This master's thesis is designed to analyse the differences in performing ball skills by Slovenian
children. The participants, 332 pupils (52 % girls and 48 % boys) who attended the 1st to 5th
grade of an elementary school in the 2021/22 school year, were included in the research.
Measurement tasks of the TGMD-3 (Test of Gross Motor Development) were used. The
execution of the tasks were recorded, and three specially trained evaluators assessed two
executions of each skill with the help of determined indicators. We analyzed the data using
descriptive and inferential statistics.
In a general, the achieved points of all thirteen tasks including in TGMD-3 setwere shown, that
the most children performances were average. Boys performed better ball tasks, while girls
performed locomotor tasks better. Then we focused on seven tasks that assess the ball skills.
We found that the performance of dribbling, catching, and kicking was consistently better in
each class. Less consistent differences, which were at the same time below expectations, were
found in the performance of hitting the ball with a stick and a racket and throwing the ball with
one hand above the head and from below. Boys are better at most ball skills than girls.
Coordination of body movement (leg movement with other body movements) and the ball
causes the most problems for children. Among third-graders, 75 % master half of the tasks, and
among fifth-graders as much as 95 %. The worst adopted tasks are hitting the ball with a club
and a racket, kicking with the foot, and throwing overhead.
Majority of movement tasks of TGMD-3 are suitable for assessing the acquisition of movement
skills in the Slovenian school system, as these contents are included in the curriculum for
physical education. When planning and executing of physical education lessons, we suggest
that teachers pay more attention to the movement skills that children are less able to master,
especially those movements where the work of the body must be coordinated with the
movement of the ball. We also suggest that, additional incentives, we involve girls more
intensively in practicing ball skills or we offer them various ball games.
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