw results (RS) and results translated to global motor quotient (GQM), revealed significant differences between IG_A and IG_B groups post-intervention, with p <.001 for both variables’ comparison and with large Cohen’s d effect sizes also on both (1.581 for RS and 1.595 for GQM), favouring IG_B. Conclusions: Both programmes led to improvements in various KTK3+ battery tests. However, only the programme that combined athletics training with multi-activity training led to significant improvements in the EHC test and in the overall KTK3+ results of the children involved.