Just let them play? Deliberate preparation as the most appropriate foundation for lifelong physical activity

摘要

Recent research in the UK suggests that nearly half of children leave school without the basic movement skills required to engage successfully in sport and physical activity (Griffiths et al., 2013). A key question therefore is how early experiences in sport and physical activity should be structured in order to provide young people with the foundation for life-long physical activity participation. Perhaps as a backlash to the demands placed on young children in (some) organized sport (Hancock et al., 2013), and reflective of the dreading of the “disappearance of childhood” (Postman, 1994), there is a growing advocacy for a play approach, with an emphasis on psychosocial rather than psychomotor development, to dominate early years participation. A common concern amongst adults is that children no longer play the way previous generations did and this, perhaps nostalgic, observation has led to calls for opportunities for children to engage in spontaneous and self-directed play. Unlike coach-led approaches aimed at instruction and the transmission of knowledge, “play curricula” are seen as child-centered and developmentally appropriate. However, the extent to which this foundation provides an effective basis for prolonged engagement in sport and physical activity is notably unsupported. The play approach appears to be built on a general presumption that movement skills and physical literacy develop naturally as a consequence of age, maturation, general movement experiences and self-discovery. However, a substantial body of research (e.g., Stodden et al., 2008; Robinson and Goodway, 2009; Giblin et al., 2014a,b) highlights how structured instruction and feedback are required to ensure that essential movement skills (EMS) develop appropriately, particularly during early childhood. Importantly, EMS incorporates not just the actual competence to perform physical skills but also the psychological and behavioral skills to engage in physical activity. Notably, the interaction between actual competence and perceived competence predicts future engagement in physical activity more accurately than either alone (e.g., Barnett et al., 2008). In this opinion piece, we argue that quality early physical experiences, delivered in an appropriate manner, are necessary to ensure the optimal development of those EMS that allow children to develop competence (both actual and perceived) in their ability to progress and execute a range of complex and combined movement skills; in short, the ability and confidence “to have a go” (Giblin et al., 2014a). A focus on the quality of this experience, rather than an, in our opinion, misplaced emphasis on (ill-defined) play experiences should be the focus of early interventions.