Do 5-6-Year-Old Girls Who Attend Gymnastics Achieve Better Motor Skills’ Assessment Results Compared to those Who Do Not Attend Gymnastics

Abstract

Background. Children become less involved in various activities, and physical inactivity may negatively affect motor development. Motor skills are important for a child’s development, so it is very important to know and track motor skills development. One of the methods for assessing motor skills is Bruininks – Oseretsky (BOT-2) test. The aim. to determine and compare the motor skills of 5–6-year-old girls who attend and do not attend gymnastics classes. Methods. 5-6 years girls participated in the study. We collected 15 who attended gymnastics classes and 15 age-matched controls. Gross motor skills were assessed using Bruininks-Oseretsky (BOT-2) test kit. Results. Bilateral coordination, balance, running speed and agility, upper-limb coordination, and strength of girls attending gymnastics classes were significantly higher (p <0.05) compared to girls not attending gymnastics. Conclusions. Attending gymnastics classes significantly improved motor skills of 5–6-year-old girls. Keywords: motor skills, preschool children, BOT-2.