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The relation between kinaesthetic acuity and skilled motor ability for primary aged female athletes and non-athletes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2015

Melissa Sambuco  and
David Livesey
Melissa Sambuco
Affiliation:
The University of Sydney
David Livesey*
Affiliation:
The University of Sydney
*
Department of Psychology, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Email David Livesey: davidl@psych.usyd.edu.au, Email Melissa Sambuco: melissas@psych.usyd.edu.au
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Abstract

The present study examined sensitivity to kinaesthetic information for fifty-one girls aged 9 to 10 years. Girls with competitive sporting experience were divided into a gymnastics group, ball-skills group and a combined (gymnastic and ball-skills) group. A non-athlete control group was also included. Baseline measures of general motor ability were obtained using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (Henderson and Sugden, 1992) and measures of sensitivity to kinaesthetic information were obtained using the Kinaesthetic Acuity Test (KAT) [Livesey and Parkes, 1995]. Results revealed a moderate but significant correlation between motor proficiency and kinaesthetic acuity. A stronger finding was the ability of the Kinaesthetic Acuity Test (KAT) to predict the motor performance of girls with high and low kinaesthetic acuity within the sample. High kinaesthetic acuity predicted significantly better motor proficiency and low kinaesthetic acuity predicted significantly poorer motor proficiency. Results further indicated that kinaesthetic acuity did not differ as a function of specific sporting experience.

Keywords

Kinaesthetic AcuityMotor AbilityFemale AthletesGymnasticsBall-skills
Type
Research Article
Information
The Educational and Developmental Psychologist , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , 2005 , pp. 18 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © Australian Psychological Society 2005

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