Recreational Competency versus

Fitness Development
Stone Murray

Suny Cortland

EDU 470

10/16/20
 Recreational competency versus fitness development is a significant topic many physical

educators talk about still today. Before we talk about anything else, you need to know what these

two terms mean. A competent person is someone who is able to identify existing or predictable

hazards in an area. So recreational competency means someone who is able to identify strategies,

predictable moves, understands gameplay, and just overall knows the game well. Fitness

development is developing a student in ways such as muscular strength, cardiovascular

endurance, muscular endurance, flexibility, and composition to achieve an ability to perform

physical activity.

In America, children with low motor and recreational competence tend to shy away from

participating in sports or PE class compared to their high motor competence and recreational

skill (Field, 2017). We, as physical educators and coaches, can be the change for these young

kids and even change parent’s minds to have their son or daughter join a sport or participate

more in physical activity to improve recreational competency. If kids at a young age aren’t

aren’t doing anything, how will they become recreationally competent and be active during class

time. A study was done with 9 through 11 year olds with 620 children, 347 were boys, 273 were

girls. They had the children do 6 sports that the kids all have done and have interest in such as

ball sports, swimming, dance, martial arts, raquette sports, and gymnastics to see where they

were. The results showed that the children who spent a significantly less amount of time on their

sport outside of practice performed much lower, than children who practiced a couple hours on

their skills outside of practice (Opstoel, 2015, pg. 1). Children who practice their competency

and skills on a sport will perform at a higher level than kids who don’t practice as much because

repetition over and over clicks in your mind and it stays with you. This is why when you are on a

team and the coach teaches you a play, you run the play over and over and over until its perfect.
Each time you do it, you get smarter and smarter, the play gets more smooth and precise every

time it's run. We can fix what is happening here in PE classes and start our kids off a young age

to not only increase their chance to be recreationally competent with many sports. As children

grow up and move into early to middle childhood, processes such as motor skill proficiency and

perceptions of physical competence should increase (Crane, 2017, pg. 1-2). Motor skills will

improve first during childhood, second physical competence. Which is why teaching recreational

competence as early as possible is key by introducing rules, and strategies for a sport while their

motor skills develop more and more. As children age they become more exposed to factors that

will influence their perceptions, and will rely less on feedback from their teachers or parents

more on their peers. Children are less likely to participate in sports or other activities when they

have low motor competence compared to their peers that have high competence (Hands, 2007).

If kids aren't introduced to recreational competence and motor skills early they won’t be at their

peers levels if they start at a later age. Again, another reason why school districts should get their

children into sports at a young age so they can not only learn skills and strategy from their peers

on the team. Having friends on a team not only makes the sport or activity more fun to play, but

also gets the children to play more every year with them which will increase skill/strategy

development for recreational competency.

A study has shown that children with low motor and recreational competence are

consistently being out performed by children with high motor control. Mainly because children

are not going or putting effort in PE class to learn recreational competence and skills. This is a

huge problem right now in PE class nationwide. Our job as educators is to not only teach our

students skills, game play, movements, and have fun, but they can’t do that if they aren’t

participating and showing us that they want to learn game play or strategies. The only way they
will become more recreationally competent and more developed physically is if they participate

soak all the information in and try. Having high motor and recreational competence makes

children more motivated to perform in more games, sports, and statistically they are more social

than those who may have low motor/recreational competence (Timler, 2019). Now fitness

development isn’t something school districts should shy away from. It is important to have our

students be healthy and moving around but recreational competence will benefit them in so many

more ways. Many students who are overweight tend to shy away from PE class as well (Odum,

2017). Fitness development is important because the world is becoming more and more obese

espcially in the ages children. However, the curriculum you teach as a teacher should not be

mainly focused on having your student have better muscular strength and endurance or

cardiovascular endurance. The more recreational competence children know the more they will

participate in not only PE class but in sports or clubs. This can be where they work on their

fitness development in practice, games, or conditioning you make them do. Not only will they

learn fitness development during sports or clubs but they can do it on their own outside of school

(Carlton Athletics, 2017). Recreational competence and fitness development are both important

aspects of PE and if you are going to teach both equally make sure to target both of these

concepts as early as possible to promote positive trajectories of health. (Utesch, 2019).

Overall kids no matter what level of skill they have, no matter how big or small they are, no

matter what the activity is, they should want to get out there and play. We need more kids

becoming more recreationally competent so they will want to play sports more at a younger age,

or want to go to PE class and not shy away. The benefits it has long term compared to short term

is unreal astonishing. You become more skilled, more competent, more social with peers, have a

high sense of self-worth, and lower levels of anxiety and stress. Not only will it do all of that but
you will also not be afraid to participate or go try out for a team and make new friends (Winters,

2018).

In conclusion, recreational competency versus fitness development go hand and hand.

We need them both to compliment each other. But overall for teaching curriculum recreational

competence sets children on a social and healthy lifestyle, and also will know how to think using

skills and strategies. Children starting sports or being physically active can provide many plus’s

in life that will benefit them in many ways. Not only with performing with their peers. But not

being afraid to play sports or play with their friends in PE class. No more kids coming home and

feeling sad because they aren't like their peers. Get them physically active and learn skills or

game play so they can be like or even better than their peers. Overall, being recreationally

competent is necessary for growing children, as this will set them up for their future.
 Reference Page

Athletics, Carlton. “The Impact of Sport on the Development of Children.” ​Carleton Athletics​,

15 May 2020, athletics.carleton.ca/2014/impact-sport-development-children/.

Bjoraker , John. ​Physical Education / 5 Components of Physical Fitness​.

www.spps.org/Page/18206.

Crane, J., Foley, J., Naylor, P., & Temple, V. (2017). Longitudinal change in the relationship

between fundamental motor skills and perceived competence: Kindergarten to grade 2. Sports :

Open Access Journal, 5(3), 10–5:3

Field. (2017, June 18). ​The relationship between fundamental motor skill proficiency and

participation in organized sports and active recreation in middle childhood​. PubMed Central

(PMC). ​https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5968994/

Hands, B. (2008). Changes in motor skill and fitness measures among children with high and low

motor competence: A five-year longitudinal study. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport,

11(2), 155–162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2007.02.012

Odum, M., Outley, C. W., McKyer, E. L., Tisone, C. A., & McWhinney, S. L. (2017, November

17). Weight-Related Barriers for Overweight Students in an Elementary Physical Education

Classroom: An Exploratory Case Study with One Physical Education Teacher. Retrieved from

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5698269/
Opstoel, K., Pion, J., Elferink-Gemser, M., Hartman, E., Willemse, B., Philippaerts, R., Visscher,

C., & Lenoir, M. (2015). Anthropometric Characteristics, Physical Fitness and Motor

Coordination of 9 to 11 Year Old Children Participating in a Wide Range of Sports. PloS One,

10(5), e0126282–. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0126282

Timler, A., McIntyre, F., Rose, E., & Hands, B. (2019). Exploring the influence of

self-perceptions on the relationship between motor competence and identity in adolescents. PloS

One, 14(11), e0224653–. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0224653

Utesch, T., Bardid, F., Büsch, D., & Strauss, B. (2019). The Relationship Between Motor

Competence and Physical Fitness from Early Childhood to Early Adulthood: A Meta-Analysis.

Sports Medicine (Auckland), 49(4), 541–551. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-019-01068-y

Winters, T. (2018, December 29). 10 Benefits of Sports for Students. Retrieved from PE Heart

Rate Training Monitors | Group Fitness Assessment Software website:

https://ihtusa.com/10-benefits-of-sports-for-students/