Bewegingsvermoëns van 7-9 jarige dogters in die Stellenbosch-omgewing: \'n vergelyking

Abstract

The movement abilities of children have undoubtedly become worse during the last 27 years. Physical inactivity is reducing the quality of life in today\'s children who are tomorrow\'s adults. A lack of regular physical activity in youth exacerbates disease incidence and severity. A vicious cycle has developed, reinforcing the negative health consequences of physical inactivity in society. It seems that now, more than ever, there is a need to promote lifestyle patterns in children that can track into adulthood. The study focuses on the identification of movement abilities of girls (N=69), ages 7-9 years and investigates whether their movement abilities is comparable to that of the girls in the Katzenellenbogen\'s study of 1976, using the same tests and criteria. The tests evaluated inter alia the following: velocity; velocity and power; power; speed and accuracy as well as accuracy and precision. The girls were selected from two former Model-C schools in the Stellenbosch area as the Katzenellenbogen study (1976) only involved girls from former White schools. The results indicated that present-day girls fared much worse in almost all the movement tests. The weight of the 9-year old girls increased by as much as 7.2kg and the length of the 7-year old girls increased by as much as 7.3cm compared to 27 years ago. This study can therefore be a starting point for further research attempting to combat the tendency of inactivity amongst the youth of today.

Keywords: children; movement abilities, physical inactivity, physical activity, physical education/life orientation

South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation Vol. 27(1) 2005: 137-152