Anthropometric and Motor Competence Classifiers of Swimming Ability in Preschool Children—A Pilot Study

Ilir Gllareva, Nebojša Trajković, Draženka Mačak, Tijana Šćepanović, Anja Kostić Zobenica, Aleksandar Pajić, Besim Halilaj, Florim Gallopeni and Dejan M. Madić
Additional contact information
Ilir Gllareva: Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Prishtina University, 10000 Pristina, Kosovo
Nebojša Trajković: Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Draženka Mačak: Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Tijana Šćepanović: Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Anja Kostić Zobenica: Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Aleksandar Pajić: Faculty of Sport, University UNION—Nikola Tesla, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Besim Halilaj: Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Prishtina University, 10000 Pristina, Kosovo
Florim Gallopeni: Department of Psychology of Assessment and Intervention, Heimerer College, 10000 Pristina, Kosovo
Dejan M. Madić: Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 17, 1-14

Abstract: Swimming is a form of physical activity and a life-saving skill. However, only a few studies have identified swimming ability classifiers in preschool children. This pilot cross-sectional study aimed to find anthropometric (AM) and motor competence (MC) predictors of swimming ability in preschool children, by building classifiers of swimming ability group (SAG) membership. We recruited 92 children (girls n = 45) aged 5–6 years and took the AM and MC measurements in accordance with the reference manual and using the KTK battery test (motor quotient, MQ), respectively. A linear discriminant analysis tested a classification model of preschoolers’ swimming ability (SAG: POOR, GOOD, EXCELLENT) based on gender, age, AM, and MC variables and extracted one significant canonical discriminant function (model fit: 61.2%) that can differentiate (group centroids) POOR (−1.507), GOOD (0.032), and EXCELLENT (1.524). The MQ total was identified as a significant classifier, which absolutely contributed to the discriminant function that classifies children’s swimming ability as POOR (standardized canonical coefficient: 1.186), GOOD (1.363), or EXCELLENT (1.535) with an accuracy of 64.1%. Children with higher MQ total ought to be classified into higher SAG; thus, the classification model of SAG based on the MQ total is presented.

Keywords: kindergarten children motor ability; swimming ability; motor competence; preschool children; classification model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/17/6331/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/17/6331/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:17:p:6331-:d:406514

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().