Testing Seefeldt's Proficiency Barrier: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

The idea that proficiency in the fundamental movement skills (FMS) is necessary for the development of more complex motor skills (i.e., the proficiency barrier) and to promote health-enhancing physical activity and health-related physical fitness levels is widespread in the literature of motor development. Nonetheless, to the best of our knowledge, there is no study assessing whether children presenting proficiency below a specified proficiency barrier would demonstrate difficulty in improving performance in more complex skills-even when subjected to a period of practice in these complex skills. The present study tested this. Eighty-five normal children (44 boys) aged 7 to 10 years participated in the study. The intervention took place during 10 consecutive classes, once a week, lasting 40 min each. Six FMS (running, hopping, leaping, kicking, catching and stationary dribbling) and one transitional motor skill (TMS) (speed dribbling skill) were assessed. The results showed that only those who showed sufficient proficiency in running and stationary dribbling before the intervention were able to show high performance values in the TMS after intervention. In addition, in line with recent propositions, the results show that the basis for development of the TMS was specific critical components of the FMS and that the barrier can be captured through a logistic function. These results corroborate the proficiency barrier hypothesis and highlight that mastering the critical components of the FMS is a necessary condition for motor development.

Keywords: fundamental movement skills; intervention program; motor development; specific sport skills; transitional motor skills.

Figure 1

Relation between the sum of stationary dribbling and running components and speed dribbling components adjusted by (a) linear and (b) logistic functions. The logistic function was restricted to have $\mathrm{F}\mathrm{M}{\mathbf{S}}_{\mathrm{b}}=12.84$ and $\delta =0.7586$. Each dot represents a single participant or an overlap of participants with the same performance.

Figure 2

Relationship between the eigenvalues of the FMS factor found from Horn’s Parallel Analysis (considering the FMS data from the first data collection) and the speed dribbling performance in the second data collection. Each dot represents a single participant or an overlap of participants with the same performance.