Interpreting measures of fundamental movement skills and their relationship with health-related physical activity and self-concept

Purpose: The aims of this study were to determine proficiency levels of fundamental movement skills (FMS) using cluster analysis in a cohort of UK primary school children; and to examine whether children with more proficient movement profiles are more physically literate. 
Methods: Participants were 553 primary children aged between 9 and 12, 294 boys and 259 girls, who were assessed across eight different FMS. Physical literacy markers of physical fitness, recall of physical activity behaviour and physical self-perceptions were measured and separated by gender. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to classify groups based on FMS proficiencies and discriminant analysis to predict FMS proficiency based upon the physical literacy variables. 

Results: Cluster analysis identified distinct groups of FMS proficiency in both genders. For both boys and girls, several measures of physical literacy significantly discriminated between the different levels of FMS ability (p < .05, r > .40). 

Conclusions: The novel classification of FMS clearly differentiated between groups of children with different FMS ability. The study also found that several physical literacy variables discriminated between the distinct levels of FMS proficiency, confirming that children with superior fundamental movement skills were more physically literate.